Book Image

Flash iOS Apps Cookbook

By : Christopher Caleb
Book Image

Flash iOS Apps Cookbook

By: Christopher Caleb

Overview of this book

The latest version of Flash Professional can directly target iOS, allowing Flash developers to write applications that will run natively on Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. What's more, with Apple loosening its restrictions on third-party technologies, apps written in Flash can now be sold and distributed within the App Store.Flash iOS Apps Cookbook provides the recipes required to build native iOS apps using your existing knowledge of the Flash platform. Whether you want to create something new or simply convert an existing Flash project, the relevant steps and techniques will be covered, helping you achieve your goal.Learn how to configure and use Flash Professional for iOS development by writing and deploying a simple app to a device. Implement many iOS-specific features such a multi-touch, the virtual keyboard, camera support, screen orientation and the Retina display. Overcome the limitations of mobile development by mastering hardware acceleration and optimization. Whether you're an enthusiast or professional developer, the Flash iOS Apps Cookbook is your toolkit to creating high-quality content for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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Flash iOS Apps Cookbook
Christopher Caleb
Feb, 2012 | 420 pages
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Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Flash iOS Apps Cookbook
Flash iOS Apps Cookbook
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Getting Started with iOS App Development
Getting Started with iOS App Development
Introduction
Joining the iOS Developer Program
Accessing the iOS Provisioning Portal
Generating a Certificate Signing Request using Windows
Generating a Certificate Signing Request using Mac OS X
Obtaining your development certificate
Creating a P12 certificate using Windows
Creating a P12 certificate using Mac OS X
Registering a device
Creating an App ID
Creating a development provisioning profile
Installing a provisioning profile on your device
2
Building iOS Apps Using Flash
Building iOS Apps Using Flash
Introduction
Installing the AIR SDK
Creating an AIR for iOS document
Adding content to the stage
AIR for iOS general settings
AIR for iOS deployment settings
Compiling from Flash Professional
Installing your app with iTunes
3
Writing your First App
Writing your First App
Introduction
Creating a basic document class
Preventing screen idle
Handling multitasking
Exiting gracefully from an app
Linking classes to movie-clip symbols
Using an update loop
Including an application launch image
Including icons
Editing the application descriptor file
Remote debugging
4
Porting Flash Projects to iOS
Porting Flash Projects to iOS
Introduction
Handling user interaction
Saving application state
Flattening the display list
Converting vectors to bitmaps
Resizing bitmaps
Masking content
Working with external SWFs
5
Multi-touch and Gesture Support
Multi-touch and Gesture Support
Introduction
Setting the touch point input mode
Detecting multiple touch points
Dragging multiple display objects
Tracking movement
Setting the gesture input mode
Handling a swipe gesture
Panning an object
Rotating an object
Zooming an object
6
Graphics and Hardware Acceleration
Graphics and Hardware Acceleration
Introduction
Comparing vector and bitmap graphics
Understanding GPU-Blend mode
Understanding GPU-Vector mode
Using Cache as Bitmap
Using Cache as Bitmap Matrix
Accessing bitmaps with ActionScript
Loading bitmaps at runtime
Working with sprite sheets
Performing bitmap animation with ActionScript
7
Working with Text and the Virtual Keyboard
Working with Text and the Virtual Keyboard
Introduction
Using device fonts within text fields
Using embedded fonts within text fields
Providing text entry
Capturing text input
Configurable panning with virtual keyboard activation
Updating dynamic text fields
Using native iOS text controls
8
Screen Resolution and Orientation Changes
Screen Resolution and Orientation Changes
Introduction
Targeting a device
Targeting the Retina display
Supporting multiple resolutions
Setting the default aspect ratio
Enabling auto-orientation
Listening for orientation changes
Responding to orientation changes
9
Geolocation and Accelerometer APIs
Geolocation and Accelerometer APIs
Introduction
Determining your current location
Determining your speed and heading
Checking for geolocation access
Responding to accelerometer changes
Detecting a shake
10
Camera and Microphone Support
Camera and Microphone Support
Introduction
Saving to the camera roll
Reading from the camera roll
Capturing with the default camera app
Working with the built-in cameras
Recording microphone audio
Playing recorded audio
11
Rendering Web Pages
Rendering Web Pages
Introduction
Opening a web page within Safari
Rendering a web page within an app
Navigating the browsing history
Rendering a local web page
Dynamically generating a local web page
Capturing a snapshot of a web page
12
Working with Video and Audio
Working with Video and Audio
Introduction
Playing local FLV video
Playing local H.264 video
Controlling video
Embedding audio
Playing embedded audio
Streaming audio
Controlling audio playback
13
Connectivity, Persistence, and URI Schemes
Connectivity, Persistence, and URI Schemes
Introduction
Monitoring Internet connectivity
Specifying a persistent Wi-Fi connection
Referencing an app's common directories
Writing files
Reading files
Launching system applications
Launching the App Store
Launching the Maps application
Declaring device capabilities
Index
Index

Understanding GPU-Blend mode

Unlike developing for the Flash desktop player, two rendering modes are available to those targeting AIR for iOS. Exactly the same software renderer that is present in the desktop player is provided as the first option and is handled by the device's CPU. The second allows you to take advantage of the device's GPU and can significantly improve rendering performance in certain circumstances.

A rendering mode must be selected before compiling your FLA for iOS and cannot be changed at runtime. It is, therefore, important to understand the differences between both modes and make a decision early on regarding which one you would like to support. The choice of renderer can dictate how you architect your application.

Although both Flash Professional CS5 and CS5.5 provide an option to perform rendering on the GPU, how that rendering mode is actually implemented is different.

In this recipe, we will publish and deploy some example FLAs to help you understand the differences...

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