AIR application descriptor elements

The following dictionary of elements describes each of the legal elements of an AIR application descriptor file.

allowBrowserInvocation

Enables the AIR in-browser API to detect and launch the application.

If you set this value to true, be sure to consider security implications. These are described in Invoking an AIR application from the browser (for ActionScript developers) and Invoking an AIR application from the browser (for HTML developers).

For more information, see Launching an installed AIR application from the browser.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

true or false (default)

Example

<allowBrowserInvocation>true</allowBrowserInvocation>

android

Allows you to add elements to the Android manifest file. AIR creates the AndroidManifest.xml file for every APK package. You can use the android element in the AIR application descriptor to add additional items to it. Ignored on all platforms except Android.

Parent element:application

Child elements:

Content

Elements defining the Android-specific properties to add to the Android application manifest.

Example

<android> 
    <manifestAdditions> 
        ... 
    </manifestAdditions> 
</android>

application

The root element of an AIR application descriptor document.

Parent element: none

Child elements:

Attributes

minimumPatchLevel — The AIR runtime minimum patch level required by this application.

xmlns — the XML namespace attribute determines the required AIR runtime version of the application.

The namespace changes with each major release of AIR (but not with minor patches). The last segment of the namespace, such as “3.0,” indicates the runtime version required by the application.

The xmlns values for the major AIR releases are:

xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.0" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.1" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.5" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.5.2" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.5.3" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.0" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.5" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.6" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.0" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.1" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.2" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3,3" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.4" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.5" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.6" 
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.7"

For SWF-based applications, the AIR runtime version specified in the application descriptor determines the maximum SWF version that can be loaded as the initial content of the application. Applications that specify AIR 1.0 or AIR 1.1 can only use SWF9 (Flash Player 9) files as initial content — even when run using the AIR 2 runtime. Applications that specify AIR 1.5 (or later) can use either SWF9 or SWF10 (Flash Player 10) files as initial content.

The SWF version determines which version of the AIR and Flash Player APIs are available. If a SWF9 file is used as the initial content of an AIR 1.5 application, that application will only have access to the AIR 1.1 and Flash Player 9 APIs. Furthermore, behavior changes made to existing APIs in AIR 2.0 or Flash Player 10.1 will not be effective. (Important security-related changes to APIs are an exception to this principle and can be applied retroactively in present or future patches of the runtime.)

For HTML-based applications, the runtime version specified in the application descriptor determines which version of the AIR and Flash Player APIs are available to the application. The HTML, CSS, and JavaScript behaviors are always determined by the version of Webkit used in the installed AIR runtime, not by the application descriptor.

When an AIR application loads SWF content, the version of the AIR and Flash Player APIs available to that content depends on how the content is loaded. Sometimes the effective version is determined by the application descriptor namespace, sometimes it is determined by the version of the loading content, and sometimes it is determined by the version of the loaded content. The following table shows how the API version is determined based on the loading method:

How the content is loaded

How the API version is determined

Initial content, SWF-based application

SWF version of the loaded file

Initial content, HTML-based application

Application descriptor namespace

SWF loaded by SWF content

Version of the loading content

SWF library loaded by HTML content using <script> tag

Application descriptor namespace

SWF loaded by HTML content using AIR or Flash Player APIs (such as flash.display.Loader)

Application descriptor namespace

SWF loaded by HTML content using <object> or <embed> tags (or the equivalent JavaScript APIs)

SWF version of the loaded file

When loading a SWF file of a different version than the loading content, you can run into the two problems:

  • Loading a newer version SWF by an older version SWF— References to APIs added in the newer versions of AIR and Flash Player in the loaded content will be unresolved

  • Loading an older version SWF by a newer version SWF — APIs changed in the newer versions of AIR and Flash Player may behave in ways that the loaded content does not expect.

Content

The application element contains child elements that define the properties of an AIR application.

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.0"> 
    <id>HelloWorld</id> 
    <version>2.0</version> 
    <filename>Hello World</filename> 
    <name>Example Co. AIR Hello World</name> 
     <description> 
        <text xml:lang="en">This is an example.</text> 
        <text xml:lang="fr">C'est un exemple.</text> 
        <text xml:lang="es">Esto es un ejemplo.</text> 
    </description> 
    <copyright>Copyright (c) 2010 Example Co.</copyright> 
    <initialWindow> 
        <title>Hello World</title> 
        <content> 
            HelloWorld.swf 
        </content> 
        <systemChrome>none</systemChrome> 
        <transparent>true</transparent> 
        <visible>true</visible> 
        <minSize>320 240</minSize> 
    </initialWindow>  
    <installFolder>Example Co/Hello World</installFolder> 
    <programMenuFolder>Example Co</programMenuFolder> 
    <icon> 
        <image16x16>icons/smallIcon.png</image16x16> 
        <image32x32>icons/mediumIcon.png</image32x32> 
        <image48x48>icons/bigIcon.png</image48x48> 
        <image128x128>icons/biggestIcon.png</image128x128>  
    </icon> 
    <customUpdateUI>true</customUpdateUI> 
    <allowBrowserInvocation>false</allowBrowserInvocation> 
    <fileTypes> 
        <fileType> 
            <name>adobe.VideoFile</name> 
            <extension>avf</extension> 
            <description>Adobe Video File</description> 
            <contentType>application/vnd.adobe.video-file</contentType> 
            <icon> 
                <image16x16>icons/avfIcon_16.png</image16x16> 
                <image32x32>icons/avfIcon_32.png</image32x32> 
                <image48x48>icons/avfIcon_48.png</image48x48> 
                <image128x128>icons/avfIcon_128.png</image128x128> 
            </icon> 
        </fileType> 
    </fileTypes> 
</application>

aspectRatio

Specifies the aspect ratio of the application.

