Ray Camden beat me to showing off the ColdFusion Sneak Peak at MAX 2007. I'm here trying to learn Flex and AIR, so the demo of the CFAirAccess tag was very intriguing! I've wanted to post more about MAX, but my wireless has been so flaky and is usually not working. So I'll be posting when I'm back on a wired connection or perhaps at the airport on the way home.
Kevin Hoyt from Adobe started his presentation using Dreamweaver (instead of Flex Builder). Demonstration of using the "adl" command line compiler against the apollo project xml file, which is necessary when you aren't using the Flex Builder plug-in. HTML onclick to open a new window will open a new Apollo window when it is rendered inside an Apollo app.
The ".air" files (the Apollo distribution/install file) is simply a zipped file. You can change the extension to .zip and view it with any zip archive viewer utility.
Occasionally Connected: listen for the Event.NETWORK_CHANGE event to take action when you are going on/off line.
File I/O: cross-platform file i/o built-in; for instance File.appStorageDirectory and file.resolve()
Kevin took a digital photo, then opened the jpeg file in an Apollo app and showed the image and the associated EXIF data.
This was a good follow-up to Ben Forta's lunchtime keynote.
Ben Forta led the lunchtime session by discussing Apollo. Apollo was developed to help solve some of the limitations of the web browser. "Apollo is a cross-operating system runtime that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build and deploy desktop RIA's." It is not/does not replace a web browser.
Demonstrated "Ascension" Apollo application: music player + flickr mashup + other things. Apollo adds file I/O to Flash.
Demonstrated "Maptacular" -- google maps + flash contact overlay with drag+drop. Web rendering is done by WebKit open source engine--used in Safari and KTHML.
Features: Offline/occasionally connected, apps can run in background, expanded network protocols, file i/o, custom chrome (shape, alpha), and more! Desktop integration: install/uninstall, app shortcuts, drap/drop, clipboard access, cross-app communication, notifications, and more! Scripting: AS3 in Flash/Flax, JavaScript - HTML/CSS/AJAX, complete access to Flash Player, HTML DOMs, and APIs.
Demonstratred "ScreenPlay" -- Apollo application that allows you to draw on the screen.
Free book--"Apollo for Flex Developers Pocket Guide", available on labs.adobe.com
And of course, "When is being released??" 2007 :-)
How do I start developing? Download the Apollo extensions from labs.adobe.com (for Eclipse/Flex Builder), then select New -- Apollo Project to begin. Ben created a simple "web browser" that created a 149K .air file--all that functionality in a little package.
Great session!
