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    Flash iOS Apps Cookbook
    Flash iOS Apps Cookbook
    Flash iOS Apps Cookbook
    Ebook1,270 pages6 hours

    Flash iOS Apps Cookbook

    By Christopher Caleb

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    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The book is written in a cookbook style, presenting examples in the style of recipes, allowing you to go directly to your topic of interest, or follow topics throughout a chapter to gain in-depth knowledge. Flash developers or enthusiasts looking to build iOS apps using their existing Flash and ActionScript 3.0 skills.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPackt Publishing
    Release dateFeb 1, 2012
    ISBN9781849691390
    Flash iOS Apps Cookbook

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      Book preview

      Flash iOS Apps Cookbook - Christopher Caleb

      Table of Contents

      Flash iOS Apps Cookbook

      Credits

      About the Author

      Acknowledgement

      About the Reviewers

      www.PacktPub.com

      Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

      Why Subscribe?

      Free Access for Packt account holders

      Preface

      What this book covers

      What you need for this book

      Who this book is for

      Conventions

      Reader feedback

      Customer support

      Downloading the example code

      Errata

      Piracy

      Questions

      1. Getting Started with iOS App Development

      Introduction

      Joining the iOS Developer Program

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Register as an Apple developer

      Select your program

      Complete your purchase

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Working with multiple team members

      iOS SDK, tools, and documentation

      Accessing the iOS Provisioning Portal

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Resources

      Adding team members

      Distribution

      Technical support

      Generating a Certificate Signing Request using Windows

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Generating a Certificate Signing Request using Mac OS X

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Obtaining your development certificate

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Approving Certificate Signing Requests

      Team roles

      Distribution certificates

      Creating a P12 certificate using Windows

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Certificate expiration

      Creating a P12 certificate using Mac OS X

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Certificate expiration

      Registering a device

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Adding devices in a team environment

      Editing device names

      Device limit

      UDID Sender

      Creating an App ID

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Bundle Identifier naming convention

      App distribution

      Editing App IDs

      Creating a development provisioning profile

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Profile expiration

      Editing provisioning profiles

      Additional provisioning profile types

      Working with multiple team members

      Installing a provisioning profile on your device

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Removing provisioning profiles

      iPhone Configuration Utility

      2. Building iOS Apps Using Flash

      Introduction

      Installing the AIR SDK

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Updating Flash Professional

      Overlaying the AIR SDK

      How it works...

      Creating an AIR for iOS document

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Stage dimensions

      Frame rate

      See also

      Adding content to the stage

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      AIR for iOS general settings

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Adding the status bar

      Including files

      See also

      AIR for iOS deployment settings

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Specifying an App ID

      Deployment types

      See also

      Compiling from Flash Professional

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      The LLVM compiler infrastructure

      Installing your app with iTunes

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Updating version numbers

      iPhone Configuration Utility

      TestFlight

      3. Writing your First App

      Introduction

      Creating a basic document class

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Naming the document class

      Using packages

      Editing with Flash Builder

      Creating other ActionScript 3.0 classes

      See also

      Preventing screen idle

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      Handling multitasking

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Background processing

      App closing

      Exiting gracefully from an app

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      The app switcher

      Cleaning up

      Script execution time

      Linking classes to movie-clip symbols

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Extending sprite

      Using an update loop

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      Including an application launch image

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Landscape orientation

      Supporting the Retina display

      iPad launch images

      Universal apps

      Using the status bar

      Bundling other files

      See also

      Including icons

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      Editing the application descriptor file

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Status bar style

      See also

      Remote debugging

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating a debug build

      Connecting to the Remote Debugger

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Remote connection attempts

      4. Porting Flash Projects to iOS

      Introduction

      Handling user interaction

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Creating the button movie clip

      Linking a class to the button

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Re-using the button class

      Handling keyboard controls

      See also

      Saving application state

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Flattening the display list

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      Converting vectors to bitmaps

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Export as Bitmap

      Convert to Bitmap

      Working with timeline animation

      Targeting multiple screen sizes

      Pre-rendering filters and blends

      See also

      Resizing bitmaps

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Targeting multiple screen sizes

      Optimizing vector shapes

      Stage quality

      See also

      Masking content

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Working with external SWFs

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Publishing a SWC

      Statically linking the SWC

      How it works...

      There's more...