If not specified, the application opens in the “natural” aspect ratio and orientation of the device. The natural orientation varies from device to device. Typically, it is the portrait aspect ratio on small-screen devices such as phones. On some devices, such as the iPad tablet, the application opens in the current orientation. In AIR 3.3 and higher, this applies to the entire application, not just the initial display.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

portrait, landscape, or any

Example

<aspectRatio>landscape</aspectRatio>

autoOrients

Specifies whether the orientation of content in the application automatically reorients as the device itself changes physical orientation. For more information, see Stage orientation.

When using auto-orientation, consider setting the align and scaleMode properties of the Stage to the following:

stage.align = StageAlign.TOP_LEFT; 
stage.scaleMode = StageScaleMode.NO_SCALE;

These settings allow the application to rotate around the top, left corner and prevents your application content from being automatically scaled. While the other scale modes do adjust your content to fit the rotated stage dimensions, they also clip, distort, or excessively shrink that content. Better results can almost always be achieved by redrawing or relaying out the content yourself.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

true or false (default)

Example

<autoOrients>true</autoOrients>

colorDepth

Specifies whether to use 16-bit or 32-bit color.

Using 16-bit color can increase rendering performance at the expense of color fidelity. Prior to AIR 3, 16-bit color is always used on Android. In AIR 3, 32-bit color is used by default.

Note: If your application uses the StageVideo class, you must use 32-bit color.

Parent element:android

Child elements: none

Content

One of the following values:

  • 16bit

  • 32bit

Example

<android> 
    <colorDepth>16bit</colorDepth> 
    <manifestAdditions>...</manifestAdditions> 
</android>

containsVideo

Specifies whether the application will contain any video content or not.

Parent element:android

Child elements: none

Content

One of the following values:

  • true

  • false

Example

<android> 
    <containsVideo>true</containsVideo> 
    <manifestAdditions>...</manifestAdditions> 
</android>

content

The value specified for the content element is the URL for the main content file of the application. This may be either a SWF file or an HTML file. The URL is specified relative to the root of the application installation folder. (When running an AIR application with ADL, the URL is relative to the folder containing the application descriptor file. You can use the root-dir parameter of ADL to specify a different root directory.)

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

A URL relative to the application directory. Because the value of the content element is treated as a URL, characters in the name of the content file must be URL encoded according to the rules defined in RFC 1738. Space characters, for example, must be encoded as %20.

Example

<content>TravelPlanner.swf</content>

contentType

contentType is required as of AIR 1.5 (it was optional in AIR 1.0 and 1.1). The property helps some operating systems to locate the best application to open a file. The value should be the MIME type of the file content. Note that the value is ignored on Linux if the file type is already registered and has an assigned MIME type.

Parent element:fileType

Child elements: none

Content

The MIME type and subtype. See RFC2045 for more information about MIME types.

Example

<contentType>text/plain</contentType>

copyright

The copyright information for the AIR application. On Mac OS, the copyright text appears in the About dialog box for the installed application. On Mac OS, the copyright information is also used in the NSHumanReadableCopyright field in the Info.plist file for the application.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

A string containing the application copyright information.

Example

<copyright>© 2010, Examples, Inc.All rights reserved.</copyright>

customUpdateUI

Indicates whether an application will provide its own update dialogs. If false, AIR presents standard update dialogs to the user. Only applications distributed as AIR files can use the built-in AIR update system.

When the installed version of your application has the customUpdateUI element set to true and the user then double-clicks the AIR file for a new version or installs an update of the application using the seamless install feature, the runtime opens the installed version of the application. The runtime does not open the default AIR application installer. Your application logic can then determine how to proceed with the update operation. (The application ID and publisher ID in the AIR file must match the values in the installed application for an upgrade to proceed.)

Note: The customUpdateUI mechanism only comes into play when the application is already installed and the user double-clicks the AIR installation file containing an update or installs an update of the application using the seamless install feature. You can download and start an update through your own application logic, displaying your custom UI as necessary, whether or not customUpdateUI is true.

For more information, see Updating AIR applications.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

true or false (default)

Example

<customUpdateUI>true</customUpdateUI>

depthAndStencil

Indicates that the application requires the use of the depth or stencil buffer. You typically use these buffers when working with 3D content. By default, the value of this element is false to disable the depth and stencil buffers. This element is necessary because the buffers must be allocated on application startup, before any content loads.

The setting of this element must match the value passed for the enableDepthAndStencil argument to the Context3D.configureBackBuffer() method. If the values do not match, AIR issues an error.

This element is only applicable when renderMode = direct. If renderMode does not equal direct, ADT throws error 118:

<depthAndStencil> element unexpected for render mode cpu.  It requires "direct" render mode.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

true or false (default)

Example

<depthAndStencil>true</depthAndStencil>

description

The description of the application, displayed in the AIR application installer.

