Category: Flash

ActionScript performance test for Array, Object, Vector literals and Array.push, Vector.push methods

Yesterday a “tweet” pointed me to a nice article about ActionScript 3.0 optimization. Most of these techniques are quite common within the ActionScript developer scene but one thing caught my attention: A link to Jackson Dunstans blog post about runtime performance and the const and final keywords. Since I always tried to use at least final classes I was a little disappointed that my extra work time doesn’t have any performance benefit at runtime.

Due to that circumstance I was curious about some other common techniques like “Use Object and Array Literals Whenever Possible” or “Add Elements to the End of an Array Without Pushing”. I wanted to check performance benefits for myself just to make sure it’s worth the effort. So I wrote a little test script:

var result : String = "Test playerType: " + Capabilities.playerType + " version: " + Capabilities.version + "\n",
	i : int = 0,
	c : int = 1000000,
	array : Array,
	object : Object,
	vectorInt : Vector.<int>,
	startTime : int;
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { object = new Object(); }
result += c + " times: object = new Object()             -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { object = {}; }
result += c + " times: object = {}                       -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { array = new Array(); }
result += c + " times: array = new Array()               -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { array = []; }
result += c + " times: array = []                        -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { vectorInt = new Vector.<int>(); }
result += c + " times: vectorInt = new Vector.<int>()    -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { vectorInt = new <int>[]; }
result += c + " times: vectorInt = new <int>[]           -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { array.push( i ); }
result += c + " times: array.push( i )                   -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { array[ array.length ] = i; }
result += c + " times: array[ array.length ] = i         -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { vectorInt.push( i ); }
result += c + " times: vectorInt.push( i )               -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
startTime = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i; }
result += c + " times: vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i -> duration: " + String( getTimer() - startTime ) + "\n";
 
var textFormat : TextFormat = new TextFormat();
	textFormat.font = "Courier";
	textFormat.size = 14;
 
var textField : TextField = new TextField();
	textField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
	textField.background = true;
	textField.backgroundColor = 0xFFFFFF;
	textField.defaultTextFormat = textFormat;
	textField.multiline = true;
	textField.text = result;
 
addChild( textField );

It turns out that the benefits differ greatly on platform and player type but basically it’s always a good idea to avoid using the .push methods and new keyword. While there’s almost no speed difference in Flash Players and Plug-ins, the debug versions are really slow. And check out the blazing fast object creation with AIR on iOS! Or is this a compiler optimization? Here my results:


Flash CS 5 publish
Test playerType: External version: MAC 10,1,52,14

1000000 times: object = new Object() -> duration: 246
1000000 times: object = {} -> duration: 427
1000000 times: array = new Array() -> duration: 1288
1000000 times: array = [] -> duration: 339
1000000 times: vectorInt = new Vector.() -> duration: 586
1000000 times: vectorInt = new [] -> duration: 596
1000000 times: array.push( i ) -> duration: 134
1000000 times: array[ array.length ] = i -> duration: 137
1000000 times: vectorInt.push( i ) -> duration: 113
1000000 times: vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i -> duration: 114


Flash Player Debugger.app
Test playerType: StandAlone version: MAC 11,1,102,62

1000000 times: object = new Object() -> duration: 179
1000000 times: object = {} -> duration: 311
1000000 times: array = new Array() -> duration: 1072
1000000 times: array = [] -> duration: 313
1000000 times: vectorInt = new Vector.() -> duration: 397
1000000 times: vectorInt = new [] -> duration: 402
1000000 times: array.push( i ) -> duration: 118
1000000 times: array[ array.length ] = i -> duration: 108
1000000 times: vectorInt.push( i ) -> duration: 111
1000000 times: vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i -> duration: 89


