Adobe AIR Beta Channel Update
This beta release provides access to the latest AIR runtime and SDK (with compiler) for Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android.
Below are some of the key features and benefits of AIR 14. Please see our release notes for full details.
- Anisotropic Filtering
This new texture sampling filter can enhance the image quality of textures on surfaces that are at oblique viewing angles. There are two ways to enable this feature:
In AGAL, set one of the values – "anisotropic2x", "anisotropic4x", "anisotropic8x", or "anisotropic16x" to the filter option in the sampling instructions. Call Context3D::setSamplerStateAt with the 3rd parameter "filter" being one of the values defined in Context3DTextureFilter - "ANISOTROPIC2X", "ANISOTROPIC4X", "ANISOTROPIC8X", or "ANISOTROPIC16X"
- New Stage3D "Standard" Profile
Developers can now request this high level profile when creating Context3D. Three new features are available in this profile:- Multiple render target allows to you to draw geometry to multiple outputs (up to 4) during one drawing
- Floating point texture allows you to create Texture, RectangleTexture and CubeTuxture with the RGBA16F folder.
- AGAL v2 contains these improvements:
- Increased register size
- Partial derivative instructions
- Fragment depth output
- Conditional forward jump
- Intel x86 Android Support
As announced in our Flash Runtime blog, we're adding support for Intel x86 Android to AIR.
An ADT command line option (-arch) has been added to allow packaging apps with Android x86 support. Sample APK packaging command for x86 devices:
adt -package -target ( apk | apk-debug | apk-captive-runtime ) -arch x86 -storetype pkcs12
-keystore abc.p12 HelloWorld.apk HelloWorld-app.xml HelloWorld.swf
Note that -arch is optional. If not specified, armv7 is assumed.
Except for RTMPE and DRM, all other features and capabilities are completely functional and supported. Native extensions written for x86 platforms can also be packaged and used by an app for x86 devices. To support that, a new ANE platform 'Android-x86' is now available. Following example highlights the usage of the same:
<extension xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/extension/14.0">
<id>com.adobe.sample.ane</id>
<versionNumber>1.0</versionNumber>
<platforms>
<platform name="Android-ARM">
<applicationDeployment>
<nativeLibrary>sample.jar</nativeLibrary>
<initializer>com.example.ane.Extension</initializer>
<finalizer>com.example.ane.Extension</finalizer>
</applicationDeployment>
</platform>
<platform name=“Android-x86">
<applicationDeployment>
<nativeLibrary>sample.jar</nativeLibrary>
<initializer>com.example.ane.Extension</initializer>
<finalizer>com.example.ane.Extension</finalizer>
</applicationDeployment>
</platform>
</platforms>
</extension>
New packaging command for ANE:
adt -package -target ane Sample.ane extension.xml -swc Sample.swc -platform Android-ARM
-C Android-ARM/ . -platform Android-x86 -C Android-x86/ .
- Improved Packaging Engine - iOS - BETA
Based on the feedback recieved from the developer community, tons of improvements and bug fixes have been made in the new packaging engine for iOS. We still encourage developers to report issues to http://bugbase.adobe.com, to ensure that we are able to deliver a solid packager with the final release.
To enable this feature, please use "-useLegacyAOT no" in the ADT command, before the signing options. As of now, this feature is not available within Flash Pro but it can still be used with Flash builder by adding the parameter -useLegacyAOT under the "Customize launch" option.
Here is an example ADT command for compiling an applications using “-useLegacyAOT no":
adt -package -target ( ipa-test | ipa-debug | ipa-app-store | ipa-ad-hoc) -useLegacyAOT no
-provisioning-profile <Path to profile> -keystore <path to .p12 file>
-storetype pkcs12 -storepass xxxx HelloWorld.ipa Helloworld-app.xml HelloWorld.swf
Open issues:
- Bug 3752591: Android AIR captive runtime can cause a crash if using DRM video content
- Bug 3747105: x86 Runtime fails to install on x86 devices, when installed by Flash Builder.[Workaround: Install x86 Runtime.apk from command prompt or use captive runtime when testing through Flash Builder.].]
- Bug 3747382: DatagramSocket not receiving packets on iOS
- Bug 3743946: ANE doesn't include libraries through platform.xml and throws error on packaging the IPA
- Bug 3730948: Missing support for XXXHDPI icon on Android 4.4
- Bug 3727274: Not able to debug AIR app in iOS Simulator from Flash Builder when Xcode below 5.x is installed.
Fixed issues:
- Bug 3723876: [Android]R$Styleable.class goes missing from the final AIR app APK though is included in ANE.
- Multiple stability fixes
About the Beta Channel
If you would like real-time notification for announcements related to the AIR Beta Channel please follow the Flash Runtime Announcements forums by choosing "Follow this forum" from the right-hand menu on the Forums page.
You can find instructions for getting started with this release here: AIR Labs Page
We encourage you to let us know what you think on our AIR Labs Forum
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