Actionscript Experiments

If like me you haven't upgraded to Flash CS5.5 yet however you'd still like to take advantage of the newly released AIR 2.7 SDK then the below instructions will help you in adding AIR2.7 into your existing Flash CS5 install.

The steps are similar to the official instructions provided by Adobe for Overlaying AIR 2.7 SDK for Flash Professional CS5.5 with small changes to make things work inside CS5.0 instead.

1. Download and extract the latest AIR 2.7 SDK.
2. Download and install Flash CS5.5 Trial. You will need some required files from the AIR2.6 SDK that ships with Flash CS5.5 that don't exist in Flash CS5.0.
3. Ensure that Flash Professional CS5 and Flash Professional CS5.5 are both closed.
4. Rename the unzipped SDK folder to AIR2.6 (yes instead of 2.7. This is because the adobe dll files are hard coded to look in the 2.6 folder).
5. Place the folder in either of the following locations:
   WIN: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS5\
   OSX: Applications/Adobe Flash CS5/
6. WIN: Browse to Adobe Flash CS5.5/en_US/Configuration/External Libraries/ and copy Air2_5.dll and Air2_5_Android.dll and paste these files into Adobe Flash CS5/en_US/Configuration/External Libraries/
   OSX: Browse to Adobe Flash CS5.5/Common/Configuration/External Libraries/ and copy Air2_5.bundle and Air2_5_Android.bundle and paste these files into Adobe Flash CS5/Common/Configuration/External Libraries/
   
7. Browse to the AIR2.6/frameworks/libs/air/ folder in the Adobe Flash CS5 folder and copy airglobal.swc.
   
8. Paste the SWC file in Adobe Flash CS5/Common/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/AIR2.7/. You will need to create this AIR2.7 folder.
   
9. Browse to Adobe Flash CS5/Common/Configuration/Players/ and clone AdobeAIR2_0.xml as AdobeAIR2_7.xml. If you would like to add a new target for Android then additionally clone AiriPhone.xml as Android.xml. Note: You may need administrative access to do this.
   
10. Modify the new files so that they match the one's below. Note: You cannot have multiple PFI (Packager for iPhone) outputs so for iOS you will have to replace AIR 2.0 for iPhone with Air 2.7 for iPhone. UPDATE 22/06/11: I've revised the XML examples for Android and iOS. I recommend updating them if you followed these instructions before then.
11. To add a new AIR 2.7 target edit AdobeAIR2_7.xml to match the below xml.

     
    < ?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <players>
    <player id="AdobeAIR2_7" version="12" asversion="3" minasversion="3">
        <name>Adobe AIR 2.7</name>
    <publishobject2 id="Air2_5" version="2.6" intversion="2.6"></publishobject2>
    <path platform="WIN">Air2_5.dll</path>
    <path platform="MAC">Air2_5.bundle</path>
    <playerdefinitionpath as2="$(UserConfig)/Classes/FP9;$(UserConfig)/Classes/FP8;$(UserConfig)/Classes/FP7" as3="$(AppConfig)/ActionScript 3.0/AIR2.7/airglobal.swc" />
        <!-- This item is used to indicate that some UI integrated within Flash should be enabled for this player.
    -->
        <feature name="multiScreenPublish" supported="false" />
        <feature name="mobileDebug" supported="true" />
        <feature name="apolloPublish" supported="true" />
        <feature name="apolloTestMovie" supported="force"/>
        <feature name="apolloDebugMovie" supported="true"/>
        <feature name="apolloPackaging" supported="true"/>
        <feature name="publish_localPlaybackSecurity" supported="false" />
        <feature name="publish_hardwareAcceleration" 	supported="true" />
        <feature name="useDefineFont4ForDeviceText"          supported="true" />
        <feature name="useDefineFont4ForEmbeddedFonts"       supported="true" />
        <feature name="textLayoutFramework"       supported="true" />
        <encodingpresets>
    <preset uuid="0c95a8ba-8b71-44d5-b269-8fd1cf89a6ed"  name="F4V - Same As Source (Flash 9.2 and Higher)" ext="f4v" default="true"/>
    	</encodingpresets>
      </player>
    </players>
     

12. To replace AIR 2.0 for iPhone with AIR 2.7 for iOS you can modify AiriPhone.xml to match the below xml, or alternatively replace it with the AiriPhone.xml located in Adobe Flash CS5.5/Common/Configuration/Players/