Flash Player.app
Test playerType: StandAlone version: MAC 11,1,102,62

1000000 times: object = new Object() -> duration: 127
1000000 times: object = {} -> duration: 183
1000000 times: array = new Array() -> duration: 227
1000000 times: array = [] -> duration: 189
1000000 times: vectorInt = new Vector.() -> duration: 215
1000000 times: vectorInt = new [] -> duration: 218
1000000 times: array.push( i ) -> duration: 72
1000000 times: array[ array.length ] = i -> duration: 62
1000000 times: vectorInt.push( i ) -> duration: 61
1000000 times: vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i -> duration: 42


Browser Debug Plug-in (Safari)
Test playerType: PlugIn version: MAC 11,1,102,62

1000000 times: object = new Object() -> duration: 157
1000000 times: object = {} -> duration: 249
1000000 times: array = new Array() -> duration: 1015
1000000 times: array = [] -> duration: 293
1000000 times: vectorInt = new Vector.() -> duration: 281
1000000 times: vectorInt = new [] -> duration: 282
1000000 times: array.push( i ) -> duration: 124
1000000 times: array[ array.length ] = i -> duration: 117
1000000 times: vectorInt.push( i ) -> duration: 124
1000000 times: vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i -> duration: 94


Browser Plug-in (Google Chrome)
Test playerType: PlugIn version: MAC 11,2,202,235

1000000 times: object = new Object() -> duration: 147
1000000 times: object = {} -> duration: 146
1000000 times: array = new Array() -> duration: 237
1000000 times: array = [] -> duration: 224
1000000 times: vectorInt = new Vector.() -> duration: 257
1000000 times: vectorInt = new [] -> duration: 266
1000000 times: array.push( i ) -> duration: 54
1000000 times: array[ array.length ] = i -> duration: 61
1000000 times: vectorInt.push( i ) -> duration: 70
1000000 times: vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i -> duration: 51


AIR SDK 3.2
Test playerType: Desktop version: MAC 11,2,202,223

1000000 times: object = new Object() -> duration: 274
1000000 times: object = {} -> duration: 243
1000000 times: array = new Array() -> duration: 1344
1000000 times: array = [] -> duration: 379
1000000 times: vectorInt = new Vector.() -> duration: 431
1000000 times: vectorInt = new [] -> duration: 426
1000000 times: array.push( i ) -> duration: 135
1000000 times: array[ array.length ] = i -> duration: 136
1000000 times: vectorInt.push( i ) -> duration: 153
1000000 times: vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i -> duration: 74


iOS (iPad 3) debug interpreter
Test playerType: StandAlone version: MAC 11,1,102,62

1000000 times: object = new Object() -> duration: 4707
1000000 times: object = {} -> duration: 2033
1000000 times: array = new Array() -> duration: 22191
1000000 times: array = [] -> duration: 2993
1000000 times: vectorInt = new Vector.() -> duration: 10235
1000000 times: vectorInt = new [] -> duration: 10156
1000000 times: array.push( i ) -> duration: 1728
1000000 times: array[ array.length ] = i -> duration: 1670
1000000 times: vectorInt.push( i ) -> duration: 2056
1000000 times: vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i -> duration: 1951


iOS (iPad 3) ad-hoc
Test playerType: Desktop version: IOS 11,2,202,223

1000000 times: object = new Object() -> duration: 1224
1000000 times: object = {} -> duration: 0 !!!
1000000 times: array = new Array() -> duration: 5886
1000000 times: array = [] -> duration: 1048
1000000 times: vectorInt = new Vector.() -> duration: 2737
1000000 times: vectorInt = new [] -> duration: 2784
1000000 times: array.push( i ) -> duration: 2043
1000000 times: array[ array.length ] = i -> duration: 234
1000000 times: vectorInt.push( i ) -> duration: 1524
1000000 times: vectorInt[ vectorInt.length ] = i -> duration: 643

Always worth reading: http://gskinner.com/talks/quick/

Removing comments in CSS, HTML and ECMAScript (JavaScript)

While working on an Adobe AIR based source code editor I was looking for an easy way to remove comments from different kind of source codes. What first seemed like an easy regular expression turned out to be much more complex because comment pre- and suffixes can also occur in string literals or regular expressions and our old friend Internet Explorer allows HTML conditional comments and JavaScript conditional compilation. Great.

