RIA based on Adobe AIR

AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) ties together a host of Web technologies and enables RIAs (Rich Internet applications) to run outside of the browser on the user’s local desktop. Those underlying technologies can be Adobe’s own Flex, Flash, and Action Script, for example, or just plain old HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX libraries.

The resulting application gains access to OS features such as dragging and dropping to and from the local file system, clipboard access for cutting and pasting between AIR and other applications, network connectivity, encrypted local storage, and perhaps most noteworthy, offline functionality.

The outcomes can be amazing. AIR applications can take on either a custom or native appearance. In particular, data-driven dashboards really sing when freed from browser constraints, as Nasdaq’s Market Replay application demonstrates.

The SDK is a command line toolkit for packaging and deploying Web applications as AIR applications. It includes a schema template for generating the AIR manifests which define various properties of each application including name, security certificate, and files included within the package.

AIR incorporates dual engines – the Flash/Action Script JIT and Web Kit – to support applications built in either Flex/Flash/MXML or HTML/JavaScript. The underlying application components are packed into an AIR installer file, which is little more than a zip file containing program assets, the XML manifest, and a digital certificate to verify authenticity.

The command line tools are easy enough to work with and you can use any text editor to create an AIR application. Adobe provides plug-ins for creating AIR applications in Flash CS3 and Dreamweaver CS3.

AIR applications can take advantage of protocols including FTP, AMF (Action Script Messaging Format), JSON, SOAP, and RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol for streaming media), and they can communicate with Adobe Lifecycle and BlazeDS servers using server-side RPC and messaging calls.

Security is carefully addressed and local storage is protected by 128-bit encryption. AIR applications are digitally signed and verified at runtime. Programmers can control via OS registry key. And because AIR applications are treated as native, personal firewalls can examine and block AIR applications on an individual basis. However, given the level of potential exposure, AIR can write to any location on the hard disk and gain immediate network access.

QBit Systems is one of the leading outsourcing providers of Rich Internet Application (RIA) development services to its large number of clientele. QBit’s development of RIA using Adobe AIR offers a low-cost alternative to the organizations running complex applications with “fat client” technology and making it easier for the users to work with soft-wares by means of making more productive soft-wares and reducing labor costs while growing sales. QBit helps breaking away from page-base architecture which reduces the load on the web-servers and overall traffic.

Courtesy: QBit Systems

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