Benjamin Gorton has been developing software for the desktop and the Web for over 10 years. For the

past seven years, he has been working in Flash and ActionScript, doing projects for such companies as

Disney, MTV, Neopets, and Sandisk. He currently resides in Los Angeles, where he works as a Senior

Software Developer for Schematic.

Ryan Taylor is an award-winning artist and programmer specializing in object-oriented architecture,

CGI mathematics/programming, as well as both static and motion design. Ryan, 25, has already landed

his name in the credits of the #1 and #5 all-time best selling video game titles, written for multiple

books, and established himself as an all-around leader in the digital arts community. Currently, Ryan

serves as a senior developer on the Multimedia Platforms Group at Schematic. He also works as an independent

contractor, offering his expertise to top companies and agencies all over the world.

Jeff Yamada lives with his wife AmyLynn and son Jackson in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he is currently

a Senior Interactive Developer at the award-winning RED Interactive Agency. Jeff specializes in the

architecture and development of immersive branded Flash experiences, rich Internet applications, and of

course, AIR applications. As both a designer and developer, Jeff has spent the last ten years freelancing,

consulting, and working for the University of Washington, Microsoft, Avenue A | Razorfish, Schematic,

and Nintendo. Jeff contributes to the open-source community and shares his thoughts and ideas with

the world at http://blog.jeffyamada.com.

Part I: Introduction to AIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Chapter 1: Clearing the AIR ............................................................................................................3

Chapter 2: Setting Up Your Development Environment ..................................................................9

Chapter 3: Building Your First AIR Application ............................................................................33

Part II: Programming for AIR Essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Chapter 4: Crash Course in AIR Programming ..............................................................................45

Chapter 5: Development Essentials ...............................................................................................71

Chapter 6: Debugging and Profiling ..............................................................................................83

Part III: AIR API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Chapter 7: Communicating with the Local Machine ...................................................................101

Chapter 8: Using the Filesystem .................................................................................................115

Chapter 9: Using the Clipboard ..................................................................................................147

Chapter 10: Dragging and Dropping ...........................................................................................173

Chapter 11: SQLite Databases .....................................................................................................193

Chapter 12: Using Native Operating System Windows ...............................................................217

Chapter 13: HTML Content ........................................................................................................255

Part IV: Building an Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Chapter 14: Preparing to Build a Large-Scale Application ...........................................................273

Chapter 15: Building a Reusable Config Class .............................................................................285

Chapter 16: Application Design Best Practices ............................................................................305

Chapter 17: SDK Development ...................................................................................................323

Chapter 18: Sample Application: LogReader ...............................................................................329

Chapter 19: Polishing a Finished Application .............................................................................357

Part V: Testing and Deploying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Chapter 20: Deployment Workflow ............................................................................................385

Chapter 21: Leveraging Ant to Automate the Build Process .........................................................395

Chapter 22: Installation and Distribution ....................................................................................419

Index .........................................................................................................................................433