First I had a look at YUICompressors source code and Google Page Speed but then I decided to port a script for removing JavaScript comments created by James Padolsey.

I just improved the recognition for regular expressions a little and since this code should work with all ECMAScript based source codes I named my class ECMAScriptParser instead of JavaScriptParser:

package de.superclass.parser
{
	/**
	 * @author Markus Raab (superclass.de | blog.derRaab.com)
	 */
	public class ECMAScriptParser
	{
		/**
		 * Removes inline and block comments from an ECMAScript source string. 
		 * 
		 * This is a port of James Padolsey	 with an slightly improved RegExp recognition.
		 * @see: http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/removing-comments-in-javascript
		 * 
		 * @param ecmaScript		ECMAScript source string
		 * @param removeCondComp	Optional (default=false) - Whether to remove Internet Explorers JavasScript conditional compilation comments or not.   
		 * @return					ECMAScript source string without comments
		 */
		public static function removeComments( ecmaScript : String, removeCondComp : Boolean = false ) : String
		{
			var modeSingleQuote		: Boolean = false;
			var modeDoubleQuote		: Boolean = false;
			var modeRegExp			: Boolean = false;
			var modeBlockComment	: Boolean = false;
			var modeLineComment		: Boolean = false;
			var modeCondComp		: Boolean = false; 
 
			var vector : Vector.<String> = Vector.<String>( ( '__' + ecmaScript + '__' ).split( '' ) );
				vector.fixed = true;
 
			var c : int = vector.length;
 
			for ( var i : int = 0; i < c; i++ )
			{
				var string : String = vector[ i ];
 
				if ( modeRegExp )
				{
					if ( string === '/' && vector[ i - 1 ] !== '\\' )
					{
						modeRegExp = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeSingleQuote )
				{
					if ( string === "'" && vector[ i - 1 ] !== '\\' )
					{
						modeSingleQuote = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeDoubleQuote )
				{
					if ( string === '"' && vector[ i - 1 ] !== '\\' )
					{
						modeDoubleQuote = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeBlockComment )
				{
					if ( string === '*' && vector[ i + 1 ] === '/' )
					{
						vector[ i + 1 ] = '';
						modeBlockComment = false;
					}
					vector[ i ] = '';
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeLineComment)
				{
					string = vector[ i + 1 ];
					if ( string === '\n' || string === '\r' )
					{
						modeLineComment = false;
					}
					vector[ i ] = '';
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeCondComp )
				{
					if ( vector[ i - 2 ] === '@' && vector[ i - 1 ] === '*' && string === '/' )
					{
						modeCondComp = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( string === '"' )
				{
					modeDoubleQuote = true;
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( string === "'" )
				{
					modeSingleQuote = true;
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( string === '/' )
				{
					if ( ! removeCondComp && vector[ i + 1 ] === '*' && vector[ i + 2 ] === '@' )
					{
						modeCondComp = true;
						continue;
					}
 
					if ( vector[ i + 1 ] === '*' )
					{
						vector[ i ] = '';
 
						modeBlockComment = true;
						continue;
					}
 
					if ( vector[ i + 1 ] === '/' )
					{
						vector[ i ] = '';
						modeLineComment = true;
						continue;
					}
 
					for ( var k : int = i - 1; true; k-- )
					{
						string = vector[ k ];
						if ( string !== ' ' )
						{
							if ( string === '=' )
							{
								modeRegExp = true;
							}
							break;
						}
					}
				}
			}
			return vector.join( '' ).slice( 2, -2 );
		}
	}
}

