AIR 2.7
- Started
- Last post
- 21 Responses
- Boz
Adobe kicking butt with AIR 2.7. This is it boys and girls. Building cross-platform mobile apps with native performance is now reality.
iOS, Android, Blackberry, desktops and web..
- benfal990
yeah but...
- Pupsipu0
It's hard to be impressed by that demo.
- Try making 100,000 list items smooth scroll with HTML or anything else but native and you'll understand why it's impressive.Boz
- impressive.Boz
- that's why we write it native...animatedgif
- That's why cross-platform is so great. So you don't have to JUST build native AND other versionsfyoucher1
- monospaced0
nice, I've been excited about Air since I saw the early experiments years ago...it's kinda nice to see it rearing its head again
- animatedgif0
Sorry but am I supposed to be impressed by this?
All I'm seeing is a list scrolling like dogshit and completely unacceptable and then one that can't hold a solid framerate when flicked and is having trouble keeping up with the finger.
Then "a very typical application of just a straight animation" (wtf? yeah I download loads of shit like that, oh wait no I don't) Again one example that can't even hold a solid framerate, however the 2.7 example in this case is smooth... but it's just 1 animated item bouncing around the screen I should fucking hope it's smooth on a £400 device.
The reason I'm complaining about the 2.6 examples running like dogshit is because for the past few months Adobe has been talking as if that performance was even remotely accessible when that was clearly just bullshit.
End of the day, wanna build an iOS app then you need to go native. Not skilled enough to write a native app? Guess you won't be making any app store $$$, go back to school and stop trying to ride 1 skill for the rest of your life.
- Just saying too little too late, if this was on show at the iPad launch then my opinion would differ.animatedgif
- your babble only applies if you want to write for iOS which 99% of people don't want to anymore.. Cross-plaform noob. It's not about knowing one language it's about writing once and publishing to multiple platforms with one code and HTML is shit for mobile.Boz
- It's not about knowing one language it's about writing once and publishing to multiple platforms with one code and HTML is shit for mobile.Boz
- and HTML is shit for mobile.Boz
- and naturally, AIR won't be solution for everything.. you'll still need to write native for some types of apps but about 80% of them will be just fine being built with AIR.Boz
- 80% will be fine built with AIR and published to iOS, Android, desktops, web, TVs, tablets.. Single app on all of these..Boz
- tl;dranimatedgif
- omg0
Better late than never? Maybe Adobe can finally close their 2-3 year gap of missing the beginning of the entire mobile movement.
- omg0
The reason why Adobe will never lead with Flash is that Flash is piggyback technology making it constantly the 2nd alternative.
- inteliboy0
don't you need a plug-in to run air apps? why is this a good thing again?
- jadrian_uk0
Native? lol, learn to code is something else than shitty as3 or garbage xml air shit and you'll understand what native is.
- yeah..I'm sure JS is amazing then..Boz
- haha not really talking about Js but it's way better than pseudo shit AS3jadrian_uk
- Boz0
an btw AS3 is a true object oriented language.. There's nothing shit about it and it gets out of your way because it has a lot of the garbage collection automated for you.. Compared to Objective-C it's magic and beautiful to work with.. Obj-c is absolute SHIT language.. I get diarrhea every time I work with it. The only thing that makes it "acceptable" is because of Cocoa framework and the fact that Xcode and UI are a great development environment. Obj-C as language is absolute trash. That's why you have thousands of apps that are pure garbage and run like shit. Because coders need to properly handle memory and garbage collection and huge percentage of them don't care or doesn't know how to do it properly.
Java is better than AS3? Are you fucking kidding me? While Java is very similar to AS3 in syntax it's a such goliath to work with.. It's so fragmented with libraries and frameworks that it's a huge mess not to mention same problems with handling memory.
I work with all of these languages (less so with Java but I'm getting to some serious levels these days).. and while they have positives in certain scenarios, they know to be difficult and not to mention the fact that you are stuck to one platform with them if you go mobile side. To publish apps for desktop, mobile, TVs, pads there isn't a single solution (beside what Adobe is trying to do with AIR minus doing HTML sites packaged as apps that have zero flexibility in appearance as well as performance) that will work across the board. It won't satisfy all of people's needs and some will still need to go native but it sure beats coding for every platform in native languages. That's just nuts.. If you can offer clients a great looking, great performing app that runs on all platforms AND tvs and web and desktop for the 1/4 of the price and time of going native, it makes you more valuable. Tell them they need to code each app in different languages, pay 4 different programmers to maintain it and do it in months instead of weeks and you'll lose the project. I know, because it's happening right now.