If you specify a single text node (not multiple text elements), the AIR application installer uses this description, regardless of the system language. Otherwise, the AIR application installer uses the description that most closely matches the user interface language of the user’s operating system. For example, consider an installation in which the description element of the application descriptor file includes a value the en (English) locale. The AIR application installer uses the en description if the user’s system identifies en (English) as the user interface language. It also uses the en description if the system user interface language is en-US (U.S. English). However, if system user interface language is en-US and the application descriptor file defines both en-US and en-GB names, then the AIR application installer uses the en-US value. If the application defines no description that matches the system user interface language, the AIR application installer uses the first description value defined in the application descriptor file.

For more information on developing multi-language applications, see Localizing AIR applications.

Parent element:application

Child elements:text

Content

The AIR 1.0 application descriptor schema allows only one simple text node to be defined for the name (not multiple text elements).

In AIR 1.1 (or above), you can specify multiple languages in the description element. The xml:lang attribute for each text element specifies a language code, as defined in RFC4646 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt).

Example

Description with simple text node:

<description>This is a sample AIR application.</description> 

Description with localized text elements for English, French, and Spanish (valid in AIR 1.1 and later):

<description> 
    <text xml:lang="en">This is an example.</text> 
    <text xml:lang="fr">C'est un exemple.</text> 
    <text xml:lang="es">Esto es un ejemplo.</text> 
</description> 

description

The file type description is displayed to the user by the operating system. The file type description is not localizable.

See also: description as child of the application element

Parent element:fileType

Child elements: none

Content

A string describing the file contents.

Example

<description>PNG image</description>

embedFonts

Allows you to use custom fonts on StageText in the AIR application. This element is optional.

Parent element:application

Child elements:font

Content

The embedFonts element may contain any number of font elements.

Example

<embedFonts> 
   <font> 
      <fontPath>ttf/space age.ttf</fontPath>
      <fontName>space age</fontName> 
   </font>
   <font> 
      <fontPath>ttf/xminus.ttf</fontPath>
      <fontName>xminus</fontName> 
   </font>
</embedFonts>

Entitlements

iOS uses properties called entitlements to provide application access to additional resources and capabilities. Use the Entitlements element to specify this information in a mobile iOS application.

Parent element:iPhone

Child elements: iOS Entitlements.plist elements

Content

Contains child elements specifying key-value pairs to use as Entitlements.plist settings for the application. Content of the Entitlements element should be enclosed in a CDATA block. For more information, see the Entitlement Key Reference in the iOS Developer Library.

Example

<iphone> 
... 
   <Entitlements> 
      <![CDATA[ 
         <key>aps-environment</key> 
         <string>development</string> 
      ]]> 
   </Entitlements> 
</iphone>

extension

The extension string of a file type.

Parent element:fileType

Child elements: none

Content

A string identifying the file extension characters (without the dot, “.”).

Example

<extension>png</extension>

extensionID

Specifies the ID of an ActionScript extension used by the application. The ID is defined in the extension descriptor document.

Parent element:extensions

Child elements: none

Content

A string identifying the ActionScript extension ID.

Example

<extensionID>com.example.extendedFeature</extensionID>

extensions

Identifies the ActionScript extensions used by an application.

Parent element:application

Child elements:extensionID

Content

Child extensionID elements containing the ActionScript extension IDs from the extension descriptor file.

Example

<extensions> 
    <extensionID>extension.first</extensionID> 
    <extensionID>extension.next</extensionID> 
    <extensionID>extension.last</extensionID> 
</extensions>

externalSwfs

Specifies the name of a text file that contains a list of SWFs to be configured by ADT for remote hosting. You can minimize your initial application download size by packaging a subset of the SWFs used by your application and loading the remaining (asset-only) external SWFs at runtime using the Loader.load() method. To use this feature, you must package the application such that ADT moves all ActionScript ByteCode (ABC) from the externally loaded SWF files to the main application SWF, leaving a SWF file that contains only assets. This is to conform with the Apple Store’s rule that forbids downloading any code after an application is installed.

For more information, see Minimize download size by loading external, asset-only SWFs.

Parent element:iPhone, initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

Name of a text file that contains a line-delimited list of SWFs to be remotely hosted.

Attributes:

None.

Examples

iOS:

<iPhone> 
    <externalSwfs>FileContainingListofSWFs.txt</externalSwfs> 
</iPhone>

filename

The string to use as a filename of the application (without extension) when the application is installed. The application file launches the AIR application in the runtime. If no name value is provided, the filename is also used as the name of the installation folder.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

The filename property can contain any Unicode (UTF-8) character except the following, which are prohibited from use as filenames on various file systems:

Character

Hexadecimal Code

various

0x00 – x1F

*

x2A

"

x22

:

x3A

>

x3C

<

x3E

?

x3F

\

x5C

|

x7C

The filename value cannot end in a period.

Example

<filename>MyApplication</filename>

fileType

Describes a single file type that the application can register for.

Parent element:fileTypes

Child elements:

Content

Elements describing a file type.