Allright – CSS doesn’t allow inline or conditional comments so I removed this script functionality and created a CSSParser class:

package de.superclass.parser
{
	/**
	 * @author Markus Raab (superclass.de | blog.derRaab.com)
	 */
	public class CSSParser
	{
		/**
		 * Removes comments from a CSS string. 
		 * 
		 * This is a shrinked port of James Padolseys script.
		 * @see: http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/removing-comments-in-javascript
		 * 
		 * @param css				CSS string
		 * @return					CSS string without comments
		 */
		public static function removeComments( css : String) : String
		{
			var modeSingleQuote		: Boolean = false;
			var modeDoubleQuote		: Boolean = false;
			var modeBlockComment	: Boolean = false;
 
			var vector : Vector.<String> = Vector.<String>( ( '__' + css + '__' ).split( '' ) );
				vector.fixed = true;
 
			var c : int = vector.length;
 
			for ( var i : int = 0; i < c; i++ )
			{
				var string : String = vector[ i ];
 
				if ( modeSingleQuote )
				{
					if ( string === "'" && vector[ i - 1 ] !== '\\' )
					{
						modeSingleQuote = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeDoubleQuote )
				{
					if ( string === '"' && vector[ i - 1 ] !== '\\' )
					{
						modeDoubleQuote = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeBlockComment )
				{
					if ( string === '*' && vector[ i + 1 ] === '/' )
					{
						vector[ i + 1 ] = '';
						modeBlockComment = false;
					}
					vector[ i ] = '';
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( string === '"' )
				{
					modeDoubleQuote = true;
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( string === "'" )
				{
					modeSingleQuote = true;
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( string === '/' )
				{
					if ( vector[ i + 1 ] === '*' )
					{
						vector[ i ] = '';
 
						modeBlockComment = true;
						continue;
					}
				}
			}
			return vector.join( '' ).slice( 2, -2 );
		}
	}
}

Good. Lastly I extended the code to remove all comments within HTML source code, which can also contain JavaScript and of course CSS. This is the HTMLParser:

package de.superclass.parser
{
	/**
	 * @author Markus Raab (superclass.de | blog.derRaab.com)
	 */
	public class HTMLParser
	{
		/**
		 * Removes all HTML, CSS and ECMAScript comments from a HTML string.
		 * 
		 * This is an extended port of James Padolseys script with an improved RegExp recognition.
		 * @see: http://james.padolsey.com/javascript/removing-comments-in-javascript
		 * 
		 * @param html						HTML string
		 * @param removeHTMLCondComment		Optional (default=false) - Whether to remove Internet Explorers HTML conditional comments or not.
		 * @param removeJSCondComp			Optional (default=false) - Whether to remove Internet Explorers JavasScript conditional compilation comments or not.
		 * @return							HTML string without comments
		 */
		public static function removeComments( html : String, removeHTMLCondComment : Boolean = false, removeJSCondComp : Boolean = false ) : String
		{
			var modeSingleQuote		: Boolean = false;
			var modeDoubleQuote		: Boolean = false;
			var modeRegExp			: Boolean = false;
			var modeBlockComment	: Boolean = false;
			var modeLineComment		: Boolean = false;
 
			var modeJSCondComp		: Boolean = false;
 
			var modeHTMLComment		: Boolean = false;
			var modeHTMLCondComment	: Boolean = false;
 
			var vector : Vector.<String> = Vector.<String>( ( '__' + html + '__' ).split( '' ) );
				vector.fixed = true;
 
			var c : int = vector.length;
 
			for ( var i : int = 0; i < c; i++ )
			{
				var string : String = vector[ i ];
 
