The Adobe Integrated Runtime, Adobe AIR, formerly known as Apollo enables developers to create applications that combine the benefits of web applications such as network and user connectivity, rich media content, ease of development, and broad reach, with the strengths of desktop applications such as interacting with other applications, local resource access, personal settings, powerful functionality, and rich interactive experiences.
Adobe AIR applications run as regular desktop applications, and do not have to run within another application or shell as web applications or RIAs must do by running within a web browser. Flex 3 introduces official support for Adobe AIR by introducing new components meant to leverage Adobe AIR capabilities and incorporating the Adobe AIR development tools into the Flex SDK and Flex Builder.
Adobe AIR includes support for rendering high-fidelity HTML using the open-source WebKit engine. The Flex framework now includes an HTML control that can render HTML and support basic events like knowing when a link is clicked while working within the Flex layout system.
Adobe AIR supports multiple windows per application, and Flex introduces a new Window component, which supports both custom and native-Operating System chrome and enables common window operations such as minimizing, resizing, maximizing, and so forth. Flex application is meant to run in Adobe AIR can use the new WindowedApplication class to provide that same window functionality as part of the main application.
Finally, concepts like drag and drop which often have more functionality on the desktop than on the web have been incorporated into the Flex framework so that an application running in Adobe AIR can leverage the additional capabilities when available.
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