Example

<fileType> 
    <name>foo.example</name> 
    <extension>foo</extension> 
    <description>Example file type</description> 
    <contentType>text/plain</contentType> 
    <icon> 
        <image16x16>icons/fooIcon16.png</image16x16> 
        <image48x48>icons/fooIcon48.png</imge48x48> 
    <icon> 
</fileType>

fileTypes

The fileTypes element allows you to declare the file types with which an AIR application can be associated.

When an AIR application is installed, any declared file type is registered with the operating system. If these file types are not already associated with another application, they are associated with the AIR application. To override an existing association between a file type and another application, use the NativeApplication.setAsDefaultApplication() method at run time (preferably with the user’s permission).

Note: The runtime methods can only manage associations for the file types declared in the application descriptor.

The fileTypes element is optional.

Parent element:application

Child elements:fileType

Content

The fileTypes element may contain any number of fileType elements.

Example

<fileTypes> 
    <fileType> 
        <name>adobe.VideoFile</name> 
        <extension>avf</extension> 
        <description>Adobe Video File</description> 
        <contentType>application/vnd.adobe.video-file</contentType> 
        <icon> 
            <image16x16>icons/AIRApp_16.png</image16x16>       
            <image32x32>icons/AIRApp_32.png</image32x32>       
            <image48x48>icons/AIRApp_48.png</image48x48>      
            <image128x128>icons/AIRApp_128.png</image128x128> 
        </icon> 
    </fileType> 
</fileTypes>

font

Describes a single custom font that can be used in the AIR application.

Parent element:embedFonts

Child elements:fontName, fontPath

Content

Elements specifying the custom font name and its path.

Example

<font> 
   <fontPath>ttf/space age.ttf</fontPath>
   <fontName>space age</fontName> 
</font>

fontName

Specifies the name of the custom font.

Parent element:font

Child elements: None

Content

Name of the custom font to be specified in StageText.fontFamily

Example

<fontName>space age</fontName> 

fontPath

Gives the location of the custom font file.

Parent element:font

Child elements: None

Content

Path of the custom font file (with respect to the source).

Example

<fontPath>ttf/space age.ttf</fontPath> 

forceCPURenderModeForDevices

Force CPU render mode for a specified set of devices. This feature effectively lets you selectively enable GPU render mode for the remaining iOS devices.

You add this tag as a child of the iPhone tag and specify a space-separated list of device model names. Valid device model names include the following:

iPad1,1

iPhone1,1

iPod1,1

iPad2,1

iPhone1,2

iPod2,1

iPad2,2

iPhone2,1

iPod3,3

iPad2,3

iPhone3.1

iPod4,1

iPad2,4

iPhone3,2

iPod 5,1

iPad2,5

iPhone4,1

 

iPad3,1

iPhone5,1

 

iPad3,2

   

iPad3,3

   

iPad3,4

   

Parent element:iPhone, initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

Space-separated list of device model names.

Attributes:

None.

Examples

iOS:

... 
<renderMode>GPU</renderMode> 
... 
<iPhone> 
... 
   <forceCPURenderModeForDevices>iPad1,1 iPhone1,1 iPhone1,2 iPod1,1 
   </forceCPURenderModeForDevices> 
</iPhone>

fullScreen

Specifies whether the application starts up in fullscreen mode.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

true or false (default)

Example

<fullscreen>true</fullscreen>

height

The initial height of the main window of the application.

If you do not set a height, it is determined by the settings in the root SWF file or, in the case of an HTML-based AIR application, by the operating system.

The maximum height of a window changed from 2048 pixels to 4096 pixels in AIR 2.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

A positive integer with a maximum value of 4095.

Example

<height>4095</height>

icon

The icon property specifies one or more icon files to be used for the application. Including an icon is optional. If you do not specify an icon property, the operating system displays a default icon.

The path specified is relative to the application root directory. Icon files must be in the PNG format. You can specify all of the following icon sizes:

If an element for a given size is present, the image in the file must be exactly the size specified. If all sizes are not provided, the closest size is scaled to fit for a given use of the icon by the operating system.

Note: The icons specified are not automatically added to the AIR package. The icon files must be included in their correct relative locations when the application is packaged.

For best results, provide an image for each of the available sizes. In addition, make sure that the icons look presentable in both 16- and 32-bit color modes.

Parent element:application

Child elements:imageNxN

Content

An imageNxN element for each desired icon size.

Example

<icon> 
    <image16x16>icons/smallIcon.png</image16x16> 
    <image32x32>icons/mediumIcon.png</image32x32> 
    <image48x48>icons/bigIcon.png</image48x48> 
    <image128x128>icons/biggestIcon.png</image128x128>  
</icon>

id

An identifier string for the application, known as the application ID. A reverse DNS-style identifier is often used, but this style is not required.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

The ID value is restricted to the following characters:

  • 0–9

  • a–z

  • A–Z

  • . (dot)

  • - (hyphen)

The value must contain 1 to 212 characters. This element is required.

Example

<id>org.example.application</id>

imageNxN

Defines the path to an icon relative to the application directory.