				if ( modeRegExp )
				{
					if ( string === '/' && vector[ i - 1 ] !== '\\' )
					{
						modeRegExp = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeSingleQuote )
				{
					if ( string === "'" && vector[ i - 1 ] !== '\\' )
					{
						modeSingleQuote = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeDoubleQuote )
				{
					if ( string === '"' && vector[ i - 1 ] !== '\\')
					{
						modeDoubleQuote = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeBlockComment )
				{
					if ( string === '*' && vector[ i + 1 ] === '/')
					{
						vector[ i + 1 ] = '';
						modeBlockComment = false;
					}
					vector[ i ] = '';
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeLineComment)
				{
					string = vector[ i + 1 ];
					if ( string === '\n' || string === '\r' )
					{
						modeLineComment = false;
					}
					vector[ i ] = '';
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeJSCondComp )
				{
					if ( vector[ i - 2 ] === '@' && vector[ i - 1 ] === '*' && string === '/' )
					{
						modeJSCondComp = false;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeHTMLComment )
				{
					// --> 
					if ( string === '-' && vector[ i + 1 ] === '-' && vector[ i + 2 ] === '>' )
					{
						vector[ i + 1 ] = '';
						vector[ i + 2 ] = '';
 
						modeHTMLComment = false;
					}
					vector[ i ] = '';
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( modeHTMLCondComment )
				{
					if ( string === 'i' && vector[ i + 1 ] === 'f' && vector[ i + 2 ] === ']' && vector[ i + 3 ] === '-' && vector[ i + 4 ] === '-' && vector[ i + 5 ] === '>' ) // if]--> 
					{
						modeHTMLCondComment = false;
						i += 5;
					}
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( string === '<' && vector[ i + 1 ] === '!' && vector[ i + 2 ] === '-' && vector[ i + 3 ] === '-' ) // <!--
				{
					if ( ! removeHTMLCondComment && vector[ i + 4 ] === '[' && vector[ i + 5 ] === 'i' && vector[ i + 6 ] === 'f' ) // <!--[if
					{
						modeHTMLCondComment = true;
					}
					else
					{
						vector[ i ] = '';
						modeHTMLComment = true;
					}
				}
 
				if ( string === '"' )
				{
					modeDoubleQuote = true;
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( string === "'" )
				{
					modeSingleQuote = true;
					continue;
				}
 
				if ( string === '/' )
				{
					if ( ! removeJSCondComp && vector[ i + 1 ] === '*' && vector[ i + 2 ] === '@' )
					{
						modeJSCondComp = true;
						continue;
					}
 
					if ( vector[ i + 1 ] === '*' )
					{
						vector[ i ] = '';
 
						modeBlockComment = true;
						continue;
					}
 
					if ( vector[ i + 1 ] === '/' )
					{
						vector[ i ] = '';
						modeLineComment = true;
						continue;
					}
 
					for ( var k : int = i - 1; true; k-- )
					{
						string = vector[ k ];
						if ( string !== ' ' )
						{
							if ( string === '=' )
							{
								modeRegExp = true;
							}
							break;
						}
					}
				}
			}
			return vector.join( '' ).slice( 2, -2 );
		}
	}
}

Let me know if I made a mistake but it seems to work quite well. Or do you know a good library that already does this kind of optimizations?

Well, that’s it for now. Have fun coding!

Safari Flash Player detection problems with ClickToFlash

I really like the concept of blocking Flash, mainly because I don’t see these unwanted, crappy developed Flash adds sucking performance, but also because it’s a nice way to recognise Flash parts in websites. You’ll have your own reasons.

Safari is, except for testing purposes, my browser of choice, but I was having trouble on different websites accessing Flash content because the Flash plugin was not detected correctly. Since I had to update the Flash Player on my system again, I decided to figure out what the problem is.

According to Playerversion.com an older Flash Player version – MAC 10,0,45,0 – was found first, then the display switched to my installed Flash version – MAC 10,3,181,14 (Debug player).

I used the Flash Player Uninstaller but Flash Player version MAC 10,0,45,0 was still displayed in Safari.

After some research I figured out that ClickToFlash doesn’t display the correct Flash Player version and therefore doesn’t work in all Flash detection scripts. Just check Safari - Help - Installed Plugins and search for "Flash" and you’ll see that ClickToFlash simulates somehow an outdated Flash Player version (seems to be hardcoded).