      See also

      5. Multi-touch and Gesture Support

      Introduction

      Setting the touch point input mode

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Available touch events

      Determining the number of supported touch points

      Touch point hit targets

      Mouse events

      Testing in ADL

      See also

      Detecting multiple touch points

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Updating the Bubble class

      Responding to multiple touch events

      How it works...

      Handling roll out

      There's more...

      Primary touch point

      Touch point ID

      Local touch coordinates

      Global touch coordinates

      See also

      Dragging multiple display objects

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      startTouchDrag() parameters

      See also

      Tracking movement

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Setting the gesture input mode

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Available gesture events and types

      Determining the supported gestures

      Mouse events

      Testing in ADL

      See also

      Handling a swipe gesture

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Swiping vertically

      See also

      Panning an object

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Gesture phases

      Single finger panning

      See also

      Rotating an object

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Zooming an object

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      6. Graphics and Hardware Acceleration

      Introduction

      Comparing vector and bitmap graphics

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Stage quality

      See also

      Understanding GPU-Blend mode

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      The rendering process

      CPU mode and GPU-Blend mode

      Redrawing dirty regions

      There's more...

      Auto rendering

      See also

      Understanding GPU-Vector mode

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      GPU-Vector mode

      There's more...

      Rendering vectors using GPU-Vector mode

      Using GPU-Vector mode with Flash Professional CS5

      Stage 3D

      See also

      Using Cache as Bitmap

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Other transformation changes

      Caching display objects that contain children

      Taking advantage of GPU Blend

      Bitmaps and GPU Vector

      Using vectors ahead of bitmaps

      See also

      Using Cache as Bitmap Matrix

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Selecting a matrix transformation

      Changing the Matrix object

      Reusing the Matrix object

      3D properties

      Working with GPU Blend

      See also

      Accessing bitmaps with ActionScript

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Exporting the bitmap

      Displaying the bitmap using ActionScript

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Managing image sizes

      Size restrictions

      Storing bitmap data on the GPU

      See also

      Loading bitmaps at runtime

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Bundling the bitmap

      Loading the bitmap at runtime

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Handling load errors

      Accessing the bitmap's data

      Disposing of bitmap data

      See also

      Working with sprite sheets

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Creating sprite sheets

      Comparing performance and memory consumption

      See also

      Performing bitmap animation with ActionScript

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Animation sequences

      Loading resources at runtime

      Stage 3D

      See also

      7. Working with Text and the Virtual Keyboard

      Introduction

      Using device fonts within text fields

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Device fonts on iOS

      Enumerating the available device fonts

      Pixel density

      TLF text

      See also

      Using embedded fonts within text fields

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Size considerations

      See also

      Providing text entry

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Keyboard types

      Launching the virtual keyboard programmatically

      See also

      Capturing text input

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Listening for focus

      See also

      Configurable panning with virtual keyboard activation

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Related object

      Updating dynamic text fields

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Device fonts

      Appending text

      Replacing text fields with bitmaps

      Cache as Bitmap

      See also

      Using native iOS text controls

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Virtual keyboard types

      Return key label types

      Enumerating device fonts

      Events

      Auto-correction and auto-capitalization

      See also

      8. Screen Resolution and Orientation Changes

      Introduction

      Targeting a device

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Setting the target devices

      Detecting the current device

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Application launch image

      Including icons

      Landscape aspect ratio

      See also

      Targeting the Retina display

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Setting Retina display support

      Detecting a Retina display device

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Retina home screen icon

      Retina application launch image

      Vector-only apps

      iPad display

      See also

      Supporting multiple resolutions

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Setting supported devices and resolutions

      Displaying the correct bitmap

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Default stage size

      Model-View-Controller architecture

      Dynamic sizing and layout

      Supporting iPad separately

      See also

      Setting the default aspect ratio

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Auto aspect ratio

      See also

      Enabling auto-orientation

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Checking for orientation support

      Programmatically setting auto-orientation

      Stage scale mode

      Stage alignment

      See also

      Listening for orientation changes

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Determining device orientation

      See also

      Responding to orientation changes

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      The stage color

      Stage orientation

      Preventing auto-orientation

      See also

      9. Geolocation and Accelerometer APIs

      Introduction

      Determining your current location

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Accuracy

      Altitude support

      Mapping your location

      Calculating distance between geolocations

      Geocoding

      Gyroscope support

      See also

      Determining your speed and heading

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Determining support

      Simulating the GPS receiver

      Preventing screen idle

      See also

      Checking for geolocation access

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Responding to accelerometer changes

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Orientation and the accelerometer axes

