Availability of Adobe AIR runtime in the long term?

[FerrieJB]

Hi all,

I'm currently maintaining an extensive portfolio of Flex (SDK 3.5) based products, that all run on browser based Flash Player plugins, and following the announcement of Google Chrome hiding Flash Player behind a click-to-start mechanism, I am reviewing what target runtime would be the best for our products.

I understand that Adobe still officially supports and develops AIR, but would there be any clarity on the long term (>5 years from now) roadmap of this product ?

Would converting my Flex code to run in AIR be a safe bet to ensure future compatibility on the platforms in runs on?

I've also been looking at alternative runtimes. There are some initiatives that try to compile MXML to HTML5 compatible CSS/JS - FlexJS, but those don't support stuff like AMF or E4X which make it useless in our situation. JavaFX could be another option but that would mean rebuilding our entire codebase from scratch.

We have about 10 years of development in Flex source code in our repositories and it seems like such a waste to have to rebuild it all. What are my options, and what guarantees are available, to ensure the availability of our products' runtimes in the future?

I presume there must be many devs facing this problem, and I was wondering if there will be a formal path from Adobe to follow (like f.i. an Adobe supported product that compiles MXML into HTML5 properly, or a guarantee that AIR will be available for at least certain period of time). Any suggestions or helpful links are welcome.

Kind regards,

Ferrie

[ASWC]

You should get that type of dialog box for any app you install on your computer, the adobe dialog box is just looking different that's all but it's not asking for anything other apps don't require too.

Those dialog boxes don't ask to access everything on the computer, that's a misconception.

Compiling AIR apps with captive runtime as native apps is NOT a way to avoid those permission access confirmation boxes contrary to what newB0rn claims.

If apps (AIR or not) can be installed on your computer without dialog box permission confirmations then so can viruses.

[gperry91]

http://forum.starling-framework.org/

^ here you go, the Starling community is super active. AIR is alive and well, and needs enthusiastic developers. Not detractors.

[ArmandN]

The sad truth is that Flash is dead. It pains me to say it, but denying it won't change it.

There is no R&D in the Flash/AIR runtime, no new features (remember "AS Next"?). Pure Javascript in Chrome is 3x faster than AS3, despite the fact that the compiler needs to infer type. On the other hand Javascript/canvas is nowhere near the Flash performance. Steve Jobs managed to turn the public perception against Flash, yet 9 years later html5 performance still sucks! (effects are slow, fps on mobile is a problem, battery usage is high).

Apple, Google and Mozilla simply want to bury Flash. The new developers haven't even tried it and don't know its advantages. I've been doing Flash development for 19 years (I think, Flash 2 era) but I simply can't explain anyone why Flash/AIR still is a superior platform to html5. No one would listen.

I have ported my game, SparkChess (http://www.sparkchess.com) from AIR to HTML5 using Typescript (which I recommend for porting the code) and createjs for canvas, the rest is html/css. For the AIR equivalent I'm using NWJS for desktop and Cordova for mobile. Guess what - players still prefer the Flash version, but soon they won't even be able to play. Yay for progress?

[davidrenelt]

Apple, Google and Mozilla simply want to bury Flash. The new developers haven't even tried it and don't know its advantages. I've been doing Flash development for 19 years (I think, Flash 2 era) but I simply can't explain anyone why Flash/AIR still is a superior platform to html5. No one would listen.

It's even worse, you risk your good reputation even mentioning flash to a client. I'm doing mostly B2B things, and the ability to have things run in the browser is important, even if it's not planned initially. So If i'd do a mobile app in Air, i have to tell them that the browser is off the table. That doesn't fly .. so with the death of flash on the Browser, Air isn't an option for me anymore.

Steve Job's was a powerful idiot. He is known for deciding what's good and bad almost randomly. He had an almost religious believe in his ability to asses the quality of something without knowing anything about it. In the end, the pressure that created on the people working with him resulted in quality, but we don't even know how many great things died because steve decided that it's not good enough.

For a while that whole "flash is dead" thing was a good thing for the platform. At that time flash made big strides becoming faster, more stable and many powerful features were added. As of now, Flash is still vastly superior to anything Canvas/WebGL can do and even the simple things run a lot faster, ironically ... specially on mobile.

