About Adobe AIR

about Adobe AIR

Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) is a cross-operating system runtime that leverages existing Web development technologies (FLASH,FLEX,HTML,JAVASCRIPT,AJAX) To build rich Internet applications and deploy them as desktop applications. Air supports existing web technologies such as Flash,flex,html,javascript and Ajax to develop the most user-friendly RIA program you've ever seen with your most skilled technology

the AIR application can be:

* Based on Flash or Flex: application root content (understood as container) is Flash/flex (SWF)

* Flash or Flex-based HTML or PDF. The root content of the application is Flash/flex (SWF)-based HTML

* HTML-based, application root content for HTML, JS, CSS

* HTML-based Flash/flex or PDF, the application root content is HTML-based Flash/flex (SWF) or PDF

Flex is a presentation server (presentation service) published by Macromedia, which is an application of Java Web container or. NET Server, based on an. mxml file ( The pure XML description file and ActionScript) produce a corresponding. swf file that is delivered to the client, interpreted by the client's Flash Player or Shockwave Player, to give the user a rich customer experience.

The famous Macromedia Flash is a powerful vector animation editing Tool, after the animation started, Flash has been seeking rich Internet application (RIA rich client) dominance, the most influential is that Object-oriented scripting actionscript2.0 has been introduced, and a class library similar to Java Swing and corresponding component (components) have been established. Flex interprets. mxml files by using a non-flash path, such as Java or. NET, to organize components and generate the. swf file accordingly. Flex's component is similar to Flash's component, but has improved.

The use of flash is entirely possible to achieve the effect of flex, why do you need flex? I understand there are two reasons: 1, in order to cater for more developers (developers). Flash is born to designer (designer), interface and Flash animation concept and write program developers out of tune, in order to attract more jsp/asp/php and other programmers, Macromedia introduced flex with a very simple. Mxml to describe the interface and the use of the jsp/asp/php program staff. (X/D) HTML is very similar, and mxml is more normalized and standardized.

2, for a standard. You must have heard of Microsoft's next Generation System Longhorn, and Microsoft will launch the new language XAML, an interface description language, which corresponds to something very similar to smart client and Flex, in Longhorn. Mxml and XAML are similar ... Some of the benefits of this will not be the same as I said.

Flex and J2ee/.net actually have nothing to do with it, Macromedia use Java to make an application to integrate flash technology into the EE, and then use. NET technology to make a. NET application to integrate flash technology into. NET, it should be said that flex solves the most tedious problem in the Java EE and. NET, which is the problem of the Web client. Microsoft is more despicable in IE inside built-in (pre-installed) a lot of space, can be called by. NET, such as Datagrid,java there is no way, can only use the most original HTML tag a tag to print, really headache, There are also client-side JavaScript that are the hardest to debug, regardless of whether Java or. NET are helpless.

　　What is Flex Builder?

A Visual Flex application development tool, based on Eclipse, generates a Flash user interface in markup language, transforms the designer's expected XML tag into a flash component, and compiles a Flash SWF file for the customer to browse. Enables designers and developers to create flex applications more efficiently.

Adobe AIR Technical Advantages

Air has been touted by the media as one of the 2007 most noteworthy technologies, and, like Ajax at the time, will be widely watched.

Now let's look at the advantages of air. To understand its advantages, the following questions need to be understood first.

First, the current network application of several forms

The network application is complicated, but I think it can be divided into the following types:

Web Access-such as a large number of Web services applications, directly through IE and Firefox and other browsers, with the Unified Standard HTTP protocol to obtain services, although the browser is also a client, but the user is a standard configuration, and the user access to the Web services are browser-independent, So you can separate from the following desktop software

The advantages are: independent of the operating system platform, browser-independent, in different operating system environment, with different browsers, access to the same site to obtain the same service is the same amount.

The disadvantage is that the user's interaction and user experience are less than desktop applications, and the forms of Web services available are limited by a single protocol.

Limited to the operating system desktop (or client) programs-such as BT download, im software, a variety of miscellaneous, many agreements, need to download the installation to obtain services.

The advantage is: The user's interactive operation experience, as long as want to do can do very in place, because many operations are in the local, without the network link, so operation response Instant, although the current web Ajax technology makes this problem has changed, but still not as convenient as the client In addition, the form of network services is not the same as the Web is limited by a single protocol, and can even do its own protocol.

The disadvantage is: limited by the platform, need to be developed under different operating systems, not generic, such as the current domestic e-magazine, mostly packaged into Windows EXE files, under the Mac and Linux can not be used to watch, in addition to the rogue software, virus Trojan reasons, General netizens are more resistant to download client programs, in addition to some high-visibility applications, such as IM software, download software, general applications are more difficult to popularize; and the download itself is a threshold for the user.
Cross-platform client applications-primarily sun-initiated Java technology-to develop cross-platform execution at once.
Its advantages: In addition to having all the advantages of desktop programs, cross-platform is its greatest advantage.
Disadvantage: In addition to having all the shortcomings of the desktop program, its technology itself requires the download of a virtual machine installation, for most netizens is also a threshold.

Ii. features of Adobe Air technology

From the official Adobe propaganda, the following points are characteristic:

1. Run locally-similar to desktop applications.

2, cross-platform-similar to Java technology, on different operating systems have corresponding virtual machine support, currently has windows and mac,linux.

3, development is based on the existing web technology, such as flash/flex/actionscript/html/javascript/css/ajax/pdf, for developers, do not need to learn C, C + +, Java and other underlying development language, do not need to learn the specific The development of the operating system underlying API, which reduces the development threshold, so that the existing web development of the technical staff, relying on its original familiar development model, a little training can develop a good rich client application.

Adobe Air is compared to several other types of Web applications

Advantage Comparison:

1, than the advantage of the web is that the advantages of the client, you can run offline, when needed to occasionally connect to the network.

2, than the traditional client advantage, lies in the cross-platform, and low development costs, such as this feature can make the existing domestic electronic magazine system, easy to achieve cross-platform.

3, the advantage of the cross-platform than Java is that its flash technology itself brings more attractive interactive performance.
The problem with Adobe air is that it has drawbacks:

1, the download and installation of its virtual machine, will be a promotion of the threshold.

2, after all, most of the use of web development technology, although there are some API extensions on the desktop side, but certainly not completely replace the traditional client development.

Review:

In summary, the outlook of Adobe Air technology should be very good, as long as its virtual machine to promote the scale and Flash plug-in, its huge application space, will not be overlooked; it is believed that the foundation of the popularization of flash technology, the realization of this will not be a difficult, of course, depends on, Use this technology to promote support for the efforts of various application developers.