      Determining device orientation

      Applying a low-pass filter

      Applying a high-pass filter

      The muted property

      See also

      Detecting a shake

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Checking multiple axes

      Smoothing accelerometer data

      See also

      10. Camera and Microphone Support

      Introduction

      Saving to the camera roll

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Handling a failed save

      Saving specific display objects

      Video and the camera roll

      See also

      Reading from the camera roll

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Parsing Exif data

      See also

      Capturing with the default camera app

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Handling errors

      Displaying the captured image

      Saving the captured image to the camera roll

      Capturing video

      Reading the captured data

      See also

      Working with the built-in cameras

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Portrait mode

      Selecting a camera

      Grabbing a bitmap image

      Live streaming

      Using the stage

      See also

      Recording microphone audio

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Microphone activity

      Live streaming

      See also

      Playing recorded audio

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Working with lower sample rates

      Saving captured data

      Exporting as WAV or MP3

      See also

      11. Rendering Web Pages

      Introduction

      Opening a web page within Safari

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Rendering a web page within an app

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Page load events

      Multiple instances

      Checking for support

      Retina web pages within a standard screen resolution

      Including banner ads

      OAuth support

      See also

      Navigating the browsing history

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Obtaining the current location

      Stopping and reloading pages

      Detecting when the URL is about to change

      See also

      Rendering a local web page

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Bundling the HTML

      Loading the bundled HTML

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Bi-directional ActionScript/JavaScript communication

      See also

      Dynamically generating a local web page

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Linking to the as3corelib API

      Generating the HTML

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Cleaning-up

      Using loadString()

      See also

      Capturing a snapshot of a web page

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Overlaying display objects

      See also

      12. Working with Video and Audio

      Introduction

      Playing local FLV video

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Bundling the FLV video

      Playing the FLV video

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Metadata and cue point events

      Playing remote FLV video

      Screen lock

      Maximizing playback performance

      Bundling multiple videos

      See also

      Playing local H.264 video

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Bundling the H.264 video

      Playing the H.264 video

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Metadata and cue point events

      Playing video captured by the default camera

      Determining the video's size

      Playing remote H.264 video

      Encoding H.264 video

      Bundling multiple videos

      See also

      Controlling video

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      NetStream status

      Closing the video stream

      Embedding audio

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Playing embedded audio

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Playback position

      Looping

      See also

      Streaming audio

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Bundling the MP3 file

      Playing the MP3 file

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Increasing the buffer time

      Monitoring load progress

      Sound length

      Sound metadata

      Working with raw PCM sound data

      Playing audio in the background

      See also

      Controlling audio playback

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Bundling the MP3 file

      Controlling playback

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Volume and panning

      Global sound

      See also

      13. Connectivity, Persistence, and URI Schemes

      Introduction

      Monitoring Internet connectivity

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Linking the SWC file

      Checking connectivity

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Monitoring sockets

      Polling interval

      See also

      Specifying a persistent Wi-Fi connection

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      See also

      Referencing an app's common directories

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Creating directories

      See also

      Writing files

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Working with data formats

      Writing synchronously

      Monitoring progress

      Persistence

      See also

      Reading files

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Working with data formats

      Reading synchronously

      Monitoring progress

      Deleting files

      Other file modes

      See also

      Launching system applications

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Dialing a phone number

      Sending SMS messages

      Playing a YouTube video

      URI schemes within HTML

      See also

      Launching the App Store

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      Obtaining the app's URL

      Linking to the app from ActionScript

      How it works...

      See also

      Launching the Maps application

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Generating directions

      Mapping your current location

      See also

      Declaring device capabilities

      Getting ready

      How to do it...

      How it works...

      There's more...

      Dropped support for ARMv6 devices

      See also

      Index

      Flash iOS Apps Cookbook

      Flash iOS Apps Cookbook

      Copyright © 2012 Packt Publishing

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

      Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

      Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

      First published: February 2012

      Production Reference: 2250112

      Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

      Livery Place

      35 Livery Street

      Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

      ISBN 978-1-84969-138-3

      www.packtpub.com

      Cover Image by Charwak A (<charwak86@gmail.com >)

