Adobe Flex & AIR: One Developer Platform, Many Devices

Posted byandrew 13 Comments on Adobe Flex & AIR: One Developer Platform, Many Devices

In this series, I’d like to highlight Adobe’s mobile offerings, and the variety of platforms that can be supported from a single codebase.     I wrote a simple URL Monitoring utility application that will check the status of various HTTP endpoints using the AIR URLMonitor class.   I now have that application running on 3 OS platforms, in 4 ecosystems (5th coming soon), supporting phone and tablet interfaces, and all with a single codebase

Many Apps, One Platform

Here’s the official app description that I’ve been using:

URL Monitor is a simple diagnostic application that will allow you to quickly and easily monitor the status of various URL endpoints. Simply enter a URL into the text box and add it to the list. A polling HTTP request will be made every 10 seconds to determine the availability of a given endpoint. HTTP codes 200, 202, 204, 205 and 206 will be identified as a success with a green check. All other HTTP codes will indicate a problem as a red ‘X’. To remove a listing, simply perform a horizontal swipe on a given row to reveal a delete button. All monitoring is paused when the application is in the background.

This application is currently available in the following ecosystems:

  1. Apple’s App Store
  2. Google Android Market
  3. Amazon Appstore
  4. Barnes & Noble Nook Store
  5. BlackBerry App World (coming soon)

You may be wondering, “How did you get a single codebase into so many markets?”… Well, you’re in luck.  Here’s detailed instructions how to get from Flash Builder into each Ecosystem:

  1. Flex/AIR on Devices: From Flash Builder to iOS
  2. Flex/AIR on Devices: From Flash Builder to Android Ecosystems
    1. Google Android Market
    2. Amazon App Store
    3. Barnes & Noble Nook App Store
  3. Flex/AIR on Devices: From Flash Builder to BlackBerry App World (coming soon)

What’s really interesting about this is the activity that I have seen on each market.  The application is free on each market, and became available over the last few weeks.   I have done absolutely no promotion of it… This is the first announcement that I have made.

As of 9/15/2011, the application has been live in Apple’s store for 3 weeks, and has had 554 downloads; it has been live in the Google Android Market for 3 weeks, and has had 20 installes (only 11 active); it has been in the Amazon market for 2 weeks, with 0 installs (yes, that is a zero); and surprisingly, it has been on the Nook store since Sept 1, and has had 816 downloads!   Now, that was unexpected.

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