     
    < ?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <players>
    <player id="PFI1_0" version="12" asversion="3" minasversion="3">
        <name>AIR for iOS</name>
    <publishobject2 id="Air2_5" version="2.6" intversion="2.6"></publishobject2>
    <path platform="WIN">Air2_5.dll</path>
    <path platform="MAC">Air2_5.bundle</path>
    <playerdefinitionpath as2="$(UserConfig)/Classes/FP9;$(UserConfig)/Classes/FP8;$(UserConfig)/Classes/FP7" as3="$(AppConfig)/ActionScript 3.0/AIR2.7/airglobal.swc" />
        <!-- This item is used to indicate that some UI integrated within Flash should be enabled for this player.
    -->
        <feature name="multiScreenPublish" supported="false" />
        <feature name="mobileDebug" supported="true" />
        <feature name="apolloPublish" supported="true" />
        <feature name="apolloTestMovie" supported="force"/>
        <feature name="apolloDebugMovie" supported="true"/>
        <feature name="apolloPackaging" supported="true"/>
        <feature name="publish_localPlaybackSecurity" supported="false" />
        <feature name="publish_hardwareAcceleration" 	supported="true" />
        <feature name="useDefineFont4ForDeviceText"          supported="true" />
        <feature name="useDefineFont4ForEmbeddedFonts"       supported="true" />
        <feature name="textLayoutFramework"       supported="true" />
        <feature name="rslLinkageSuppressed"       supported="true" />
        <encodingpresets>
    <preset uuid="0c95a8ba-8b71-44d5-b269-8fd1cf89a6ed"  name="F4V - Same As Source (Flash 9.2 and Higher)" ext="f4v" default="true"/>
    	</encodingpresets>
      </player>
    </players>
     

13. To add a new AIR 2.7 for Android target edit Android.xml to match the below xml, or alternatively replace it with the Andriod.xml located in Adobe Flash CS5.5/Common/Configuration/Players/

     
    < ?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <players>
    <player id="android_0" version="12" asversion="3" minasversion="3">
        <name>AIR for Android</name>
    <publishobject2 id="Air2_5_Android" version="2.6" intversion="2.6"></publishobject2>
    <path platform="WIN">Air2_5_Android.dll</path>
    <path platform="MAC">Air2_5_Android.bundle</path>
    <playerdefinitionpath as2="$(UserConfig)/Classes/FP9;$(UserConfig)/Classes/FP8;$(UserConfig)/Classes/FP7" as3="$(AppConfig)/ActionScript 3.0/AIR2.7/airglobal.swc" />
        <!-- This item is used to indicate that some UI integrated within Flash should be enabled for this player.
    -->
        <feature name="multiScreenPublish" supported="false" />
        <feature name="mobileDebug" supported="true" />
        <feature name="apolloPublish" supported="true" />
        <feature name="apolloTestMovie" supported="force"/>
        <feature name="apolloDebugMovie" supported="true"/>
        <feature name="apolloPackaging" supported="true"/>
        <feature name="publish_localPlaybackSecurity" supported="false" />
        <feature name="publish_hardwareAcceleration" 	supported="true" />
        <feature name="useDefineFont4ForDeviceText"          supported="true" />
        <feature name="useDefineFont4ForEmbeddedFonts"       supported="true" />
        <feature name="textLayoutFramework"       supported="true" />
        <feature name="rslLinkageSuppressed"       supported="true" />
        <encodingpresets>
    <preset uuid="0c95a8ba-8b71-44d5-b269-8fd1cf89a6ed"  name="F4V - Same As Source (Flash 9.2 and Higher)" ext="f4v" default="true"/>
    	</encodingpresets>
      </player>
    </players>
     

14. To modify existing projects you will need to edit your apps descriptor XML file to target the 2.7 namespace. e.g. change <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.0"> to <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7">. Alternatively you can delete preexisting descriptor XML files and Flash will automatically set it to the correct namespace on your next publish.
15. Restart Flash CS5 and select one of your new AIR 2.7 compatible targets from within Publish Settings.
    
16. You can ensure it's working using the following code which should trace out "2.7.0.19480"

import flash.desktop.NativeApplication;
 
trace(NativeApplication.nativeApplication.runtimeVersion);