If you are telling other people to learn other languages then give your points on why instead of just rambling. It makes you look silly.
- I meant Xcode and IBBoz
- obj-c does garbage collection on the desktop, it purposefully doesn't on iOS for performance reasonsanimatedgif
- jadrian_uk0
and who is talking about Obj-C, Obj-C is for old schmucks who think they hold the holy graal. Java is a good programing language, pretty amazing, don't compare it with that pseudo langage called AS3.
- chrisRG0
This is a neverending argue.
There's no such thing as better or worse language, you (the developer) have to be smart enough to decide which one is the best for each project you work with.
Saying one is better is like saying to a designer that he must only use serif fonts.
- registe0
Boz,
Are you using any of this? have you ported any simple flash stuff over already yourself?
I read an article last week praising air and its ease, noting some developers were able to port their flash apps or games to air with a few code tweaks in just an afternoon.
I have some extremely simple things I built in flash that require just a click or two to operate. One in particular is a random wheel like twister. Clicking anywhere on the screen causes the wheel to spin, you're only waiting to see where it stops. Have you done or tested anything like this?
- chrisRG0
registe, I've published a Flash made App, for simple things it's really easy and quick.
- Boz0
registe.. of course I'm using it.. my million dollar project is using all of this stuff and I"m excited about AIR 2.7 because it is now solved some performance issues on iOS I had.
I am also an Adobe partner and I've been working with iOS packager before Flash CS5 was released and AIR 2.x was even available for mobile devices.
With the tools you have now.. you can do about 70% of the things you might need in an app..
There are a few things missing (a proper notifications API access, no intents on Android (that's like a hook to allow other applications to communicate with yours and return something to that requesting app).
What you do have is the following:
1. Video camera access
2. Microphone access
3. File System access (Photos)
4. GeoLocation (GPS)
5. Accelerometer
6. Web view access in the app (for oAuth and HTML5 content)I think we can expect in the next build for in-app purchasing to be addressed and notifications. If your app is relying on notifications and intents for Android you will be better off building natively but if your feature set in the app requires what you have available you can do whatever you want really.
There are some caution you need to take because it's not just as simple as making animations in movieclips and expecting it will work fast.. The reason is because the objects that are not drawn/pre-cached on screen cannot be accelerated through OpenGL ES until you wrote them to the GPU. Only after you instantiated them like that and they are cached moving, rotating and similar will be super fast because it is GPU accelerated.
CPU does work ok now but you can't get 60 fps so you have to be wise and read a little bit about optimizing before you dive in.
For simplest things you should be fine. It's easy as pie.. you draw shit in, you make buttons or whatever, you publish as .IPA or .APK file and you are done.
For iOS you need to get your developer certificate to use with Flash CS5.5 while for Android Adobe has simple certificate generator and it's automatic directly from the app.
Flash doesn't have UI elements so you will have to make your own. Flex is more tailored to devs really and has a lof of the UI elements like lists, swipe to new screen controls that adjust to iOS or Android styles of buttons.
Overall it's very easy and to get the maximum performance it's recommend you use pure AS3. Flex is getting there but doing your own things and doing pure AS3 is the fastest.
- registe0
holy crap, that was an awesome answer, thanks
*donates e-dollar to your million dollar project ;)
- registe0
Boz,
do you have any apps in the android market i could check out? are you selling any or giving any away free yet?
- Boz0
not at the moment. I haven't built apps I want to sell, that's why I started building that "million dollar" adventure :).. most of the apps i built were either for custom platforms or testing things out.. Terry Patton has a few games he did (he is doing them with AIR and publishes them to iOS (iPhone and iPad), Blackberry and desktops/web. I chat with Terry often, if anyone stumbled upon performance issues it's him cause he does games and always has tons of sprites and effects and animations.
Check him here - I think he has links to games on all stores there:
http://terrypaton.com/
- registe0
teryy paton's meteor storm requires i install adobe air on my phone
i don't like that, it shold have it's own needs built in or something.
thanks for the direction boz
- ernexbcn0
We get these threads every 6 months or so, promising the bright future of Adobe stuff on iOS devices.
Yawn.
- loljadrian_uk
- I wouldn't expect you to "get" anything.. You are so shortsighted and biased it's not even worth discussing.Boz
- Boz0
Fantastic results w/ AIR 2.7