Packaging applications for AIR for iOS

Flash Professional includes support for publishing applications for AIR for iOS. AIR for iOS applications can run on the Apple iPhone and iPad. When you publish for iOS, Flash converts your FLA files into native iPhone applications.

For information about hardware and software requirements for desktop and mobile AIR applications, see AIR system requirements.

For detailed instructions about packaging Flash applications for the iPhone, see Building Adobe AIR Applications with the Packager for iPhone.

• Video: Flash Professional CS5.5 - Publishing content to iOS devices (8:08, Adobe TV)

• Article: Developing for the Apple iPhone using Flash

• Adobe Labs: Applications for iPhone

• Blog/Video: One Application, Five Screens (Christian Cantrell, Adobe blogs)

• Article: Developing a Mobile Application with Flash (John Hattan, gamedev.net)

• Article: Compiling large Flash/AIR projects with lot of SWFs for iOS (Tom Krcha, flashrealtime.com)

By virtue of Flash Professional CS6 Update 12.0.2, Flash Professional extends support for AIR 3.4 and Flash Player 11.4. This update allows you to leverage the following important features exposed by AIR 3.4. These features enhance publishing workflow of AIR application on iOS, significantly.

• High-Resolution Retina Display for the new iPad
• Native iOS Simulator
• Direct Deployment of AIR applications on iOS devices bypassing iTunes

Flash Professional CS6 update 2 is bundled with AIR 3.4, and hence, you do not have to install the SDK explicitly.

An important change to the AIR application deployment workflow allows you to deploy AIR applications directly to iOS devices. To deploy to iOS devices using an earlier version of Flash Professional (CS6 or earlier), you had to invoke AIR applications from iTunes before deploying them on the target device.

However, with Flash Professional CS6 Update 12.0.2, you can deploy AIR applications on iOS directly, bypassing the usage of iTunes. This feature reduces the time required to publish an AIR application for iOS and improves productivity and performance significantly.

Note: It is necessary that you install iTunes on the machine that has Flash Professional CS6 installed.

To enable direct deployment on an iOS device, do the following:

1. Ensure that iTunes is installed on the machine on which you have Flash PRofessional CS6 installed.
2. In Flash Professional CS6, on the Properties panel, click the  button, beside the Target drop-down to bring up the AIR for iOS Settings dialog.

3. On the Deployment tab, select Install Application On The Connected iOS Device option.

4. Click Publish.

Flash Professional CS6 can be integrated with Apple Xcode to enable Native iOS Simulator to test and debug AIR applications written for iOS. The iOS Simulator is highly useful when you do not have access to actual devices (iPhone or iPad). With the Native iOS Simulator, you can also test and debug AIR applications across multiple devices (iPhone and iPad). However, the iOS Simulator can be integrated with Flash Professional CS6 that runs on Macintosh systems only.

To use the iOS Simulator, Flash Professional CS6 requires you to download and install Xcode. For more information, see Setting up Xcode for iOS Simulator Support.

1. Download and install Xcode from http://developer.apple.com or download from Mac App Store.
2. Launch Flash Professional CS6.
3. Create or open an existing AIR for iOS document.
4. On the Properties panel, set the Player target as AIR3.4 for iOS.
5. Click the button, beside the Target drop-down to bring up the AIR for iOS Settings dialog.

6. On the General tab, provide the fully qualified path to the iOS Simulator SDK manually or browse to location. For example, Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator5.1.sdk.

7. On the Deployment tab, provide the Certificate and Password. Optionally, provide the Provisioning Profile for the AIR application.

8. Click OK to finish.

You can now use the iOS Simulator to test and debug your application. For information, see Testing AIR applications using the Natives iOS Simulator and Debugging AIR applications using the Native iOS Simulator.

Ensure that you have set up Xcode and set the path to iPhone SDK before testing your AIR application. For more information, see Setting Up XCode for iOS Simulator.

1. In Flash Professional CS6, Control > Test Movie > on iOS Simulator to bring up the iOS Simulator. However, if you have not set the iOS Simulator SDK path in AIR for iOS Settings dialog, an error is thrown to indicate the same.
2. Browse to your application on the iOS Simulator, and click to launch.

Ensure that you have set up Xcode and set the path to iPhone SDK path before debugging your AIR application. For more information, see Setting Up XCode for iOS Simulator.

1. In Flash Professional CS6, select Debug > Debug Movie > on iOS Simulator to bring up the iOS Simulator. However, if you have not set the iOS Simulator SDK path in AIR for iOS Settings dialog, an error is thrown to indicate the same.
2. In Flash Professional CS6, select Debug > Begin Remote Debugging Session > ActionScript 3.0.
3. Browse to your application on iOS Simulator, and click to launch.

Flash Professional CS6 allows you to create rich AIR applications for iOS with an extended support for High-resolution Retina display. You can choose to select High-resolution Retina Display when publishing AIR applications.

This feature requires you to install Flash Professional CS6 Update 2 and AIR 3.4.

1. In Flash Professional CS6, create or open an existing AIR for iOS document.
2. On the Properties panel, click the button beside the Target drop-down to bring up the AIR for iOS Settings dialog.

2. On the General tab, set the Resolution as High.

3. Click Publish.