The following icon images can be used, each specifying a different icon size:

  • image16x16

  • image29x29 (AIR 2+)

  • image32x32

  • image36x36 (AIR 2.5+)

  • image48x48

  • image50x50 (AIR 3.4+)

  • image57x57 (AIR 2+)

  • image58x58 (AIR 3.4+)

  • image72x72 (AIR 2+)

  • image100x100 (AIR 3.4+)

  • image114x114 (AIR 2.6+)

  • image128x128

  • image144x144 (AIR 3.4+)

  • image512x512 (AIR 2+)

  • image1024x1024 (AIR 3.4+)

The icon must be a PNG graphic that is exactly the size indicated by the image element. Icon files must be included in the application package; icons referenced in the application descriptor document are not included automatically.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

The file path to the icon can contain any Unicode (UTF-8) character except the following, which are prohibited from use as filenames on various file systems:

Character

Hexadecimal Code

various

0x00 – x1F

*

x2A

"

x22

:

x3A

>

x3C

<

x3E

?

x3F

\

x5C

|

x7C

Example

<image32x32>icons/icon32.png</image32x32>

InfoAdditions

Allows you to specify additional properties of an iOS application.

Parent element:iPhone

Child elements: iOS Info.plist elements

Content

Contains child elements specifying key-value pairs to use as Info.plist settings for the application. Content of the InfoAdditions element should be enclosed in a CDATA block.

See Information Property List Key Reference in the Apple iPhone Reference Library for information about the key value pairs and how to express them in XML.

Example

<InfoAdditions> 
    <![CDATA[ 
        <key>UIStatusBarStyle</key> 
        <string>UIStatusBarStyleBlackOpaque</string> 
        <key>UIRequiresPersistentWiFi</key> 
        <string>NO</string> 
    ]]> 
</InfoAdditions>

initialWindow

Defines the main content file and initial application appearance.

Parent element:application

Child elements: All of the following elements can appear as children of the initialWindow element. However, some elements are ignored depending on whether AIR supports windows on a platform:

Element

Desktop

Mobile

aspectRatio

ignored

used

autoOrients

ignored

used

content

used

used

depthAndStencil

used

used

fullScreen

ignored

used

height

used

ignored

maximizable

used

ignored

maxSize

used

ignored

minimizable

used

ignored

minSize

used

ignored

renderMode

used (AIR 3.0 and higher)

used

requestedDisplayResolution

used (AIR 3.6 and higher)

ignored

resizable

used

ignored

softKeyboardBehavior

ignored

used

systemChrome

used

ignored

title

used

ignored

transparent

used

ignored

visible

used

ignored

width

used

ignored

x

used

ignored

y

used

ignored

Content

Child elements defining the application appearance and behavior.

Example

<initialWindow> 
    <title>Hello World</title> 
    <content> 
        HelloWorld.swf 
    </content> 
    <depthAndStencil>true</depthAndStencil> 
    <systemChrome>none</systemChrome> 
    <transparent>true</transparent> 
    <visible>true</visible> 
    <maxSize>1024 800</maxSize> 
    <minSize>320 240</minSize> 
    <maximizable>false</maximizable> 
    <minimizable>false</minimizable> 
    <resizable>true</resizable> 
    <x>20</x> 
    <y>20</y> 
    <height>600</height> 
    <width>800</width> 
    <aspectRatio>landscape</aspectRatio> 
    <autoOrients>true</autoOrients> 
    <fullScreen>false</fullScreen> 
    <renderMode>direct</renderMode> 
</initialWindow>

installFolder

Identifies the subdirectory of the default installation directory.

On Windows, the default installation subdirectory is the Program Files directory. On Mac OS, it is the /Applications directory. On Linux, it is /opt/. For example, if the installFolder property is set to "Acme" and an application is named "ExampleApp", then the application is installed in C:\Program Files\Acme\ExampleApp on Windows, in /Applications/Acme/Example.app on MacOS, and /opt/Acme/ExampleApp on Linux.

The installFolder property is optional. If you specify no installFolder property, the application is installed in a subdirectory of the default installation directory, based on the name property.

Parent element:application

Child elements: None

Content

The installFolder property can contain any Unicode (UTF-8) character except those that are prohibited from use as folder names on various file systems (see the filename property for the list of exceptions).

Use the forward-slash (/) character as the directory separator character if you want to specify a nested subdirectory.

Example

<installFolder>utilities/toolA</installFolder>

iPhone

Defines iOS-specific application properties.

Parent element:application

manifest

Specifies information to add to the Android manifest file for the application.

Parent element:manifestAdditions

Child elements: Defined by the Android SDK.

Content

The manifest element is not, technically speaking, a part of the AIR application descriptor schema. It is the root of the Android manifest XML document. Any content that you put within the manifest element must conform to the AndroidManifest.xml schema. When you generate an APK file with the AIR tools, information in the manifest element is copied into the corresponding part of the generated AndroidManifest.xml of the application.

If you specify Android manifest values that are only available in an SDK version more recent than that directly supported by AIR, then you must set the ‑platformsdk flag to ADT when packaging the app. Set the flag to the file system path to a version of Android SDK which supports the values that you are adding.

The manifest element itself must be enclosed in a CDATA block within the AIR application descriptor.

Example

<![CDATA[      
    <manifest android:sharedUserID="1001"> 
        <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/> 
        <uses-feature android:required="false" android:name="android.hardware.camera"/> 
        <application     android:allowClearUserData="true" 
                    android:enabled="true" 
                    android:persistent="true"/> 
    </manifest> 
]]>

manifestAdditions

Specifies information to add to the Android manifest file.

