One massive advantage with Flex and therefore Adobe Air is that it is multi-platform.

It will run on Mac, Windows and Linux with no issues and Flex deals with most of it for you.

Since the new 4.5 Flash Builder release Adobe have taken this to the next level… Mobile multi-platform

Flex, so they tell me will run on Android, iOS and Blackberry tablet. That’s one piece of code which will run on every device.

As I have been developing my app in Flex it just makes logical sense to take it over to mobile devices this way as most of my code will be reusable.

I started my mobile adventure last week, installing the new Flash Builder and setting it up for my Android Wildfire S so I can debug. I threw together a quick login page.

It seems some parts of the Flex codebase are specifically meant for mobile use where others are not so you don’t have the full codebase to work from. While using Flash Builder it told me which components I should and shouldn’t use but you wouldn’t have these kinds of hints without Flash Builder but I assume its in the online docs.

I’m not yet sure what I can use from previous versions of Flex (which some of my code relies on, ill need to figure that out).

Anyway, plugged my phone in, followed the instructions to install it (requires you installing the device drivers and editing a config file with its ID, nothing too harsh) all seemed well until I tried to run it… cannot communicate with debugger… What it doesn’t tell you is that you need Adobe Air installed on your Android phone. Air doesn’t like my little pathetic Wildfire. I was very disappointed.

Disadvantage – phone must be compatible.. not too slow.

Thankfully I had a Asus Transformer tablet to hand. I installed this and debugged my app. All worked very well, just as if I was debugging normally.

This week I will move on from just a simple login page and explore the different actions performed on a mobile device eg swipe Also, I want to see what happens when I plug my iPod Touch in and run it on that. I am very sceptical about what Adobe has done to run air on iOS since Apple banished Flash but we shall see….