As you may have read, we just announced that we are doing an 18 city bus tour through North America this summer, where we will be holding Apollo / AIR Camp events. We have launched a website, where you can find more information about the tour, including cities, dates, agenda and news.
I just checked the latest registration numbers, and the space is filling up pretty quick. So, head on over to the site, find the city closest to you, and make sure to register.
Check it out. Sams Publishing has just released an Apollo ebook authored by Mike Givens titled Apollo in Flight. The book is seven chapters, and is available for purchase and download from the Sams site.
You can find more information on the book here.
I just finished up a book I have been working on (along with Kevin Hoyt and Danny Dura) that covers using JavaScript and HTML to build Apollo applications. In celebration of finally writing my last example, I wanted to post it here.
Here is a simple example that shows how to use Flash Player and ActionScript APIs directly from JavaScript to play a sound in the upcoming Apollo beta.
<html>
<head>
<script src="ApolloAliases.js" />
<script type="text/javascript">
function playSound() {
var soundPath = new apollo.URLRequest(
"app-resource:/sound.mp3"
);
var s = new apollo.Sound();
s.load(soundPath);
s.play();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<input type="button" value="Play" onClick="playSound()" />
</body>
</html>
It should be pretty self explanatory, and is a good example of how easy it is to use Flash and ActionScript APIs from JavaScript within Apollo applications.
Kevin Hoyt gives a sneak peak of one of the new features in the upcoming beta that allows you to access an file’s system icon bitmap data from within an Apollo application.
Kevin’s example is in HTML and JavaScript, but the same technique applies to ActionScript.
You can see the entire post, complete with code and screencast over at Kevin’s weblog.
Google announced their Google Gears project today which uses SQLite to allow browser based applications to work off-line. (Ryan and JD have more info on that). Part of the announcement was that the upcoming beta of Apollo will also include SQLite to allow developers access to an embedded database for their applications.
This has probably been the #1 request we have heard from developers since we release the alpha, and with a tons of help from the Flex team, we were able to add it.
Christian Cantrell has released and open sourced an Amazon S3 ActionScript 3 Library. This can be used to send and retrieve items to an from the Amazon S3 storage service from an Apollo application.
We posted a video of Christian showing of an application that uses the API a couple of weeks ago.
You can find more information here.
Here is a simple example that shows how to capture command line arguments passed to a Flex based Apollo application.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute"
creationComplete="onCreationComplete()">
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
private function onCreationComplete():void
{
//register for the Invoke Event, called whenever
//the app is launched or called from the command line
Shell.shell.addEventListener(InvokeEvent.INVOKE, onInvoke);
}
private function onInvoke(event:InvokeEvent):void
{
//arguments passed to app are stored as array in event.arguments
outputField.text += "Invoke : " + event.arguments + "\n";
}
]]>
</mx:Script>
<mx:TextArea right="10" left="10" top="10" bottom="10" id="outputField"/>
</mx:Application>
Basically, an InvokeEvent is broadcast whenever the app is launched, either by clicking the icon, or calling it from the command line. Any arguments passed on the command line will be contained as an array of strings in event.arguments.
One of the questions that comes up around Apollo is whether it will have built in support for connecting directly to databases, such as MySQL. We are not building in native support for connecting directly to external databases, but it is possible for someone to write ActionScript libraries to connect directly to the database.
Well, Matt MacLean has been doing just that, and has released an Alpha version of an ActionScript 3 library for connecting to and communicating directly with MySQL. This could turn out to be a very useful library, especially if you are building Apollo applications that need to connect directly to locally installed databases.
I just posted a new video over at video.onflex.org, of an interview with Deeje Cooley. Deeje is on the Adobe Media Player team, and in the video, he shows of the new Apollo based video player / aggregator being worked on by Adobe.
You can view the entire video here.
Just a quick reminder, but I will be out at Apollo Ranch in Boulder, Colorado this weekend. I will be giving the keynote, as well as a getting started session.
I am planning to give a sneak peak of the upcoming public beta, so if you are in the area make sure to hurry up and sign up (spaces are running out).
You can find more information here.