Every Android application includes a manifest file that defines basic application properties. The Android manifest is similar in concept to the AIR application descriptor. An AIR for Android application has both an application descriptor and an automatically generated Android manifest file. When an AIR for Android app is packaged, the information in this manifestAdditions element is added to the corresponding parts of the Android manifest document.

Parent element:android

Child elements:manifest

Content

Information in the manifestAdditions element is added to the AndroidManifest XML document.

AIR sets several manifest entries in the generated Android manifest document to ensure that application and runtime features work correctly. You cannot override the following settings:

You cannot set the following attributes of the manifest element:

  • package

  • android:versionCode

  • android:versionName

You cannot set the following attributes for the main activity element:

  • android:label

  • android:icon

You cannot set the following attributes of the application element:

  • android:theme

  • android:name

  • android:label

  • android:windowSoftInputMode

  • android:configChanges

  • android:screenOrientation

  • android:launchMode

Example

<manifestAdditions> 
    <![CDATA[      
        <manifest android:installLocation="preferExternal"> 
            <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/> 
            <application     android:allowClearUserData="true" 
                        android:enabled="true" 
                        android:persistent="true"/> 
        </manifest> 
    ]]> 
</manifestAdditions>

maximizable

Specifies whether the window can be maximized.

Note: On operating systems, such as Mac OS X, for which maximizing windows is a resizing operation, both maximizable and resizable must be set to false to prevent the window from being zoomed or resized.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

true (default) or false

Example

<maximizable>false</maximizable>

maxSize

The maximum sizes of the window. If you do not set a maximum size, it is determined by the operating system.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

Two integers representing the maximum width and height, separated by whites pace.

Note: The maximum window size supported by AIR increased from 2048x2048 pixels to 4096x4096 pixels in AIR 2. (Because the screen coordinates are zero-based, the maximum value you can use for width or height is 4095.)

Example

<maxSize>1024 360</maxSize>

minimizable

Specifies whether the window can be minimized.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: None

Content

true (default) or false

Example

<minimizable>false</minimizable>

minSize

Specifies the minimum size allowed for the window.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

Two integers representing the minimum width and height, separated by whites pace. Note that the minimum size imposed by the operating system takes precedence over the value set in the application descriptor.

Example

<minSize>120 60</minSize>

name

The application title displayed by the AIR application installer.

If no name element is specified, the AIR application installer displays the filename as the application name.

Parent element:application

Child elements:text

Content

If you specify a single text node (instead of multiple <text> elements), the AIR application installer uses this name, regardless of the system language.

The AIR 1.0 application descriptor schema allows only one simple text node to be defined for the name (not multiple text elements). In AIR 1.1 (or above), you can specify multiple languages in the name element.

The xml:lang attribute for each text element specifies a language code, as defined in RFC4646 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt).

The AIR application installer uses the name that most closely matches the user interface language of the user’s operating system. For example, consider an installation in which the name element of the application descriptor file includes a value for the en (English) locale. The AIR application installer uses the en name if the operating system identifies en (English) as the user interface language. It also uses the en name if the system user interface language is en-US (U.S. English). However, if the user interface language is en-US and the application descriptor file defines both en-US and en-GB names, then the AIR application installer uses the en-US value. If the application defines no name that matches the system user interface languages, the AIR application installer uses the first name value defined in the application descriptor file.

The name element only defines the application title used in the AIR application installer. The AIR application installer supports multiple languages: Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. The AIR application installer selects its displayed language (for text other than the application title and description) based on the system user interface language. This language selection is independent of the settings in the application descriptor file.

The name element does not define the locales available for the running, installed application. For details on developing multi-language applications, see Localizing AIR applications.

Example

The following example defines a name with a simple text node:

<name>Test Application</name> 

The following example, valid in AIR 1.1 and later, specifies the name in three languages (English, French, and Spanish) using <text> element nodes:

<name> 
    <text xml:lang="en">Hello AIR</text> 
    <text xml:lang="fr">Bonjour AIR</text> 
    <text xml:lang="es">Hola AIR</text> 
</name> 

name

Identifies the name of a file type.

Parent element:fileType

Child elements: none

Content

A string representing the name of the file type.

Example

<name>adobe.VideoFile</name>

programMenuFolder

Identifies the location in which to place shortcuts to the application in the All Programs menu of the Windows operating system or in the Applications menu on Linux. (This setting is currently ignored on other operating systems.)

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

The string used for the programMenuFolder value can contain any Unicode (UTF-8) character except those that are prohibited from use as folder names on various file systems (see the filename element for the list of exceptions). Do not use a forward slash (/) character as the last character of this value.

Example

<programMenuFolder>Example Company/Sample Application</programMenuFolder>

publisherID

Identifies the publisher ID for updating an AIR application originally created with AIR version 1.5.2 or earlier.

Only specify a publisher ID when creating an application update. The value of the publisherID element must match the publisher ID generated by AIR for the earlier version of the application. For an installed application, the publisher ID can be found in the folder in which an application is installed, in the META-INF/AIR/publisherid file.

New applications created with AIR 1.5.3 or later should not specify a publisher ID.

For more information, see About AIR publisher identifiers.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

A publisher ID string.

