Adobe Air dependencies

Question

We are thinking to develop a Windows Application and are considering multiple options for that. One of my colleague suggested me to explore Adobe Air. I have a few queries that i would like the expert programmers' community to answer: 1. Can we develop a full fledged database driven GUI application in Adobe Air? 2. Which databases Adobe Air supports? does it support SQLite? 3. Are there any APIs available for Adobe Air if we want to sync data to some online database? 4. are there any framework requirements for Adobe Air Applications to run? What are the prerequisites for the Adobe Air Application to run? Are its applications portable? 5. Is Adobe Air a defunct tech or is it safe to create a commercial grade desktop app in Adobe Air.

Comments are appreciated.

Answer 1

Adobe discontinued support for Adobe Air Linux so it can be stated that it is not portable. Go with something else.

Answer 2

1. Can we develop a full fledged database driven GUI application in Adobe Air?
2. Which databases Adobe Air supports? does it support SQLite?
3. Are there any APIs available for Adobe Air if we want to sync data to some online database?

Adobe Air supports SQLite as other multi platform languages. You cannot connect it directly to other databases.

BUT, If you like to create online Air application, I suggest you to connect and load your contents from online server by Web APIs or Web services.

4. are there any framework requirements for Adobe Air Applications to run? What are the prerequisites for the Adobe Air Application to run? Are its applications portable?

You can choose to create Stand Alone version to build for any OS like Windows,Mac and also the same code can build for Android, iOS and BlackBerry. And also there is nothing needed to install for SQLites to run.

5. Is Adobe Air a defunct tech or is it safe to create a commercial grade desktop app in Adobe Air.

Yes, you must encrypt your database and your exported SWF file.