If it's absolutely clear that browser compability isn't needed, i prefer to do it in Flash/Air and sell it as "Adobe Air" and dont mention that it has anything to do with flash. I think a lot of people did that for a while, which resulted in the fact that no one even knows how great flash runs on iOS/Android. I've once replicated an iOS app a big light bulb company developed natively over the course of a year within a week. And my version ran smoother then theirs. Having a custom graphically rich and very animated UI is something that takes a lot of knowledge and time doing it native, while in flash this is almost trivial as it is made to do just that. I remember their reaction going "How the f. is this possible".

I'll probably still use Air for things i know i don't have to maintain for long (Trade-show stuff). But as painful as it is, the HTML/JS ecosystem is the future ... not a bright one, but it's still the future

[gperry91]

ArmandN - do you happen to read the AIR SDK release notes? Or do you only rely on press releases for your information?

http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashruntimes/shared/air22_flashplayer22_releasenotes.pdf

Or look at this post on upcoming AIR features in 2016

AIR in 2016 - Feedback survey and Christmas Tale « Starling Forum 

[ASWC]

You are kidding yourself, AIR is coasting and has been for years, no windows store packaging available remember? AIR will simply not support any new platform, they will update the currently supported ones until .... until ... AIR is irrelevant. AIR is simply treated like Flash has been by Adobe, support it, update it, don't make anything new and wait until it's safe to pull the plug. Maybe you are too young to remember but when Adobe bought Macromedia they inherited the publication of FP9 and the preparation of FP10 (quickly fixed to FP11) and since FP11 what else did Adobe do for Flash? That's right zip, nothing.

[el111]

Can your tool convert something like this?

Will it fill an MSE buffer from a byteArray which can be attached to a video object.

var connection:NetConnection = new NetConnection();

connection.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS, netStatusHandler);

connection.addEventListener(SecurityErrorEvent.SECURITY_ERROR, securityErrorHandler);

connection.connect(null);

var stream:NetStream = new NetStream(connection);

stream.client = this;

stream.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS, netStatusHandler);

stream.addEventListener(AsyncErrorEvent.ASYNC_ERROR, asyncErrorHandler);

stream.play(null);

stream.appendBytesAction(NetStreamAppendBytesAction.RESET_BEGIN);

stream.appendBytes(byteArray);

[buzzy@rhythmbee.com]

Thanks for the response!

That is almost Greek to me - I am an animator dabbling lightly in the coding world. So I can't tell you what the conversion to AIR will do with that code.

But while teaching myself Adobe Animate CC, I have been able to develop hundreds of instructional SWFs that make me a pretty nice retirement supplemental income. I have a loyal client base and need to find the next platform to keeping them happy.

Thanks for trying! I wish I could speak your language.

[Julien26]

buzzy, you are not using a hidden flash player, you are using the AIR tools. There are little differences between AIR and Flash, like the way to access local files. If your projects are "simple" and don't use these specific parts of the API, yes you can "magically" switch from Flash to AIR, without doing anything

[buzzy@rhythmbee.com]

Julien26 - Thanks for the clarity. My products may be simple in some ways, but they are highly interactive - like changing the fps drastically at will. But that seems to convert to AIR without a hitch.

[ASWC]

Of course, my tool converts code and code only (from AS3 to Typescript) so this is not the problem, the problem is whether you have a Typescript implementation of NetConnection, NetStream, etc ... I had to develop a Typescript framework to mirror the flash package classes that are referenced. For example all flash display list classes are based on PIXIJS (by composition so this can be switched), my flash sound package is an implementation of the AudioAPI, etc ...

[Colin Holgate]

Does this also mean you can't use CreateJS at all, and you have to recreate all the abilities of movieclips?

[ASWC]

Within your Typescript code you can use whatever you want. I target canvas and use PIXIJS for example so no createJS involved (all my projects run on canvas and canvas only) but if you use createJS then you already have a similar conversion setup in place just much more limited.

[ThadeuConstantino]

Many Many Natives. 

http://www.myflashlabs.com/

Adobe Air powerfull. o/

ADOOOBE oO

[fbelhaouas]

Hi,

Now that Adobe announced the EOL of Flash player, what's the future of Adobe Air ?

[fbelhaouas · Accepted solution]

I asked my question without to do a deep enough search, I believe this is the answer to my question

AIR Roadmap Update

[buzzy@rhythmbee.com]

I wish someone would explain how AIR works. When I convert one of my hundreds of FLA files to AIR, it seems to good to be true. I have - so far - experienced no change in functionality. My music education instructional units use the fps adjustment feature that finally came out, and even that worked great the first time.

I fear that my AIR conversions are really just using a hidden Flash Player, which will eventually be impossibly obsolete and then finally unavailable.

Thanks for the help!

Bz