<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:WindowedApplication xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute" applicationComplete="init()">

<mx:Script>
	<![CDATA[

private function init():void
{
	systemManager.stage.displayState=flash.display.StageDisplayState.FULL_SCREEN_INTERACTIVE
}
	]]>
</mx:Script>

</mx:WindowedApplication>

1. Make sure you have the debugger version of the flash player installed
2. Add  trace(”your test message or details”);  to your code where appropriate
3. Open Applications/Utilities/Terminal
4. Go to the location of the Flash log file..
   /Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/[App Name]/Local Store/
   
5. Type the following command
   tail -f flashlog.txt
   
6. Launch your application.

In my application and the main WindowedApplication contains a ViewStack and a ViewController. Inside the ViewStack are the various MXML views which make up the application. When my application was just a Flex app I sized the application to 100% width/height in the html-template file. However for my Air application it is necessary to set a minimum width/height on launch and let the user decide if they want to maximize the window or set a custom size.

The gotcha came when I set minWidth and minHeight on the new WindowedApplication. This apparently sets the creationPolicy to ‘ ALL ‘ on the parent and thus is inherited by the ViewStack.

If no creationPolicy is specified for a container, that container inherits its parent’s creationPolicy. If no creationPolicy is specified for the Application, it defaults to ContainerCreationPolicy.AUTO.

So the moral of this story is. If you set minHeight/minWidth on a WindowedApplication consider the desired creationPolicy for children. If you don’t want all children to be automatically created when the application is launched then you’ll need to adjust the creationPolicy for child containers manually to ‘ auto ‘ or ‘ none ‘.

I need to find out what type of performance boost their is running a desktop Flex application as an Adobe Air application compared to running it using FireFox with Flash Player 9. So in order to do that I need to make sure I can get Adobe Air for Linux ( currently in Alpha ) working. I need to do this because my application needs to run off a linux desktop environment.

1. First download Adobe Air for Linux runtime environment from the following link. You don’t need to install the SDK unless you plan on developing Air applications using a linux desktop. I’ve started using OSX myself so I’m only going to install the runtime environment.

   http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/air_linux.html

2. I moved my bin file to /usr/share/air and then changed the permissions.

   sudo mkdir /usr/share/airsudo mv adobeair_linux_al_******.binchmod +x adobeair_linux_al_******.bin

3. Then from the desktop go to Places > Computer > usr > share > air and double click on the bin file.
4. Follow the prompts and you’re done installing the runtime environment.
5. Now let’s see if we can get a fancy Air Application running. Go to the Sample application section at Adobe Labs and download an application that interests you. I downloaded Signet which gives you the ability to take your del.icio.us bookmarks to the desktop (whatever that means).

   http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/air/samples/

6. When you click on the download link you should be presented with the option to open the link with the Adobe Air Application Installer. Choose OK and follow the prompts. Make sure to select the option to install an icon on your desktop so that the app will be easy to find once installed.

There you go. Go and explore the world of Adobe Air applications. Good times.