Beginning flash, flex, and air development for mobile devices (paperback)

Create rich, interactive Flash-based mobile apps today

The release of a new lineup of mobile devices running Google Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS, and Apple iOS platforms requires an up-to-date resource for creating cross-platform native applications using Flash, Flex, AIR, and related tools. This full-color book satisfies that demand. Software developer Jermaine G. Anderson shows you how to use industry-leading software to create mobile content. As you become familiar with the Adobe Flex framework and the MXML components optimized for mobile devices, you"ll also learn how to utilize the Flash Player and AIR ActionScript 3.0 APIs. By the end of the book, you"ll be able to showcase mobile content across a range of mobile platforms.

Beginning Flash, Flex, and AIR Development for Mobile Devices:

• Introduces core ActionScript 3.0 principles and the Flex framework

• Details the necessary steps for building and packaging AIR applications for Google Android, BlackBerry® Tablet OS, and Apple® iOS platforms, using Adobe® Flash® Builder

• Guides you through best practices for creating content as well as debugging applications and error handling

• Shows you how to use CSS styles to automatically adapt content to different screen resolutions across multiple platforms

• Highlights multiple ways in which you can include sound and video in your mobile applications

Wrox Beginning guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think, providing a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.

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CHAPTER 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO FLASH, FLEX, AND AIR 1

Adobe Flash 1

Flash on Mobile Devices 2

ActionScript 3.0 2

ECMAScript 2

Key Concepts 3

The Flex Framework 11

Flex 4.5.1 11

MXML 12

Spark Library Components 14

Data Binding 21

Flex Mobile Application Structure 22

Considerations for Mobile Development 31

Adobe AIR 31

Summary 32

CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED 35

Using Flash Builder 4.5.1 35

Working with Workspaces 36

Using the Flash Perspective 37

Using the Flash Debug Perspective 38

Using the Source and Design Views 39

Creating a Mobile Project Using Flash Builder 41

Creating a Hello World App Example 41

Defi ning Run Confi gurations 51

Running Mobile Applications on the Desktop 52

Running Mobile Applications on the Device 55

Summary 64

CHAPTER 3: BUILDING AIR APPLICATIONS FOR ANDROID, BLACKBERRY, AND IOS DEVICES 67

AIR Application Descriptor Files 67

Setting Properties in the AIR Application Descriptor File 68

Manually Editing the Application Descriptor File for the Hello World App 69

BlackBerry Tablet OS Confi guration 79

Packaging for Google Android 82

Packaging for Apple iOS 88

Packaging for BlackBerry Tablet OS 94

Updating AIR Applications 96

Retrieving Details from the Application Descriptor File 97

Using the Version Number 97

Summary 98

CHAPTER 4: TOUCH, MULTITOUCH, AND GESTURES 101

Multitouch Interactions 102

Determining Touch Input Support 102

Creating a Multitouch and Gestures App Example 103

Touch Event Handling 106

Registering Touch Events on Interactive Objects 114

Determining the Supported Touch Points 117

Gesture Interactions 117

Determining Which Gestures Are Supported on a Device 117

Gesture Events and Event Handling 118

Registering Gesture Events on Interactive Objects 119

Handling Gesture Events 124

Utilizing the Multitouch Panel in Device Central 128

Summary 128

CHAPTER 5: DEVELOPING FOR MULTIPLE SCREEN SIZES 131

Considerations for Multiple Screen Sizes 132

Pixel Density 132

Utilizing Device DPI 133

Adapting Content to Stage Size 138

Using the StageScaleMode and StageAlign Classes 138

Handling Stage Resize Events 140

Creating the Sprite Layout App Example 140

Handling Device Orientation 151

Using the StageOrientation Class 152

Using the StageOrientationEvent Class 152

Using Layouts in Flex 154

Aligning Items in Group Containers 155

Summary 174

CHAPTER 6: DEBUGGING APPLICATIONS 177

Setting Breakpoints 177

Global Error Handling 188

Handling Uncaught Errors 188

Try...Catch Statements 191

Stepping through Code 193

Summary 196

CHAPTER 7: WORKING WITH THE FILESYSTEM 199

Reading from the Filesystem 200

The File and FileStream Classes 200

Creating a Files Explorer App Example 203

Modifying Files and Filesystems 216

Creating New Files and Directories 216

Utilizing Browse Dialogs 229

Opening a Single File 230

Opening Multiple Files 230

Saving a Single File to a Location 236

Summary 237

CHAPTER 8: WORKING WITH DATA 239

Detecting Changes in Network Availability 239

Retrieving Data with URLRequest 240

Monitoring the URLRequest Object...