The BlackBerry PlayBook is expected to be a killer tablet. It features a wide range of features and the ability to make native apps in a variety of languages including Adobe AIR.

1. Adobe AIR Development for the
BlackBerry PlayBook
Feb 24, 20111

2. Agenda
• Screen interactions
• Device APIs to make great apps
• Device integration
• Offline storage
• Event listeners
• Skinning UI components
• Themes
• Skinstates
• Methods of skinning
• Resources and support
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4. Characteristics of the BlackBerry
PlayBook
• Seven inch screen size
• Multi touch interface
• Landscape or portrait display
• Virtual keyboard
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5. Make a touch centric app
User Action Result Type Color
Drag or swipe from the top This action displays the application-specific Red
of the screen menu
Drag or swipe from the This action displays the system-wide Purple
bottom of the screen navigator
Drag or swipe from the left This action switches system-wide Blue
or right side of the applications
screen
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6. On screen interactions
User Action Result
Tap the screen Initiates an action in the app
This action moves the content on the screen
in the direction of the drag
Drag or swipe across the screen
or swipe and at the corresponding rate of
speed
This action highlights a sequence of
Touch and hold a finger on an item. characters, a word, a link, or an item
such as an email message or picture.
These actions zoom in to and out from an
Pinch open or pinch close.
item
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7. Notifications and Indicators
• Application notifies appear in the top left corner of the screen
• Inform users about app-specific events such as new mail
messages
• Status indicators appear in the top right corner of the screen
• Display system status information such as battery power and
wireless connection
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8. Adobe Runtimes – Flash Player & AIR
AIR SDK Tablet OS SDK
ActionScript BlackBerry PlayBook
SWF
Application (.bar)

9. PlayBook AIR SDK Capabilities
• Hardware acceleration
• Web View to display HTML and Flash content
• UI components built specifically for the touch screen
• APIs for front and rear facing cameras, accelerometer, in-app
payments and more
• Application notifications
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10. PlayBook AIR SDK Capabilities
• Extend Adobe AIR applications to use native C++ extensions
• Porting existing Adobe AIR and Flash applications quickly and easily
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11. Bring existing AIR apps to the
BlackBerry PlayBook
• Create the proper directory structure
• Create the app.xml file
• Package the SWF and app.xml file through the command line tool
• Deploy to your BlackBerry PlayBook!
ActionScript BlackBerry PlayBook
SWF
Application (.bar)

12. APIs to build great
apps
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13. Adding a swipe gesture
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14. Adding a swipe gesture
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15. Device Information
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16. Device Information
• Battery level • Capture battery
• Battery state events for app
• Hardware ID lifecycle
• Device OS • Identify your users
based on PIN
• Device PIN
• Identify the Device
• Platform Version OS for functionality
• Vendor ID
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17. Battery Level and Events
• Monitor battery levels for power consumption in your
app
• Customize your app to provide the user experience
• Display battery and charging information from your app
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18. Battery Level and Events
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19. Database
• SQLite is a in-process library that implements a self-contained,
serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine.
• Data is stored in a file on the system, typical the developer stores it
in File.applicationStorageDirectory.
DB
PlayBook AIR Application File

20. AIR SQLite APIs
• SQLConnection
• open() – Synchronous
• openAsync() – Asynchronous
• loadSchema() – Database schema
• Can Encrypt data on disk.
• SQLStatement
• text – SQL commands
• execute()
• SQLError
• details/detailsID – SQL error message
• operation – SQL command causing error

21. Shared Object

22. AIR File APIs
• File
• File.applicationStorageDirectory - a storage directory unique to each
installed AIR application
• File.applicationDirectory - the read-only directory where the
application is installed (along with any installed assets)
• File.desktopDirectory, File.documentsDirectory, File.userDirectory
• Properties: exists, isDirectory, nativePath, extension, name, …
• Methods: browseForOpen, browseForSave, getDirectoryListing(), …
• FileStream
• writeObject() – Uses AMF to write binary serialization of object.
• open() – Synchronous
• openAsync() – Asynchronous

23. Activity Indicator
• Provide visual progress
feedback to the user
during time-consuming
operations
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24. Event Listeners

25. Skinning QNX UI
Components
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26. Skinning Basics
• Skin options
• Global themes
• Set specific component skins parts
• Skin states
• Methods of creating Skins
• Bitmaps with or without scale grid
• Display objects using graphics API
• QNX skin assets available for reuse
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27. PlayBook Themes
• PlayBook comes with 2 Themes: White (default) & Black
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28. PlayBook Themes Example 2
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29. ThemesGlobal
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30. Skin States
• SkinStates.DISABLED
• SkinStates.DISABLED_SELECTED
• SkinStates.DOWN
• SkinStates.DOWN_SELECTED
• SkinStates.FOCUS
• SkinStates.SELECTED
• SkinStates.UP
• SkinStates.UP_ODD
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31. Component Skin Parts
• ToggleSwitch • DropDown
• setFillSkin() • setBackgroundSkin()
• setThumbSkin() • setButtonSkin()
• setTrackSkin() • setListSkin()
• Button • TextInput
• setSkin() • setSkin()
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32. Setting a Skin
• Set skin method typically takes these types:
• Class reference
• String of qualified class name
• DisplayObject instance
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33. Bitmaps with Slice 9 Scaling
• Use Case: Custom TextInput image that scales
Up/Down skin image Focus skin image
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34. Skin Code:
OddShapeSkin.png
OddShapeSkinFocus.png
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35. Drawing API
• Use Case: Custom TextInput with drawing API
• Need to update any time the width/height changes
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36. Skin Code:
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37. Skin Code:
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38. Resources & Support
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39. Resources & Support
• BlackBerry Developer website
• http://us.blackberry.com/developers/tablet/devresources.jsp
• Webcast Series
• Docs
• BlackBerry Developer Forum
• http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/Tablet-OS-SDK-for-
Adobe-AIR/bd-p/tablet
• BlackBerry Developer Blog
• http://devblog.blackberry.com/
• Adobe Labs
• http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flash/blackberrytabos/
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40. Q&A
Thank You!
Feb 24, 2011
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