Adobe AIR: Create - Modify - Reuse (Programmer to Programmer) [Paperback]

Marc Leuchner (Author), Todd Anderson (Author), Matt Wright (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470182075 | ISBN-13: 978-0470182079 | Publication Date: April 28, 2008 | Edition: 1

Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) revolutionizes the way Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are deployed and supports two primary technologies?Flash and HTML/Ajax?in order to make desktop development something that every web developer can do. This book walks you through eleven fully implemented AIR applications with source code that you can use as they currently exist or customize. Each project begins with a discussion of architecture and design, followed by code implementation. You?ll get hands-on knowledge of AIR application design and development that you can then use to build dynamic RIAs.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Adobe AIR: Create - Modify - Reuse

Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) revolutionizes the way Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are deployed. AIR supports two primary technologies, Flash and HTML/Ajax, in order to make desktop development something that every web developer can do. This book shows you how to set up a practical development environment and then walks you through eleven fully implemented AIR applications with source code that you can use as they currently exist or customize.

Each project begins by providing a discussion of architecture and design, followed by code implementation. You'll get hands-on knowledge of AIR application design and development that you can then use to build dynamic RIAs.

What you will learn from this book

• How to communicate with the computer file system

• Techniques for using and customizing the native windowing API

• How to read from and locate mp3 files on a local machine to assemble a music library

• Ways to interact with HTML and JavaScript® content within a Flex-based application

• How to use the native drag-and-drop API for opening and saving image files

• How to play H.264- and FLV-encoded video

• Techniques for restyling an HTML page off the Internet locally

• How to communicate with a local database and expand upon occasional connectivity

Who this book is for
This book is for developers who use web technologies (Flash, Flex 3, HTML, JavaScript, Ajax, etc.) to build and deploy RIAs and are interested in learning a new platform.

Create - Modify - Reuse guides are packed with unique, ready-to-use projects that are perfect for the busy programmer. The projects are created with minimal set-up and can be modified, enhanced, and reused in real-world situations.

About the Author

Marc Leuchner is a Senior Flash Developer for the Boston-based advertising group Almighty. His roles and talents within the company primarily revolve around Flash development and interactive design. Over the years, he has worked with clients such as New Balance, ABC, Cond´e Nast, PUMA, BMW/Mini, Comcast, and GAP, Inc. Marc holds a BFA in New Media/Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology. In his spare time, he writes the technology blog www.nobien.net/ with co-author Matt Wright.

Todd Anderson is a Senior Software Engineer for Infrared5. With over five years of developing for the Flash Platform in the areas of RIA and game development, Todd has delivered web and desktop solutions for the publishing and entertainment industries for companies including McGraw-Hill, Thomson, Motorola, and Cond´e Nast. He runs www.custardbelly.com/blog, focusing on development of the Flash Platform and game development.

Matthew Wright is a Senior Flash Developer for ROKKAN, a full-service digital agency located in New York City. Since 2005 he has delivered mostly consumer experience Flash sites and applications for a wide array of clients, including Virgin America, the Coca-Cola Company, Atlantic Records, Time Warner, the NBA, and 2K Games. Prior to ROKKAN, he got his start at an interactive agency in Syracuse, New York, called 2ndNature. It was here that he discovered his love for the Flash platform. Outside of work, Matthew contributes to a Flash and technology blog www.nobien.net, with friend, colleague, and co-author Marc Leuchner. He has also spoken at FlashForward. Matthew lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his beautiful girlfriend, Chewy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 457 pages
• Publisher: Wrox; 1 edition (April 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470182075
• ISBN-13: 978-0470182079
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Software Reuse

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Create Modify Reuse .... not really, October 18, 2008

By 

Brian (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adobe AIR: Create - Modify - Reuse (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

This is a really good book. It has complete code example of using air to create real world examples. Each chapter is a different example. There are two things I would change about the book: 1. The Title. I don't see what this has to do with create, modify, reuse. There is sql hard coded right in variables! If it is called create, modify, reuse, you would think I would learn about good ways to set up an air database without hard coded create table statements! 2. The long code blocks could use a few comments! There are pages and pages of just code...with no comments. While it is explained before and after, a few comments in the code examples would be nice. While I mentioned the negatives, overall I think this book is a really good learning experience with real applications.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great way to learn Adobe AIR, June 12, 2009

By 

J. McClary (Chesapeake, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe AIR: Create - Modify - Reuse (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

Adobe AIR has a dual personality. On one hand it it doesn't spend a lot of time hand-holding when you get to the pages of code. But the good part is, they've told you most of what matters by that time - these authors really know their code. I learned more than I thought - as a beginner I thought I'd use this latter on but what I found is that (just like learning any language) it is best to just immerse yourself and you'll eventually see how it all fits together. Really :)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not good for FlexBuilder, November 16, 2008

By 

Shantul Nigam (Avon, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Adobe AIR: Create - Modify - Reuse (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

The examples are pretty good but it is really hard to follow if you are using FlexBuilder as I am. There are no instructions on how to use them in FlexBuilder, though it is not very hard to figure out. The really bad part is that the examples tend to do the UI's last. This makes it VERY hard to follow the examples. If you completely type in the examples, you tend to not be able to find the error until you COMPLETELY finish typing in all of the code. Also, the file name and path of the file you are typing in is given after the code which is backwards of most books.

The examples are cool but the explanations are a bit week and there is very little docs in the code which makes it a bit more difficult to follow especially if you are new to this.