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Once you've created your basic application and you've set up your basic
configuration settings, you can then create your first installer package.
An AIR installer package is an archive file in zip format that has a file
extension of .air that can be installed on any system that has the Adobe
integrated runtime. The runtime is available currently for both Windows and Mac
OS 10 and is also being made available for Linux by Adobe. The first time you
create your application installer package, you should use the Application
Settings dialog. This dialog will allow you to create a required digital
certificate. From he menu, select Site > AIR Application Settings and then in
the Applications Settings dialog, go down to the Digital signature settings and
click Set. A digital certificate is required for each
installer package. The digital certificate's intention is to verify your
identity. In order to deliver an installer package that does verify an organization's
identity, you must have a digital certificate that's issued by one of
the certified certificate vendors: Thawte or VeriSign. If you don't have that
certificate though, you can still create a temporary installer package. This
installer package will report the publisher as unknown since your identity won't
be verifiable but you'll be able to use this installer during development and
testing. To create a self-signed digital certificate,
go to the button labeled Create next to Certificate and click it. Provide
a publisher name, I'll use Lynda.com. Provide a password typed in twice. I'll use
simply a value of password and then browse to save the certificate in a location
on disk. I'm going to place the certificate in the root folder of the site
and I'll name the file mycertificate.p12 and I'll click Save. Then
I'll click OK to create the certificate file.
If the certificate is created successfully, you'll see this message. Click OK
to clear the message. Then type in the password again. If you are going to be
recreating the installer package during the session, select this option,
Remember password for this session. Also, if you are not connected to the
internet, you will need to deselect the Timestamp option and as noted on the
screen, if you don't timestamp the AIR package then the application will fail
to install when the digital certificate expires. Now, you are ready to create
the installer package. Click OK and then click Create AIR file. If
all the information you've provided is valid, the AIR file will be created and
the message will tell you about the success. Click OK and then check your Files
panel. You should see the new AIR file created. If you don't see the AIR file
there, try clicking the Refresh button above the file list. Now to test your
installation, double click on the AIR file. From within Dreamweaver, this should
launch in the Adobe integrated runtime. If for any reason it doesn't launch,
you will need to go out to Windows Explorer on Windows or Finder on Mac
OS X and double click the file from there. If the runtime is installed correctly and
the AIR file was created, you'll see this installation screen. Click the Install
button from the first screen, then verify the options on the second screen, and
click Continue. You may see a license agreement request if this is the first
time you've installed an application that uses Adobe AIR. If you see
this, review the license and if you agree with it, click I Agree.
The installation will then proceed and if you left the appropriate option
selected, when the application is finished installing, it should open on your
desktop. To uninstall the application, close the application and then run the
AIR file again. I'm double clicking it from Dreamweaver and then you should see
the option to uninstall the application. You can also want to install an AIR
application on Windows through the Add and Remove Programs on windows XP or the
Uninstall Programs option on Windows Vista or on Mac OS 10, you can uninstall
an AIR application by simply locating the application file in the Applications
folder and dragging the application file to the trash can.
So that's a look at how to build your first installer package and how to
install and uninstall your AIR application.