Example

<publisherID>B146A943FBD637B68C334022D304CEA226D129B4.1</publisherID>

renderMode

Specifies whether to use graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration, if supported on the current computing device.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

One of the following values:

  • auto (default) — currently falls back to CPU mode.

  • cpu — hardware acceleration is not used.

  • direct — rendering composition occurs in the CPU; blitting uses the GPU. Available in AIR 3+.

    Note: In order to leverage GPU acceleration of Flash content with AIR for mobile platforms, Adobe recommends that you use renderMode="direct" (that is, Stage3D) rather than renderMode="gpu". Adobe officially supports and recommends the following Stage3D based frameworks: Starling (2D) and Away3D (3D). For more details on Stage3D and Starling/Away3D, see http://gaming.adobe.com/getstarted/.
  • gpu — hardware acceleration is used, if available.

    Important: Do not use GPU rendering mode for Flex applications.

Example

<renderMode>direct</renderMode>

requestedDisplayResolution

Specifies whether the application desires to use the standard or high resolution on a device or computer monitor with a high-resolution screen. When set to standard, the default, the screen will appear to the application as a standard-resolution screen. When set to high, the application can address each high-resolution pixel.

For example, on a 640x960 high-resolution iPhone screen, if the setting is standard the fullscreen stage dimensions are 320x480, and each application pixel is rendered using four screen pixels. If the setting is high, the fullscreen stage dimensions are 640x960.

On devices with standard-resolution screens, the stage dimensions match the screen dimensions no matter which setting is used.

If the requestedDisplayResolution element is nested in the iPhone element, it applies to iOS devices. In that case, the excludeDevices attribute can be used to specify devices for which the setting is not applied.

If the requestedDisplayResolution element is nested in the initialWindow element, it applies to desktop AIR applications on MacBook Pro computers that support high-resolution displays. The specified value applies to all native windows used in the application. Nesting the requestedDisplayResolution element in the initialWindow element is supported in AIR 3.6 and later.

Parent element:iPhone, initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

Either standard, the default, or high.

Attribute:

excludeDevices — a space-separated list of iOS model names or model name prefixes. This allows the developer to have some devices use high resolution and others use standard resolution. This attribute is only available on iOS (the requestedDisplayResolution element is nested in the iPhone element). The excludeDevices attribute is available in AIR 3.6 and later.

For any device whose model name is specified in this attribute, the requestedDisplayResolution value is the opposite of the specified value. In other words, if the requestedDisplayResolution value is high, the excluded devices use standard resolution. If the requestedDisplayResolution value is standard, the excluded devices use high resolution.

The values are iOS device model names or model name prefixes. For example, the value iPad3,1 refers specificially to a Wi-Fi 3rd-generation iPad (but not GSM or CDMA 3rd-generation iPads). Alternatively, the value iPad3 refers to any 3rd-generation iPad. An unofficial list of iOS model names is available at the iPhone wiki Models page.

Examples

Desktop:

<initialWindow> 
    <requestedDisplayResolution>high</requestedDisplayResolution> 
</initialWindow>

iOS:

<iPhone> 
    <requestedDisplayResolution excludeDevices="iPad3 iPad4">high</requestedDisplayResolution> 
</iPhone>

resizable

Specifies whether the window can be resized.

Note: On operating systems, such as Mac OS X, for which maximizing windows is a resizing operation, both maximizable and resizable must be set to false to prevent the window from being zoomed or resized.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements:

Content

true (default) or false

Example

<resizable>false</resizable>

softKeyboardBehavior

Specifies the default behavior of the application when a virtual keyboard is displayed. The default behavior is to pan the application upward. The runtime keeps the focused text field or interactive object on the screen. Use the pan option if your application does not provide its own keyboard handling logic.

You can also turn off the automatic behavior by setting the softKeyboardBehavior element to none. In this case, text fields and interactive objects dispatch a SoftKeyboardEvent when the soft keyboard is raised, but the runtime does not pan or resize the application. It is your application’s responsibility to keep the text entry area in view.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

Either none or pan. The default value is pan.

Example

<softKeyboardBehavior>none</softKeyboardBehavior>

supportedLanguages

Identifies the languages supported by the application. This element is only used by iOS, Mac captive runtime, and Android applications. This element is ignored by all other application types.

If you do not specify this element, then by default the packager performs the following actions based on the application type:

  • iOS — All languages supported by the AIR runtime are listed in the iOS app store as supported languages of the application.

  • Mac captive runtime — Application packaged with captive bundle has no localization information.

  • Android — Application bundle has resources for all languages supported by the AIR runtime.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

A space delimited list of supported languages. Valid language values are ISO 639‑1 values for the languages supported by the AIR runtime: en, de, es, fr, it, ja, ko, pt, ru, cs, nl, pl, sv, tr, zh, da, nb, iw.

The packager generates an error for an empty value for the <supportedLanguages> element.

Note: Localized tags (such as the name tag) ignore the value of a language if you use the <supportedLanguages> tag and it does not contain that language. If a native extension has resources for a language which is not specified by the <supportedLangauges> tag, a warning is issued and the resources are ignored for that language.

Example

<supportedLanguages>en ja fr es</supportedLanguages>

supportedProfiles

Identifies the profiles that are supported for the application.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

You can include any of these values in the supportedProfiles element:

  • desktop—The desktop profile is for AIR applications that are installed on a desktop computer using an AIR file. These applications do not have access to the NativeProcess class (which provides communication with native applications).

