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March 19, 2012
Question

Apple's External Accessory API

  • March 19, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 1114 views

According to information I gleaned off the internet, Flash Builder 4.5 or 4.6 (hereafter refered to as 4.x) does not support iOS BlueTooth at all, nor does it support BlueTooth in Android or Blackberry except indirectly via Java.

This is really bad becuase I like Flash Builder 4.x

But it seems if I want to build a data gatherer app (say for BlueTooth enabled remote monitoring station data grabber app) for these platforms I can do it but only in a piecemeal fashion and I can't use FlashBuilder 4.x

EG: on IOS:

Do not use Flash Builder 4.x : I checked and it seems that as of "Apple's External Accessory API" I have to sign up to the  "Made for iPhone" (MfI) program.  I can't do this within Flash Builder

on Android and blackberry

     Do not use Flash Builder 4.x because I'd only be able to use the Bluetooth via a 3rd party Java API. Use Android SDK and BlackBerry Java

Please tell me I am wrong! The world is a harsh enough place as it is! I'd love to be able to build an app, distribute it and not have to write it in Java/Android/iOS (let alone windows!) Is this really the case? are there any plans to remedy this in Flash Builder?

any help would be much appreciated!

Thank in advance

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1 reply

Innovatology
Participating Frequently
March 24, 2012

You can access such low-level functions using AIR Native Exensions (ANE's). You'd write code in Objective-C (IOS), Java (Android) or C/C++ (PlayBook) to provide the functions that AIR does not provide, then call those functions from AS3.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/native-extensions-for-air.html