Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) for JavaScript Developers Pocket Reference

Primary AIR Technologies | 7

It is important to step back for a second and point out what
Adobe AIR is not. Adobe AIR is not a general desktop run-
time meant to compete with lower-level application runt-
imes. Adobe AIR is coming from the web to the desktop and
is targeted at web developers. Its primary use case is enabling
web applications and RIAs to be deployed to the desktop.
This is a very important but subtle distinction, as enabling
web applications and RIAs on the desktop is the primary use
case driving the Adobe AIR 1.0 feature set.

At its core, AIR is built on top of web technologies, which
allow web developers to develop for and deploy to the desk-
top using the same technologies and development models
that they use today when deploying applications on the Web.

Primary AIR Technologies

There are three primary technologies included within Adobe
AIR, which fall into two distinct categories: application tech-
nologies and document technologies.

Primary Application Technologies

Application technologies are technologies that can be used as
the basis of an application within Adobe AIR. Adobe AIR
contains two primary application technologies, HTML and
Flash, both of which can be used on their own to build and
deploy AIR applications.

HTML / JavaScript

The first core application technology within Adobe AIR is
HTML and JavaScript. This is a full HTML-rendering
engine, which includes support for:

• HTML


• JavaScript


• CSS