AdvancED Flash on Devices (eBook)

Scott Janousek is a Flash and Flash Mobile developer currently working in the Boston area of the United States. In addition to his experience with mobile development, Scott has an accumulated ten years of diverse software engineering and Web consulting background, and several of those years were dedicated to the creation of interactive multimedia, including CD-ROMs, DVDs, webcasts, kiosks, RIAs, and web sites. Today, Scott is an Adobe Certified Flash Designer and Developer, as well as a recognized Flash Lite Subject Matter Expert. In addition, he is also an Adobe Certified Instructor for Flash Lite and Adobe Certified Developer for Mobile Application Development. He holds a bachelors degree in computer science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. An active and contributing member of the Boston Adobe Mobile and Devices User Group (AMaDUG), Boston Flash Platform User Group (BFPUG), and Mobile Monday Boston (MoMoBoston), Scott is passionate about the Flash platform across mobile devices as well as for the desktop. When he has a chance, he speaks at new media institutes, user groups, and conferences about Flash and Flash Mobile, including most recently the Design & Technology Festival (FITC) 2006, Adobe MAX 2006, and Adobe MAX Asia Pacific 2006. He has also written a number of technical articles on Flash Mobile technologies, such as Flash Lite, including some of which can be found on the Adobe Developer Center web site. Check out his blog at www.scottjanousek.com/blog for more information about his latest Flash and Mobile endeavors, as well as his occasional post about the latest and greatest portable consumer electronic devices.

CONTENTS AT A GLANCE 5
CONTENTS 7
FOREWORD 21
ABOUT THE AUTHORS 23
ABOUT THE TECHNICAL REVIEWER 24
ABOUT THE COVER IMAGE DESIGNER 25
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 26
INTRODUCTION 28
Layout conventions 29
MOBILE DEVELOPMENT LANDSCAPE 30
THE MOBILE AND DEVICE LANDSCAPE 31
Addressing fragmentation 32
Getting to know the devices 34
Getting to know the operating systems and platforms 39
Summary 53
FLASH LITE PLATFORM OVERVIEW 54
FLASH LITE PLATFORM FUNDAMENTALS 55
Realizing multiscreen user experiences 55
Getting up to Speed with Flash Lite 56
The Flash platform 57
Exploring the Flash Lite platform 58
Understanding the Flash Lite versions 79
Exploring Flash Lite 1.1 80
Exploring Flash Lite 2.0 94
Exploring Flash Lite 2.1 98
Exploring Flash Lite 3.0 99
Exploring Flash Lite 3.1 100
Exploring Adobe Mobile Client 101
Exploring ActionScript 102
Exploring the Flash Lite CDKs 108
Packaging Flash Lite content 110
Distributing and monetizing Flash Lite content 118
Joining Flash mobile and device development communities 124
Summary 125
FLASH LITE 3 126
Getting to know Flash Lite 3.0 127
Getting to know Flash Lite 3.1 135
Working with Flash Lite 3.x 149
Exploring the Adobe Distributable Player Solution 164
Introducing the Adobe Device Central CS4 SDK 168
Summary 171
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR DEVELOPING FLASH MOBILE APPLICATIONS 172
Optimizing your mobile user interface 172
Optimizing for mobile devices 177
Testing using mobile emulators 183
Working through best practices tutorials 185
Summary 193
MOBILE AND DEVICE WIDGET PLATFORMS WITH FLASH 194
Understanding widgets 195
Developing widgets with Nokia Web Runtime 196
Developing Chumby widgets 224
Summary 260
FLASH LITE USER INTERFACE COMPONENTS AND FRAMEWORKS 261
Flash Lite user interfaces 262
Creating Flash Lite user interfaces with components and frameworks 264
Summary 297
EXTENDING FLASH ON MOBILE AND DEVICES USING OEM- BASED SOLUTIONS 298
Working with next- generation mobile and device APIs 299
Extending Flash Lite with device APIs 299
Powering Flash with Nokia S60 Platform Services 300
Extending Flash on Sony Ericsson devices 309
Extending ActionScript in Flash Lite 3.1 330
Looking forward to Flash 10 and Device APIs 330
Summary 331
PORTING FLASH LITE APPLICATIONS TO THE IPHONE USING THIRD- PARTY TOOLS 332
Porting Flash applications to the iPhone using b. Tween 333
Flash on touch-screen devices 340
Summary 341
AIR APPLICATIONS FOR MULTIPLE SCREENS AND MOBILE INTERNET DEVICES 342
ADOBE INTEGRATED RUNTIME ON MOBILE DEVICES 343
Taking a high-level view of the AIR 1.5 platform 344
Using tips and tricks for Flash Player 10 on mobile devices 347
Taking a high-level view of AIR 1.5 capabilities 382
Signing your AIR application 393
Summary 396
ADOPTING AIR FOR MOBILE DEVICES 397
Implementing platform and context awareness 398
Adapting configuration and behavior 410
Mobile touch and multitouch screen applications 425
Creating a seamless installation experience 433
Summary 441
DEVELOPING CROSS-PLATFORM AIR APPLICATIONS 442
Introducing the basics of dynamic GUIs 443
Developing the music player application 455
Creating a GUI for a music player application 470
Making the application context aware and adaptable 487
Summary 489
FLEX APPLICATION RUNNING FLASH 10 ON MOBILE DEVICES 490
MOBILE APPLICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES WITH FLEX 4 AND FLASH CATALYST 491
Getting to know Flash Catalyst 491
Separating presentation from logic with Flash Catalyst 492
Exploring Flash’s new development cycle 493
Getting started with Flash Catalyst 494
Creating a mobile application with Catalyst and AIR 509
Signing your AIR application 527
Signing your application with Flex Builder 528
Deploying your AIR application on a UMPC 530
Summary 531
ADOPTING FLEX FOR MULTIPLE DEVICES 532
Creating a Flex GUI for the Nokia N810 browser 533
Creating dynamic GUIs using Flash Catalyst 534
Importing Flash Catalyst GUIs into Flex 4 SDK 543
Summary 566
BUILDING MOBILE APPLICATIONS USING TEST- DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT 567
Understanding TDD basics 568
Creating unit tests using FlexUnit 569
FlexUnit in Flex 4 577
Testing visual components with FlexUnit 592
TDD with MVC frameworks 596
Summary 622
CREATING A CROSS-PLATFORM VIDEO PLAYER AND OPTIMIZING CONTENT 624
Initial strategy choices: reusing or creating video content 626
Tips for making great mobile device video content 627
Video Codec 411 630
Playback using device and Flash video 631
FLV, the most popular supported video format 633
Dynamically discovering a device’s available codecs 634
Encoding video for Flash applications 636
Understanding the difference between streaming and progressive download 642
Building a progressive download video player for mobile devices 644
A streaming and optimizing technique for mobile devices 663
Embedding video techniques 682
Adobe Strobe and Open Video Player (OVP) initiatives 685
Enhancing progressive download seeking 693
Summary 702
INDEX 703