So until ClickToFlash will be updated displaying the correct installed Flash Player version I’ll use AdBlock For Safari. More Flash but less problems – hopefully. 🙂

FFK11 – beyond tellerrand notes

I’m still not sure if “beyond tellerrand” is a subtitle or will become the new brand for the one and only Flashforum conference here in germany. Sascha Wolter and Marc Thiele did a great job as always and even I never went to another conference, FFK seems still to be a special one. Again I was lucky listening to some really cool stuff.

Interestingly most of my last year notes are still up to date, which doesn’t help if you don’t keep them in mind. So I think it’s a good idea to read my own notes from time to time. 😉

That’s what I became aware of this time:

AIR 2.6

  • Lee Brimelow mentioned AIR 2.6 on iOS is faster than on Android! Yeah.
  • Adobe is working hard on increasing performance near to native code.
  • Installing a runtime seems to be annoying for Android users, so Adobe is thinking about compiling for Android like for iOS. Which might bring some extra performance as well.
  • I asked Lee Brimelow about AIR on Windows Phone 7 and he said something like “Adobe is currently not working on that and it would be a lot of work”. Well, of course Microsoft is not interested having AIR on their system, but it would be a really important platform for all of us. So in my opinion Adobe at least has a small team checking out what’s possible. What do you think about Windows Phone 7 and AIR support?

Flex Builder 4.5

  • You can get Flex SDK 4.5 already, but there’s also a way to join the private pre-release program to get early access to Flex Builder 4.5. Just visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/flexprerelease. They are working on some useful stuff and it might be a good idea to test some of the new features.
  • Deepa Supramaniam mentioned spark MXML skins have performance issues on mobile devices. That’s why they created pure ActionScript spark skins for mobile applications. Hopefully, within the private beta Flex SDKs, we’ll find some great improvements: http://www.riagora.com/2011/03/preview-of-flex-on-ios/.

NUI

  • Wolfgang Henseler (Talk I missed at FFK10) opened my mind according NUI.
  • Don’t think of apps on mobile devices but of services allowing you reaching your goal faster than a website.
  • Think about providing services, combining them, rethinking them.
  • Use less design and let objects provide their functionalities (e.g. tap on image to get some options).
  • My brain is very busy with that NUI thing. E. g. he mentioned the Siri iPhone app. It’s not about how it looks like (not so cool) but how it works! Combining lots of possibilities with a really easy interface (speech) . He was also talking about “in body technology” (sensors and stuff like that.) and http://www.tedmed.com/
  • After Dennis Ippels Kinect (OpenKinect / http://www.primesense.com/) introduction I finally know something about the magic behind this device as well.

Molehill

Additional useful links:

iOS development with AIR 2.6 using FDT and my new friend ANT

Adobe recently released AIR 2.6 with improved iOS support, so I finally had to get into using ADT with ANT. My editor of choice is FDT so I wanted to do as less extra work as possible. Mainly because I’m no terminal-guy. I need a clean GUI holding my hand while setting up workspaces, linking libraries and stuff like that. In other words, command line and compiler arguments are freaking me out. 😉

I read a lot of blogposts and articles (see link list on the bottom of this post) but most of them compile SWFs using ANT, which means setting source path and stuff like that as command line arguments. But hey, FDT does this already during my daily workflow, so to me it seems natural reusing this within the iOS packaging process.

So I won’t comment a lot what I came up with because all of this can be read on one of the sites below, but show you simply a screenshot of my “IOSAIRTest” workspace structure and of course the ANT files. Notice that I’m not into having different directories for debug, publish, testing and so. I like to have all source files clean and separated by file type (would have an mxml folder too):

You will find the most interesting files in src/ant. Let’s start with local.properties which just defines the SDK path:

FLEX_HOME=/Users/{USERNAME}/Path/To/FlexSDKs/4.5.0.17689_AIR_2.6
MXMLC=${FLEX_HOME}/bin/mxmlc
ADT=${FLEX_HOME}/bin/adt

Within build.properties you setup all params regarding your project:

app.rootdir=./../..
app.descriptor=${app.rootdir}/bin/IOSAIRTest-app.xml
app.rootfile=IOSAIRTest.swf
app.sourcedir=${app.rootdir}/src/as
app.bindir=${app.rootdir}/bin
app.source=${app.sourcedir}/de/superclass/IOSAIRTest.as
app.includes=assets icons Default.png Default-Portrait.png
 
build.storetype=pkcs12
build.keystore=${app.rootdir}/resources/ios/iPhoneDevCert.p12
build.storepass={PASSWORD;)}
build.mobileprofile=${app.rootdir}/resources/ios/AIR_TEST.mobileprovision
build.name=IOSAIRTest.ipa
 
fdt.projectname=AIRTest
fdt.mainclass=${app.source}
fdt.target=${app.bindir}/${app.rootfile}

And build.xml contains four ways to create the IPA package and the according FDT tasks:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="AIR export" basedir=".">
 
	<property file="local.properties" />
	<property file="build.properties" />
 
	<!-- FDT tasks
 
		see http://fdt.powerflasher.com/docs/FDT_Ant_Tasks#fdt.launch.application - for documentation
		see http://fdt.powerflasher.com/docs/FDT_and_Ant_Tutorial#Your_First_Task:_Compiling_.26_JRE_Error - if you run into errors!
	-->
 
	<target name="FDT create SWF">
		<fdt.launch.resetFlexCompiler/>
		<fdt.launch.application
			projectname="${fdt.projectname}"
			mainclass="${fdt.mainclass}"
			profile="false"
			debug="false"
			target="${fdt.target}"
	    	startswf="false"/>
	  </target>
 
	<target name="FDT create SWF debug">
		<fdt.launch.resetFlexCompiler/>
		<fdt.launch.application
			projectname="${fdt.projectname}"
			mainclass="${fdt.mainclass}"
			profile="false"
			debug="true"
			target="${fdt.target}"
	    	startswf="false"/>
	  </target>
 
	<!-- ADT tasks -->
 
	<target name="iOS create IPA debug" depends="FDT create SWF debug">
		<exec executable="${ADT}">
			<arg line="-package
						-target ipa-debug
						-storetype ${build.storetype}
						-keystore ${build.keystore}
						-storepass ${build.storepass}
						-provisioning-profile ${build.mobileprofile}
						${app.bindir}/${build.name}
						${app.descriptor}
						-C ${app.bindir} ${app.rootfile} ${app.includes}
			"/>
		</exec>
	</target>
 
	<target name="iOS create IPA test" depends="FDT create SWF">
		<exec executable="${ADT}">
			<arg line="-package
						-target ipa-test
						-storetype ${build.storetype}
						-keystore ${build.keystore}
						-storepass ${build.storepass}
						-provisioning-profile ${build.mobileprofile}
						${app.bindir}/${build.name}
						${app.descriptor}
						-C ${app.bindir} ${app.rootfile} ${app.includes}
			"/>
		</exec>
	</target>
 
	<target name="iOS create IPA ad-hoc" depends="FDT create SWF">
		<exec executable="${ADT}">
			<arg line="-package
						-target ipa-ad-hoc
						-storetype ${build.storetype}
						-keystore ${build.keystore}
						-storepass ${build.storepass}
						-provisioning-profile ${build.mobileprofile}
						${app.bindir}/${build.name}
						${app.descriptor}
						-C ${app.bindir} ${app.rootfile} ${app.includes}
			"/>
		</exec>
	</target>
 
	<target name="iOS create IPA app-store" depends="FDT create SWF">
		<exec executable="${ADT}">
			<arg line="-package
						-target ipa-app-store
						-storetype ${build.storetype}
						-keystore ${build.keystore}
						-storepass ${build.storepass}
						-provisioning-profile ${build.mobileprofile}
						${app.bindir}/${build.name}
						${app.descriptor}
						-C ${app.bindir} ${app.rootfile} ${app.includes}
			"/>
		</exec>
	</target>
 
