AIR Debug Launcher (ADL)

To run an application with ADL, use the following pattern:

adl application.xml

Where application.xml is the application descriptor file for the application.

The full syntax for the ADL is:

adl     [-runtime runtime-directory] 
    [-pubid publisher-id] 
    [-nodebug] 
    [-atlogin] 
    [-profile profileName] 
    [-screensize value] 
    [-extdir extension-directory] 
    application.xml 
    [root-directory] 
    [-- arguments]

(Items in brackets, [], are optional.)

-runtime runtime-directory Specifies the directory containing the runtime to use. If not specified, the runtime directory in the same SDK as the ADL program is used. If you move ADL out of its SDK folder, specify the runtime directory. On Windows and Linux, specify the directory containing the Adobe AIR directory. On Mac OS X, specify the directory containing Adobe AIR.framework.

-pubid publisher-id Assigns the specified value as the publisher ID of the AIR application for this run. Specifying a temporary publisher ID allows you to test features of an AIR application, such as communicating over a local connection, that use the publisher ID to help uniquely identify an application. As of AIR 1.5.3, you can also specify the publisher ID in the application descriptor file (and should not use this parameter).

-nodebug Turns off debugging support. If used, the application process cannot connect to the Flash debugger and dialogs for unhandled exceptions are suppressed. (However, trace statements still print to the console window.) Turning off debugging allows your application to run a little faster and also emulates the execution mode of an installed application more closely.

-atlogin Simulates launching the application at login. This flag allows you to test application logic that executes only when an application is set to launch when the user logs in. When -atlogin is used, the reason property of the InvokeEvent object dispatched to the application will be login instead of standard (unless the application is already running).

-profile profileName ADL debugs the application using the specified profile. The profileName can be one of the following values:

• desktop

• extendedDesktop

• mobileDevice

If the application descriptor includes a supportedProfiles element, then the profile you specify with -profile must be a member of the supported list. If the -profile flag is not used, the first profile in the application descriptor is used as the active profile. If the application descriptor does not include the supportedProfiles element and you do not use the -profile flag, then the desktop profile is used.

For more information, see supportedProfiles and Device profiles.

-screensize value The simulated screen size to use when running apps in the mobileDevice profile on the desktop. Specify the screen size as a predefined screen type, or as the pixel dimensions of the normal width and height for portrait layout, plus the fullscreen width and height. To specify the value by type, use one of the following predefined screen types:

To specify the screen pixel dimensions directly, use the following format:

widthXheight:fullscreenWidthXfullscreenHeight

Always specify the pixel dimensions for portrait layout, meaning specify the width as a value smaller than the value for height. For example, the NexusOne screen can be specified with:

-screensize 480x762:480x800

-extdir extension-directory The directory in which the runtime should search for native extensions. The directory contains a subdirectory for each native extension that the application uses. Each of these subdirectories contain the unpackaged ANE file of an extension. For example:

C:\extensionDirs\ 
    extension1.ane\ 
        META-INF\ 
            ANE\ 
                Android-ARM\ 
                    library.swf 
                    extension1.jar 
                extension.xml 
            signatures.xml 
        catalog.xml 
        library.swf 
        mimetype 
    extension2.ane\ 
        META-INF\ 
            ANE\ 
                Android-ARM\ 
                    library.swf 
                    extension2.jar 
                extension.xml 
            signatures.xml 
        catalog.xml 
        library.swf 
        mimetype 
    

When using the -extdir parameter, consider the following:

application.xml The application descriptor file. See AIR application descriptor files. The application descriptor is the only parameter required by ADL and, in most cases, the only parameter needed.

root-directorySpecifies the root directory of the application to run. If not specified, the directory containing the application descriptor file is used.

-- arguments Any character strings appearing after "--" are passed to the application as command line arguments.

Run an application in the current directory:

adl myApp-app.xml

Run an application in a subdirectory of the current directory:

adl source/myApp-app.xml release

Run an application and pass in two command-line arguments, "tick" and "tock":

adl myApp-app.xml -- tick tock

Run an application using a specific runtime:

adl -runtime /AIRSDK/runtime myApp-app.xml

Run an application without debugging support:

adl -nodebug myApp-app.xml

Run an application in the mobile device profile and simulate the Nexus One screen size:

adl -profile mobileDevice -screensize NexusOne myMobileApp-app.xml

Run an application using Apache Ant to run the application (the paths shown in the example are for Windows):

<property name="SDK_HOME" value="C:/AIRSDK"/> 
<property name="ADL" value="${SDK_HOME}/bin/adl.exe"/> 
<property name="APP_ROOT" value="c:/dev/MyApp/bin-debug"/> 
<property name="APP_DESCRIPTOR" value="${APP_ROOT}/myApp-app.xml"/> 
 
<target name="test"> 
    <exec executable="${ADL}"> 
        <arg value="${APP_DESCRIPTOR}"/> 
        <arg value="${APP_ROOT}"/> 
    </exec>  
</target>

The following table describes the exit codes printed by ADL: