Adobe AIR

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Adobe Integrated Runtime, also known as Adobe AIR, is a cross-platform runtime environment developed by Adobe Systems for building Rich Internet Applications (RIA) using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, and Ajax, that can be run as desktop applications or on mobile devices. The runtime supports installable applications on Windows, Linux, Mac OS and some mobile operating systems such as BlackBerry Tablet OS, iOS and Android.

With AIR, Adobe intends to provide a versatile runtime-environment that allows existing Flash, ActionScript, or HTML and JavaScript code to be used to construct Internet-based applications that have many of the characteristics of more traditional desktop-like programs. Adobe positions it as a browser-less runtime for RIAs that can be deployed onto the desktop, rather than as a full-fledged application framework. An application deployed in a browser does not require installation, while one deployed with AIR requires the application be packaged, digitally signed, and installed on the user's local file system. This provides access to local storage and file systems, while browser-deployed applications are more limited in where and how data can be accessed and stored.^[3]

Adobe AIR internally uses Adobe Flash Player as the runtime environment, and ActionScript 3 as the sole programming language. Flash applications must specifically be built for the Adobe AIR runtime in order to utilize additional features provided, such as file system integration, native client extensions, native window/screen integration, taskbar/dock integration, and hardware integration with connected Accelerometer and GPS devices.^[4] AIR enables applications to work with data in multiple different ways, including local files, local SQLite databases for which AIR has inbuilt support, a database server via web services, or the encrypted local store included with AIR.

Contents [hide] 1 Availability 2 Release history 2.1 "Apollo" 1.0 Betas 2.2 Adobe AIR 1.0 2.3 Adobe AIR 1.1 2.4 Adobe AIR 1.5 2.5 Adobe AIR 1.5.1 2.6 Adobe AIR 1.5.2 2.7 Adobe AIR 1.5.3 2.8 AIR 2.0 2.9 AIR 2.5 2.10 AIR 2.6 2.11 AIR 2.7 2.12 AIR 3.0 2.13 AIR 3.1 3 Application development 3.1 ActionScript 3.2 JavaScript 4 Criticisms 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links