      Credits

      Author

      Christopher Caleb

      Reviewers

      Daniel Albu

      JP Berrie

      Simon Buckley

      Mark Doherty

      Richard England

      Stuart McLeman

      Brian Rinaldi

      David Wagner

      Acquisition Editor

      Douglas Paterson

      Lead Technical Editor

      Dayan Hyames

      Technical Editor

      Kedar Bhat

      Copy Editor

      Neha Shetty

      Project Coordinator

      Alka Nayak

      Proofreader

      Mario Cecere

      Indexer

      Rekha Nair

      Graphics

      Valentina D'Silva

      Manu Joseph

      Production Coordinator

      Arvindkumar Gupta

      Cover Work

      Arvindkumar Gupta

      About the Author

      Christopher Caleb has been developing rich interactive experiences with the Flash platform for almost a decade. He remembers a time when browsers didn't support images, and has witnessed technologies such as Flash help drive the web to where it is today. During that period he has been fortunate enough to have worked with a wide range of clients including the BBC, Activision, Samsung, and Aardman Animations on projects encompassing film, games, education, and children's entertainment.

      He has a love for all things mobile and has been a proponent of Flash in this space since its emergence. He is also an active member of the Flash community, both through his personal blog and the various articles he contributes elsewhere. Whenever he finds a spare minute, Christopher likes to chip away at the many apps and experiments he has inspired to undertake.

      Christopher is currently a lead Flash developer at WeeWorld—an avatar-based social network and virtual world for teens. He blogs at www.yeahbutisitflash.com and tweets as @chriscaleb.

      Acknowledgement

      This book would not have been possible without the help and support of so many individuals.

      First and foremost, I'd like to thank the people at Packt Publishing; in particular, Steven Wilding for providing me with this wonderful and unexpected opportunity; Maitreya Bhakal for his guidance and encouragement; and Kedar Bhat for his assistance and endless patience.

      I'm extremely lucky to have had such talented technical reviewers (Daniel Albu, JP Berrie, Simon Buckley, Mark Doherty, Richard England, Stuart McLeman, Brian Rinaldi, and David Wagner) who, despite their workloads, managed to find the time to provide invaluable feedback. Dave and JP: I really owe you both for your perseverance over the last few weeks.

      Various individuals at Adobe have also helped me along the way. Particularly, I'd like to thank Mark Doherty and Brian Rinaldi for their immense contribution and enthusiasm towards the project. I'd also like to extend thanks to Robert Christensen for always taking the time to answer my questions over the past twelve months.

      A huge debt of gratitude is also owed to my brother Alan (alancaleb.com), Steve Koren (popjunk.co.uk), and Selina Wagner (blobina.com) whose creative talents grace the many code examples found within these pages. Also, a mention must go out to Matt McKenna (maketh.com) and Andrew Nicolson (drewnotweird.co.uk) for the part they both played.

      I would also like to thank Graham MacDonald for affording me the time to write and, at the same time, earn a living; Helen and my little nephew Freddy (I love him even more than Flash) for making me smile; Gregory for providing the arm wrestling training that helped develop my typing stamina; and Amanda who makes every day better than the last. Special thanks must also be extended to Bobby Farmer who has always made time for me over the years and has been a constant source of encouragement.

      Finally, to my father, mother, brother, and sister, I cannot thank you enough for your love and support, without which I am nothing.

      About the Reviewers

      Daniel Albu is a freelance Flash platform developer with more than ten years of experience in the production and deployment of rich media websites, games, and applications.

      Daniel has unique expertise in production and integration of Flash and Flash platform-based technologies. Most recently, Daniel entered the mobile development field by using Adobe AIR to develop for the Android and iOS platforms.

      Daniel also provides worldwide remote training and consultancy around Flash platform technologies for companies and individuals alike.

      JP Berrie first encountered Macromedia Director 4 in 1995 while at university studying Multimedia Technology, and subsequently embarked upon a career as a Multimedia Developer, specializing in Director Lingo and latterly Flash ActionScript 3.0 programming.

      He was appointed lead programmer for several BBC games titles, including Walking with Beasts, Bill & Ben the Flowerpot Men, and Rotten Ralph. Other titles include the Chicken Run game for Activision / Aardman Animations, and a title for interactive publishing giants Dorling Kindersley.

      Since 2002, JP has freelanced for many clients including global brands such as AstraZeneca, BP, Diageo, Guinness, Kellogg's, Pepsi, Pfizer, and the Post Office.

      Website: www.jpberrie.com.

      Simon Buckley received his M.Sc in Physics from the University of Birmingham, England, in 2007 before moving into Computer Science to gain a M.Sc in Intelligent Systems Engineering at the same university in 2008.

