boostworthyisryantaylor

Apollo is here and we can now begin creating amazing content for the desktop. So where to begin you ask? Well, getting setup isn’t all that hard actually. I’m not a Flex user, so using Flex Builder 2 is out of the question for me. That’s ok though, the Apollo SDK allows you to use whatever tool you want to create the application.

The following instructions and template are for Windows users since that is the typical platform for Flash development, however setup for Mac users is similar.

First you will need to download the Apollo SDK and runtime, found here on the Adobe Labs site.

Once downloaded, you will need to install the runtime, then extract the SDK files to wherever you please; I chose ‘C:\Program Files\Adobe\Apollo’.

Next, you will need to right click on ‘My Computer’ and launch the properties window. Click the ‘advanced’ tab and then down at the bottom of the window, click the ‘Environment Variables’ button. In the bottom pane labeled ‘System variables’, scroll down until you see the variable ‘Path’. Highlight it and click edit. Go to the end of the string, add a semi-colon at the end of the last path, then add the path you extracted your Apollo files to plus ‘\bin’ (so ‘C:\Program Files\Adobe\Apollo\bin’ if you used the same path as me).

Ok, now you are ready to go. Obviously there is much to explore in the weeks to come, however all you need to create your first Apollo application is a SWF file published for Flash Player 9. To help you get moving even faster, I’ve thrown together a little template you can use to quickly test and compile an application into the Apollo ‘AIR’ format.

Download ‘boostworthy_apollo_template.zip’

I used the example SWF file from my virtual timeline animation system in the template just to show that it can be any old SWF file that is published for Flash Player 9.

Here’s what you will find in the template:

application.xml - An XML file for configuring your Apollo application.

timeline_tests.swf - This is the SWF file I used for the application. You can easily drop your own SWF file into the directory, but make sure you update the application.xml file’s ‘rootContent’ node with the new path and name of the SWF file.

test_application.bat - A batch file that calls the ADL file and passes it the path to the application.xml file. ADL is used to launch and test your Apollo application without packaging it for distribution.

compile_air.bat - A batch file that calls the ADT file and passes it the package name of the AIR file you wish to create, application.xml path, icons path, and SWF file path. ADT is used to package an application so that it can be installed and used. This should be your last step in the application process.

BoostworthyHelloApollo.air - The packaged Apollo application that was created using the files listed above. When ran, it will initiate a nice little installer to install the Apollo runtime (if not present) and the application created from the timeline_tests SWF file.

So that’s pretty much it. I very much look forward to getting more in depth into the Apollo framework to further test this stuff out.

More information on setup and use with Flex Builder 2 as well as information on the Apollo framework can be found in the free PDF version of the Apollo For Flex Developers Pocket Guide book.