Breaking Out of the Web Browser with Adobe AIR (Paperback)

by Michael Labriola (Author), Jeff Tapper (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
With the introduction of Adobe AIR, Flex developers have more capability than ever before. Now you can build dynamic applications that combine the rich experience of a traditional desktop application with the power of the Internet. Leveraging your existing knowledge of Adobe Flex and Flash, Breaking out of the Web Browser with Adobe AIR will help you build well-architected desktop applications. Flex and Flash experts Jeff Tapper and Michael Labriola will teach you techniques to create truly custom interfaces by leading you through exercises with a real world time-tracking application. The book’s abundance of examples will help you become adept at interacting with the end user’s underlying operating system and teach you the most important concepts for using AIR.

About the Author
Jeff Tapper has developed Internet-based applications since 1995 for a myriad of clients including Morgan Stanley, Conde Nast, Toys R Us, IBM, Dow Jones, American Express, M&T Bank, and Verizon. He has developed Flex applications since the earliest days of Flex 1. As an Instructor, Jeff is certified to teach Adobe’s courses on AIR, Flex, ColdFusion, and Flash. He is a senior consultant at Digital Primates IT Consulting Group, which provides expert guidance on rich Internet application development.

Michael Labriola is a Senior Consultant at Digital Primates IT Consulting Group. He has developed Internet applications since 1995 and has worked with Flex since its 1.0 beta program. Michael is an Adobe Flex Developer Champion, Certified Instructor, Community Expert, and international speaker on Flex and AIR topics who has consulted for three of the world’s ten most recognized brands. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press; 1 edition (September 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321503562
• ISBN-13: 978-0321503565
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #892,982 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, definitely pick it up., October 13, 2008

By	Nathan Frank (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Breaking out of the browser with air is an excellent book. It provides a great overview of a ton of things one can do with Air. The book is not a comprehensive bible of every single thing you need to know, but that's one of its strong points. If I need to know the complete in's and out's of something I'll check the api docs and get my info there. The best thing this book does is give you a full understanding of whats available.

Another key point for me is that the book is good at showing what kinds of things a developer should keep in mind when it comes to making desktop apps rather than web apps. This is bigger than you would think for impacting user experience.

I went into this book with as3 knowledge, having worked on an air app prior and some flex knowledge. Coming out I know alot more things to watch out for and a heads up some some functionality I haven't used. There's also a ton of good snippets of code; just enough, to give you an idea of whats being discussed.

As far as frameworks go they take a look at using some commands and talk a little about how that plays into creating reusable code, always a plus in my book. I'm more of a PureMVC fan myself, and the code they present is a variation of adobe's Cairngorm.

Various places they make comments to elements in the adobe flex 3 training from the source book. I'm off to get a copy of that now as a good in depth how it works book.

This is definitely worth picking up especially if you are new to Air. Not overpoweringly long either.