  • extendedDesktop—The extended desktop profile is for AIR applications that are installed on a desktop computer using a native application installer. These applications have access to the NativeProcess class (which provides communication with native applications).

  • mobileDevice—The mobile device profile is for mobile applications.

  • extendedMobileDevice—The extended mobile device profile is not currently in use.

The supportedProfiles property is optional. When you do not include this element in the application descriptor file, the application can be compiled and deployed for any profile.

To specify multiple profiles, separate each with a space character. For example, the following setting specifies that the application is only available in the desktop and extended profiles:

<supportedProfiles>desktop extendedDesktop</supportedProfiles>
Note: When you run an application with ADL and do not specify a value for the ADL -profile option, then the first profile in the application descriptor is used. (If no profiles are specified in the application descriptor either, then the desktop profile is used.)

Example

<supportedProfiles>desktop mobileDevice</supportedProfiles>

systemChrome

Specifies whether the initial application window is created with the standard title bar, borders, and controls provided by the operating system.

The system chrome setting of the window cannot be changed at run time.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

One of the following values:

  • none — No system chrome is provided. The application (or an application framework such as Flex) is responsible for displaying window chrome.

  • standard (default) — System chrome is provided by the operating system.

Example

<systemChrome>standard</systemChrome>

text

Specifies a localized string.

The xml:lang attribute of a text element specifies a language code, as defined in RFC4646 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt).

The AIR application installer uses the text element with the xml:lang attribute value that most closely matches the user interface language of the user’s operating system.

For example, consider an installation in which a text element includes a value for the en (English) locale. The AIR application installer uses the en name if the operating system identifies en (English) as the user interface language. It also uses the en name if the system user interface language is en-US (U.S. English). However, if the user interface language is en-US and the application descriptor file defines both en-US and en-GB names, then the AIR application installer uses the en-US value.

If the application defines no text element that matches the system user interface languages, the AIR application installer uses the first name value defined in the application descriptor file.

Parent elements:

Child elements: none

Content

An xml:lang attribute specifying a locale and a string of localized text.

Example

<text xml:lang="fr">Bonjour AIR</text>

title

Specifies the title displayed in the title bar of the initial application window.

A title is only displayed if the systemChrome element is set to standard.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

A string containing the window title.

Example

<title>Example Window Title</title>

transparent

Specifies whether the initial application window is alpha-blended with the desktop.

A window with transparency enabled may draw more slowly and require more memory. The transparent setting cannot be changed at run time.

Important: You can only set transparent to true when systemChrome is none.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

true or false (default)

Example

<transparent>true</transparent>

version

Specifies the version information for the application.

The version string is an application-defined designator. AIR does not interpret the version string in any way. Thus, version “3.0” is not assumed to be more current than version “2.0.” Examples: "1.0", ".4", "0.5", "4.9", "1.3.4a".

In AIR 2.5 and later, the version element is superseded by the versionNumber and versionLabel elements.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

A string containing the application version.

Example

<version>0.1 Alpha</version>

versionLabel

Specifies a human-readable version string.

The value of the version label is displayed in installation dialogs instead of the value of the versionNumber element. If versionLabel is not used, then the versionNumber is used for both.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

A string containing the publicly displayed version text.

Example

<versionLabel>0.9 Beta</versionlabel>

versionNumber

The application version number.

Parent element:application

Child elements: none

Content

The version number can contain a sequence of up to three integers separated by periods. Each integer must be a number between 0 and 999 (inclusive).

Examples

<versionNumber>1.0.657</versionNumber> 
 
<versionNumber>10</versionNumber> 
 
<versionNumber>0.01</versionNumber>

visible

Specifies whether the initial application window is visible as soon as it is created.

AIR windows, including the initial window, are created in an invisible state by default. You can display a window by calling the activate() method of the NativeWindow object or by setting the visible property to true. You may want to leave the main window hidden initially, so that changes to the window’s position, the window’s size, and the layout of its contents are not shown.

The Flex mx:WindowedApplication component automatically displays and activates the window immediately before the applicationComplete event is dispatched, unless the visible attribute is set to false in the MXML definition.

On devices in the mobile profile, which does not support windows, the visible setting is ignored.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

true or false (default)

Example

<visible>true</visible>

width

The initial width of the main window of the application.

If you do not set a width, it is determined by the settings in the root SWF file or, in the case of an HTML-based AIR application, by the operating system.

The maximum width of a window changed from 2048 pixels to 4096 pixels in AIR 2.

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

A positive integer with a maximum value of 4095.

Example

<width>1024</width>

x

The horizontal position of the initial application window.

In most cases, it is better to let the operating system determine the initial position of the window rather than assigning a fixed value.

The origin of the screen coordinate system (0,0) is the top, left-hand corner of the main desktop screen (as determined by the operating system).

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

An integer value.

Example

<x>120</x>

y

The vertical position of the initial application window.

In most cases, it is better to let the operating system determine the initial position of the window rather than assigning a fixed value.

The origin of the screen coordinate system (0,0) is the top, left-hand corner of the main desktop screen (as determined by the operating system).

Parent element:initialWindow

Child elements: none

Content

An integer value.

Example

<y>250</y>

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