Today is the launch of the Gold version of the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR. Thank you to everyone that has been helping us test it so far! For a full list of API updates and fixes, please head over to the release notes. Below are some of the benefits of using the gold release of the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR.

BlackBerry UI / Same components as native

The BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR has been rebuilt from the ground up to allow developers to create applications that adhere to the BlackBerry UI branding guidelines. Basically all of the components you would get if you were a native developer, you also get in the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR.

Performance

Developing Adobe AIR applications that perform well on mobile is a challenge, and is also one of the main reasons why so many Flash developers shy away from mobile development. The BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR was built specifically for BlackBerry 10 and mobile development. If you use the components of the SDK, you can be assured that they are the best performing components for BlackBerry 10.

Multi-screen development

With the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR, developers can use the Container API to organize the application’s UI controls. By using a layout, a Container manages the positioning and size of any UI component that it contains. This allows developers to target multiple aspect ratios and orientations easily without having to specify set dimensions for their application.

Native capabilities

The BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR has native capabilities baked right in. You can easily take advantage of things such as invocation, sensors, push, notifications, payment and more.

Port your AIR apps

Re-compile your existing BlackBerry PlayBook AIR applications to BlackBerry 10. If you’re already using the fuse component set that debuted with the BlackBerry PlayBook SDK for Adobe AIR, the port should be quick and easy. You can get more details from this blog post.

For more details on what’s coming after Gold for the BlackBerry 10 SDK for Adobe AIR, please visit our Adobe AIR roadmap.

Beta 2 of the BlackBerry® 10 SDK for Adobe® AIR® now has support for participating in the BlackBerry 10 Invoke Framework. You can find all of the APIs in the QNXDevice.ane and they are all documented.

Invoking a Application

By leveraging the Invoke API, you can invoke virtually any other application on the BlackBerry® smartphone through some simple API call, where you’ll set a parameter for the app you want to invoke and then pass in any parameters that application is expecting. A typical example would be that your application can invoke the BlackBerry® Maps application when it comes across an address. InvokeManager.invoke() will invoke an application.

When the application has been successfully invoked, an InvokeEvent.INVOKE_TARGET event will be dispatched. If there was an error invoking the target, an ErrorEvent.ERROR event will be dispatched. Please refer to the following Knowledge Base article for details on some known issues which will be addressed in an upcoming patch.

Invoking a Viewer

InvokeManager.invokeViewer() will invoke a viewer. A Viewer class is returned and is used to communicate with the viewer.

Let’s say you have an image viewer application and you want to invoke it from the main application you’re working on. In the main application, you want to pass the image file that the imager viewer app will open when invoked.

Below is a sample of how you can invoke a viewer and wait for it to be created. This example assumes that you have created the viewerRequest object with the correct data for your viewer.

var viewer:Viewer = InvokeManager.invokeManager.invokeViewer( viewerRequest );
viewer.addEventListener( ViewerEvent.VIEWER_CREATED, viewerCreated );

private function viewerCreated( event:ViewerEvent ):void
{
   //viewer is created and ready to communicate with.
}

Making your Application an Invoke Handler

If you are developing an application that can be invoked by another application, you will want to add a listener for the invoke event at the very start of your application. These should be the first lines of your application.
Once you have received the invoke event, you can check the startup mode and get the data that you were invoked with.
Below is a sample of how you would accomplish this:

InvokeManager.invokeManager.addEventListener(InvokeEvent.INVOKE, onInvoked );
private function onInvoked( event:InvokeEvent ):void
{
    if( InvokeManager.invokeManager.startupMode == InvokeStartupMode.INVOKE )
    {
        var invokeRequest:InvokeRequest = InvokeManager.invokeManager.startupRequest;
    }
    else if( InvokeManager.invokeManager.startupMode == InvokeStartupMode.VIEWER )
    {
        var viewerRequest:InvokeViewerRequest = InvokeManager.invokeManager.startupViewerRequest;
    }
}

Query a list of targets

You can also query a list of targets or viewers on the device by calling the InvokeManager.queryTargets() method. At some point in the future, this will make a pop-up list in your application that will allow users to select items from the list. For now, it returns the results and it is up to you to use those values in your invoke() and invokeViewer() calls.

InvokeEvent

No matter how your application is started, you will receive an InvokeEvent dispatched by the InvokeManager. In order to determine how your app was started, you can check the InvokeManager.startupMode in your InvokeEvent handler. So, your application would look something like the following, assuming that your application can be launched as a target and a viewer:

package
{
    import qnx.events.InvokeEvent;
    import qnx.invoke.*;

    public class Main extends Sprite
    {

        public function Main()
        {
            //NOTE: THIS MUST BE THE FIRST THING SET IN YOUR APPLICATION CONSTRUCTOR
            InvokeManager.invokeManager.addEventListener(InvokeEvent.INVOKE, onInvoke );
        }

        private function onInvoke( event:InvokeEvent ):void
        {
            if( InvokeManager.invokeManager.startupMode == InvokeStartupMode.INVOKE )
            {
                //invoked as an application/target.
                var data:InvokeRequest = InvokeManager.invokeManager.startupRequest;
            }
            else if( InvokeManager.invokeManager.startupMode == InvokeStartupMode.VIEWER )
            {
                //invoked as a viewer
                var data:InvokeViewerRequest = InvokeManager.invokeManager.startupViewerRequest;
            }
            else
            {
                //launched by the pressing on the icon on the home screen.
            }
        }
    }
}

Closing a Viewer

There are two different ways a viewer can be closed:

1. From the application
2. From the viewer

When an application wishes to close a viewer that it has created, it can simply call the Viewer.dispose() method. This will cause the viewer to be removed immediately.

A viewer can request to be closed by the application and should never actually attempt to close itself directly. Viewers can call the InvokeManager.requestViewerClose() method. This will send a message to the application requesting that it be closed. The Viewer instance in the application will dispatch a ViewerEvent.VIEWER_CLOSE_REQUEST event. When application receives this event, it should call the dispose() method on the viewer to close it. The reason this doesn’t happen automatically is so that applications can transition viewers out before removing them. We may make this a bit more automated in the future, and we’ll let you know when this happens.

Viewer message relay

Viewers can send data to applications using the InvokeManager.viewerSendMessage() method. The Viewer instance will then dispatch ViewerEvent.VIEWER_MESSAGE events with the message and data properties set to what was passed into the viewerSendMessage(). Here is an example of how you would use this:

Viewer code

InvokeManager.invokeManager.viewerSendMessage( "select", {name:"Fred"});

App Code

__currentViewer = InvokeManager.invokeManager.invokeViewer(viewerRequest);
__currentViewer.addEventListener( ViewerEvent.VIEWER_MESSAGE, onMessage );

private function onMessage( e:ViewerEvent ):void
{
    trace( e.message, e.data ); //outputs "select Fred";
}