Adobe Integrated Runtime

AIR (short for Adobe Integrated Runtime, also frequently called Adobe Air ) is a technology developed by Adobe Systems, platform-independent runtime environment for building Rich Internet Applications (RIAs ) to the desktop.

AIR makes it possible to use web applications such as desktop applications and in order to combine the advantages of both types of applications. Thus, the applications can be installed and run directly from the web. AIR applications run as conventional application software without a web browser independently on the desktop.

AIR is Adobe Flex form the platform for developing RIAs that support Adobe formats such as Flash and PDF. HTML and JavaScript can be used more cooperative.

Currently, the operating systems Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS, BlackBerry 10, iOS, Mac OS X and Windows are supported.

Functions

Use the AIR API, software developers can incorporate the following functions:

• Access to the file system
• Use of SQLite databases
• Establish TCP / IP connections
• Use of Binary Sockets
• Move ( drag and drop )
• Copy and Paste ( Copy & Paste )
• Associating file types with an AIR application

AIR 2.0

AIR 2.0 brings the following new functions:

• Improve accessibility
• Support of multi- touch devices
• Reducing the CPU-/RAM-Auslastung
• Direct communication with audio devices
• Better file management ("File Promises " )
• Deeper integration at the system level

AIR 2.5

Adobe AIR 2.5 was released on 24 October 2010 at Adobe MAX 2010. Overview of new features in AIR 2.5:

• Support for smartphones and tablets, which are based on BlackBerry ® Tablet OS, Android ™ and iOS
• Adobe AIR for TV
• Support for the CSS @ font-face instructions and shadow
• Integration of the default web browser in your own applications
• H.264 hardware acceleration for Windows

AIR 2.7

With version 2.7.0, the Linux support was discontinued.

No support for Nintendo IOS or similar proprietary operating systems

Application Development

Developing AIR applications can be done (version CS3), Flash Builder or FDT using Adobe Dreamweaver, a command line based text editor with Adobe Flash.

Since early 2008, the building on the Eclipse platform, available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux development environment Aptana Studio offers its own extension to support application development in AIR. However, the support is primarily aimed at HTML and JavaScript developers.