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Using Adobe AIR to write apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook
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Building Apps for BlackBerry PlayBook
Terry RyanAdobe Developer Evangelisthttp://terrenceryan.com@tpryan
I work for Adobe
Not for RIM
Why am I here?
The PlayBook
HardwareDimentions Height 5.1” / 130mm Width 7.6” / 194mm Depth 0.4” / 10mm Weight 0.9 lbs /400g
Performance 7” LCD display 1024 x 600 Multi-touch capacitive screen 1 GHz dual-core processor 1 GB RAM Symmetric multi-processing
Media 3 MP forward facing camera 5 MP rear-facing camera 1080p HD video; H.264, MPEG4,
WMV HDMI video output (full OS output,
not limited to image/video) Stereo sound speakers
Connections Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports Wi-Fi® 802.11 a/b/g/n Bluetooth ® 2.1 +EDR
BlackBerry Tablet OS
BlackBerry Tablet OS
• Based on QNX® Neutrino® RTOS
• Reliable, high-performance kernel engineered for multi-core hardware
• Multi-threaded POSIX OS (Portable Operating System for Unix) for true multitasking
Developer Options• Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR• Browser based
• Flash Player 10.1• HTML 5
• WebWorks for Tablet OS• Native C/C++ Open GL SDK
(tbd)• Java SDK (tbd)• Android dealio (tbd)
AIR SDKAIR SDK• Used in default
Applications
Adobe AIR
What is AIR?
AIR is Flash outside the browser
Has hooks to interact with the system
Flash on Mobile
Flash Player 10.1 + • In-browser content• Games, video• Deploy as a SWF,
put on the web• Currently 10.2
Air 2.5 + • Mobile applications• Native APIs, extra
functionality• Package to target
individual devices
AIR for Desktop
app.air
AIR for Devices
app.bar
app.apk
app.ipa
“Native Application”
• AIR for Device Applications are “Native”• That means they can
be put on app stores• NOT that the UI
components are native
We can use Flash to build “native applications”
Except on the PlayBook
On PlayBook AIR = Native Applications
not “Native Applications”
Why Flash on Devices
AIR is MultiScreen
Is it “write once, run
everywhere”?
No
Write once, tweak and configure everywhere
Developing
Roll your own ActionScript UI
QNX UI Framework
Flex Mobile UI Framework
QNX
Pros
• Low Level• High
Performance• Default UI• Complete UI
Cons• Limits app to
PlayBook• Data components
not as rich as UI
Demo
Getting Started with QNX
Flex
Pros
• Higher Level• Slight
Performance Cost
• Rich Data model
Cons• UI options aren’t as
Rich
Demo
Going a little further with Flex
The Spectrum of Frameworks
Performance - Simplicity
Features - Complexity
Advantages Same components
native apps are using Performance Basic skinning,
container, layout and invalidation
Advantages CSS Skinning Model
(Complex but more robust, with tooling)
Application Framework
Binding/MXML Extensive layout and
container classes Invalidation and
component life cycle More components
Roll your own
Pros
• Extreme Performance
• Great for traditional Flashers
Cons• Lot of work• Not so hot for
traditional coders
AIR APIs
Accelerometer CameraRol l CacheAsBitMapMatr ix GeoLocat ion Touch, Mult iTouch, and Gesture StageOr ientat ion SystemIdleMode NavigateToURL
PlayBook APIs
qnx.media.QNXStageWebView StageWebView with more integrat ion into the webkit on
the P layBook qnx.system.QNXAppl icat ion
Bevel swipe down event qnx.system.Device
Battery level , s tate, and monitor Device info (bsn, hardwareID, vendor ID, etc…)
qnx.media.MediaPlayer Hardware accelerated play black of media and other non-
F lash supported codecs Not ifi cat ions* Extending AIR app with Nat ive C/C++ app*
Conclusions
Powerful Hardware
Opportunity for profitability
Low barriers to entry
MultiScreen is real
Next Steps
AvailabilityFlex and Flash Builder 4.5• BlackBerry
– ActionScript Only– QNX
• Android– ActionScript Only– Flex
• IOS– ActionScript Only
Flex and Flash Builder 4.5.1
• BlackBerry– ActionScript Only– Flex– QNX
• Android– ActionScript Only– Flex
• IOS– ActionScript Only– Flex
First Week of May Mid June
Get started
• http://bit.ly/AdobePlaybook–Flash Builder 4.5 Beta–PlayBook AIR SDK–PlayBook Simulator–Adobe Developer Center