      After graduating, Simon spent some time as an enterprise Java developer before opting to go freelance. He is now a Flex Adobe Certified expert and his company, Techjump, specializes in developing workflow tools and Rich Internet Applications for desktop and mobile platforms. He loves working with new technologies, developing rich user experiences, and solving tough programming problems.

      Mark Doherty is the Platform Evangelist for Mobile and Devices at Adobe, working to create a vibrant ecosystem around Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices. He has spent ten years in the mobile and devices industry, including seven at Adobe, holding Engineering, Consulting, Business Development, and Marketing roles. Prior to this, Mark has worked with leading OEMs at Mobile Innovation, Nokia, Samsung, and Panasonic.

      Richard England is an award winning freelance developer, who has worked with Flash technology for over 10 years, including building BAFTA-nominated educational games, interactive learning resources, and truly Rich Internet Applications.

      An eternal student of all things digital, Richard is enthused by the ever-evolving mobile development landscape, creating applications for iOS both natively in Objective-C and with Adobe AIR.

      Richard can be contacted through Twitter—@englandrp.

      Stuart McLeman has been involved with web and mobile software development for ten years since his previous life in electronic engineering. From working on educational Flash content for the BBC through to his current role as lead iOS developer at WeeWorld, he has always been passionate about aesthetics and usability as well as good code. Although Objective-C is his new love, he still has fond memories of AS3. He can't wait to see how the mobile landscape will evolve so he can decide what to learn next!

      Stuart can be contacted through his website: www.stuartmcleman.com where he promises to someday start a blog, or through Twitter—@stuartmcleman.

      Brian Rinaldi is a content and community manager for the Adobe Developer Center team, where he oversees community strategy for developers with a focus on HTML5 and JavaScript. Brian has been a Flex, Flash, and ColdFusion developer for over a dozen years and has been always known for his contributions to the community as an open source developer, a speaker, and an author. Brian founded the ColdFusion user group in Boston as well as the RIA Unleashed conference. Brian blogs regularly at http://remotesynthesis.com and is an unreformed twitter addict—@remotesynth.

      David Wagner has been creating mobile phone games and applications for over a decade—from the days when 96x64 pixel displays with four shades of green were a luxury, through to the present with multi-cored, GPU-accelerated devices of pure awesomeness. In between, he has played with assembler, made a career of embedded C programming, decided browsers were more fun with ActionScript, and then went back to the future with Objective-C. He is currently a senior engineer at HuzuTech, working on a cross-platform virtual world framework.

      If you want to read his occasionally coherent ravings, visit www.noiseandheat.com, or you can follow his stream of sarcasm on Twitter—@kaeladan.

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      Preface

      The iPhone is revolutionary. Every day, it seems, someone finds an innovative use for it and, in the App Store, the perfect outlet for their work. Its success has made apps cool and helped shift delivery of content away from the browser. Adobe has reacted to this change by repositioning the Flash platform, and providing the tools required for the creation and publication of native iOS applications directly from Flash Professional.

      The Flash iOS Apps Cookbook is a culmination of my experience working with AIR for iOS since its beginnings. I have paid particular attention to the fundamentals, focusing on the groundwork that many newcomers find daunting. For those with a firm grasp of the basics, there is plenty to learn, from working with the device's many sensors, to maximizing the performance of graphics using hardware acceleration.

      By the end of this book, you will have acquired the necessary skills to write and distribute your own native iOS applications using Flash. I hope that you will use what you have learned here to create beautiful applications that befit the talented and inspiring community you are about to become a part of.

      What this book covers

      Chapter 1, Getting Started with iOS App Development, leads you through the often intimidating process of becoming a registered iOS developer. By the end of the chapter you will have the necessary files required to publish native iOS apps from Flash Professional.

      Chapter 2, Building iOS Apps Using Flash, covers everything required to configure Flash Professional and publish native iOS apps from it. You will also learn how to install apps on an iPhone for testing.

      Chapter 3, Writing your First App, takes you through the steps necessary to build and test your very first iOS app using Flash Professional with a modest amount of ActionScript. Some best practices for development will also be explored.

      Chapter 4, Porting Flash Projects to iOS, will get you started on the right foot when converting Flash projects from the desktop to iOS. You will learn how to work within mobile constraints and how to avoid common pitfalls that can often cripple an app's performance.

      Chapter 5, Multi-touch and Gesture Support, will show you how to take full advantage of the touch-screen. You will learn how to detect multiple touch points and respond to swipe, pan, and pinch gestures with ActionScript.

