Can Adobe Air track other windows? - air

Can Adobe Air be used to track other windows? I want to build an application that tracks how long certain windows have been open. Is this possible?

I'm just going to give you the blunt answer: No.

It's possible to take advantage of native processes in AIR. If a process could track of what you want and report to your AIR app, this might be possible. By reporting I mean your AIR app will trigger the native process you'll deploy with your package.

Related

Want to know automation in verifone terminal is possible or not?

I want know about test automation in VeriFone terminals--is possible or not? Is there anyway to do automation for it?
There is a tool called VeriFind that is packaged with the DTK that is supposed to be for this purpose (note: I've never used it).
From the documentation:
The VeriFind Test Automation Tool is an integrated testing tool that
aids testing applications written for Verix eVo terminals. This
Windows-based tool simulates user actions, such as key presses and
magnetic card swipes, which help automate the execution of test
suites. It provides a scripting utility, file transfer utility,
screens on the terminal, RAM status, date and time as in the terminal,
and records user actions to play back later.

Is there a free way to distribute free Windows 8 apps?

I'm considering developing a free non-enterprise Windows 8-style application. I would like to be able to distribute it with no fees charged to myself or users. (Please not that I am not asking about Windows 7-style desktop applications.)
From Microsoft Community, it seems that the only way to distribute these types of applications is using Windows Store. In fact, since the removal of the term, metro, it appears to me that one of the replacement phrases is Windows Store Apps, which clearly implies a strong association with Windows Store.
The licence agreement for the store appears to support distributing free applications. However, I've also read that there is no (permanently) free way to use the store as a developer. (See this, for example.) Microsoft does appear to market some 'free' methods to do this, but they appear to be first-year-free subscriptions that still require credit card details for subsequent years.
I have already looked at and considered the following Stack Overflow questions about this:
How to Distribute Compiled Windows 8 Metro Applications without Windows Store?
This question appears to be in the context of using pre-release Windows 8 before the store was available.
How to install a Windows 8 App Without Submitting to Store
This appears to be related to enterprise users and applications.
How can I distribute a free Windows 8 application without having to pay for a Windows Store developer account?
You cannot. A store account is required to distribute applications in the Windows Store; however, there are programs in which that cost ($49 per annum for a individual developer) is absorbed, such as MSDN subscriptions and BizSpark.
Sideloading (as mentioned in the first link you provided) remains possible, but requires (and automatically provisions) a free 'developer' account to run it.
Sort of.
What you do is you go to the Store menu, and hit "build store package." When it asks you whether you want to build something for store, you hit no.
You will be presented with a directory that contains a .sh1 script, which you can then use to install the application.
The downside is, this requires enterprise windows or a (free) developers' license to install. So it's not general population adequate.
Now, I should point out that .EXEs still work just fine the old way. There is only an impediment if you mean Modern UI applications.

Want to call an already running native process from within Adobe AIR

What I wanted to achieve is to call an already running native process from within Adobe AIR. Actually from within Adobe AIR, I wanted to trigger something to already running native process so that it (native process) can take further actions based on input.
What I understood from NativeProcess class that it starts a new native process. So what happens if that process is already running on operating system? Will adobe air interact with already running process or will it start a new process independent of the other already running?
Your help is appreciated. Let me know if I was not clear enough.
Thank you.

Should I develop desktop games using AIR?

I develop flash based games and currently we supply our games as projector files to our clients. Should I make the jump to AIR?
Yes.
(sorry, couldn't resist.)
I don't know projector enough, but it should be worth your while if it is like other flash files, ie no access to the underlying system.
With Adobe AIR you get
- Access to the local file system - you can read and write files (there are some restrictions)
- Access to an sqlite database on the clientside, which could be handy for storing 'stuff' in
Furthermore, in the next version of Adobe AIR you will be able to interact more and more with the system and other programs your flash/air is running on.
Check out this link for more info on what's coming in Adobe AIR 2.0 - halfway down the page there's an entry from september that gives you a link to Mike Chambers presentation in "Flash On The Beach".

Adobe AIR for an offline application: is this the best option?

I'm looking to develop an offline version of an application that still needs to connect to the live site to retrieve the information and store results.
The application is for an online course system, that now needs to work when an internet connection is either unavailable or flaky. The system currently tracks each page viewed of the course (with flash and video content) and then also displays and tracks the taking of multiple choice exams. This all needs to be provided offline. I'm thinking that the program will connect through the users account at the start to download either a portion or all of the course, including exams and then at the end connect again to upload the results. (It'd be cool if it could do the process automatically when a connection is available.) The application needs to look similar to the online version and needs to be easy to use (easy install, little user input required for upload/download of results).
I have done a bit of research and it looks like Adobe AIR might be a good middle ground between the online version and an offline version.
My biggest issue is that I don't have experience developing desktop applications as I am a PHP developer, so I'm looking for something like AIR that bridges the gap. (The online version is a LAMP application.)
Has anyone used Adobe AIR for this type of offline application? How easy and secure was it?
Are there other solutions out there?
I think AIR is a great choice for this. I use AIR all the time now for in house utilities I write.
The built-in database and persistent store are great.
From your description, it sounds like Google Gears is a little closer to what you're looking for.
Adobe AIR is a great solution for this. We are building something similar. But we are facing problems in resuming downloads if the download process gets broken.