      Chapter 6, Graphics and Hardware Acceleration, provides invaluable recipes for an area that often causes frustration. We will cover powerful techniques for dramatically boosting your application's frame rate and learn the intricacies of Flash's rendering pipeline. With this knowledge, you will be able to push the graphics performance of your own creations to the limit!

      Chapter 7, Working with Text and the Virtual Keyboard, will help you adjust to life without physical keys by exploring support for iOS's virtual keyboard and native text-input controls. Time will also be spent covering relevant features of Flash's own text engine.

      Chapter 8, Screen Resolution and Orientation Changes, details how to render content on any iOS device regardless of its screen resolution or physical orientation. Support for the high resolution Retina display can also be found, along with instructions detailing how to set up a universal app that can target iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

      Chapter 9, Geolocation and Accelerometer APIs, covers recipes that utilize both the device's GPS sensor and its accelerometer. Learn how to make location-aware apps, respond to changes in physical orientation and detect vibration.

      Chapter 10, Camera and Microphone Support, will help you master two of the most popular sensors built into iOS devices. With the camera, you will learn how to shoot video, capture photos, and access the image library. This chapter will conclude by covering how to record and play back audio captured with the microphone.

      Chapter 11, Rendering Web Pages, focuses on the presentation of web content—both directly within your app and by launching Safari. It also covers how to dynamically generate HTML, navigate the browsing history, and capture a snapshot of the current page.

      Chapter 12, Working with Video and Audio, explores the many A/V options available when targeting iOS. In addition to utilizing Flash's popular FLV video format, this chapter will detail how to take advantage of hardware-accelerated H.264 video for best quality high-definition playback.

      Chapter 13, Connectivity, Persistence, and URI Schemes, ties up some loose ends, beginning with Internet connectivity. Next, file system access is discussed—a topic touched upon by a number of recipes throughout the book. At the end of the chapter, space is given over to the use of URI schemes to launch various system apps including Mail, YouTube, App Store, and Maps.

      Chapter 14, Using Native Extensions and ADT, details how to use the command line to take advantage of AIR for iOS features that aren't currently provided from Flash Professional directly. Specifically, you will learn how to use native extensions to access iOS-specific APIs missing from the AIR SDK. This chapter is not present in the book but is available as a free download at the following link: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/1383_Chapter14.pdf

      Chapter 15, ActionScript Optimization, covers a range of invaluable optimizations that can be applied to your project's ActionScript. You will see how even the simplest of changes can improve your application's execution speed or improve its memory usage. This chapter is not present in the book but is available as a free download at the following link: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/1383_Chapter15.pdf

      Appendix A, Flash Professional CS5.5 Specific Recipes, contains a list of the recipes throughout this book that require Flash Professional CS5.5 and AIR 2.6 or above. The appendix is not present in the book but is available as a free download at the following link: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/1383_AppendixA.pdf

      Appendix B, ActionScript Optimization Measurements, provides the results from various optimizations detailed in Chapter 15. This appendix is not present in the book but is available as a free download at the following link: http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/1383_AppendixB.pdf

      What you need for this book

      This book has been written for users of Adobe Flash Professional CS5 or CS5.5.

      The majority of recipes covered are compatible with both CS5 and CS5.5. However, some are specific to CS5.5 and require the latest version of the Adobe AIR SDK.

      You will also need an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Flash Professional CS5.5 supports the development of applications for iOS 4 or above, whereas CS5 also provides support for older devices running iOS 3.

      You can build native iOS apps using either Flash Professional for Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows.

      Who this book is for

      The material throughout this book is written for both beginners and seasoned developers with a working knowledge of ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Professional. If you ever want to leverage your existing Flash skills to write iOS apps, then this book will show you how, starting with the basics. Those users who are already up to speed can go directly to the more advanced topics that are on offer.

      Conventions

      In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

      The development of iOS apps using Flash Professional is commonly referred to as AIR for iOS. However, Flash Professional CS5 uses the term iPhone OS. This book will almost exclusively use the term AIR for iOS throughout.

      Code words in text are shown as follows: Keep the default location set to C:\OpenSSL-Win32.

      A block of code is set as follows:

      public function Main() {

        application = NativeApplication.nativeApplication;

        application.systemIdleMode = SystemIdleMode.KEEP_AWAKE;

        application.addEventListener(Event.ACTIVATE, activate);

        application.addEventListener(Event.DEACTIVATE, deactivate);

      }

      When

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