</project>

If you’re not sure how to get started with all this AIR 2.6 stuff because it’s currently not integrated in the Flex SDKs – follow this steps:

Loads of linked informations:

http://blogs.adobe.com/cantrell/archives/2011/03/how-to-use-air-2-6-with-flash-builder-4.html
http://www.mobilerevamp.org/2010/07/30/how-to-build-your-first-air4android-application-using-fdt-and-eclipse/
https://code.google.com/p/air-on-android-with-fdt/
http://www.beautifycode.com/flex-hero-mobile-project-template-for-fdt-4-2
http://www.beautifycode.com/publish-package-an-air-file-with-fdt4
http://labs.almerblank.com/2011/03/using-ant-to-compile-a-flex-mobile-project-for-ios/
http://va.lent.in/blog/2011/03/25/air2-6-app-for-ios/ (Thanks for ANT files!)
http://developerartofwar.com/2011/03/24/air-2-6-on-ipad-2-in-15-mins/
http://karoshiethos.com/2010/04/06/use-fdt-folder-path-variables-in-ant/
http://fdt.powerflasher.com/docs/FDT_Ant_Tasks#fdt.launch.application
http://labs.almerblank.com/2011/03/using-ant-to-compile-a-flex-mobile-project-for-ios/

Update:
http://www.blackcj.com/blog/2011/04/04/ios-android-and-blackberry-in-a-single-click-with-ant/

SWF meta tag

I’m always searching for it so here is a useful blogpost.

As the latest FDT version ( Beta 4 ) does not set compiler arguments concerning SWF-size, framerate etc. by default I started using SWF-Metatags to specify these settings.

I’m talking of these things:

[SWF(width="910", height="610", backgroundColor="#FFFFFF", frameRate="40")]

Just set this tag above your class opening in the one you’re going to compile. Here is a complete list of (useful) arguments you can pass in:

width
widthPercent
height
heightPercent
scriptTimeLimit
frameRate
backgroundColor

So basically this is the fastest way to set up common compile-arguments to your project. By the way there is no Flex-Framework required – these tags also work in pure AS3 projects.

Date.time vs. Date.setTime() getTime() performance

Using Date.setTime() and Date.getTime() is faster than Date.time.

My quick speed test to determine the fastest way to get and set time values on Date objects:

var date : Date = new Date();
var max : Number = date.time;
 
var start : int;
var end : int;
var time : Number;
var times : Vector.<Number> = new Vector.<Number>(); 
 
var c : int = 1000000;
for ( var i : int = 0; i < c; i++ ) { times.push( Math.round( max * Math.random() ) ); }
 
start = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { date.time = times[ i ]; };
end = getTimer();
trace( "date.time = times[ i ];", end - start );
 
start = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { date.setTime( times[ i ] ); };
end = getTimer();
trace( "date.setTime( times[ i ] );", end - start );
 
start = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { time = date.time; };
end = getTimer();
trace( "time = date.time;", end - start );
 
start = getTimer();
for ( i = 0; i < c; i++ ) { time = date.getTime(); };
end = getTimer();
trace( "time = date.getTime();", end - start );
 
// Result:
//
// date.time = times[ i ];		381
// date.setTime( times[ i ] );	270
// time = date.time;			184
// time = date.getTime();		65

iPhone / iPad ActionScript Guide quotes

As I mentioned here I strongly recommend to read Adobe’s Building ADOBE® AIR® Applications with the Packager for iPhone® guide or Flash Platform for iPhone.

Just some ActionScript facts:

ActionScript APIs unsupported on mobile devices
ActionScript APIs specific to mobile AIR applications
ActionScript APIs of special interest to mobile application developers

iPhone / iPad Development Guide quotes

Since I’m diving deeper into Flash for iOS devices I strongly recommend to read Adobe’s Building ADOBE® AIR® Applications with the Packager for iPhone® guide or Flash Platform for iPhone.

Beside the know how of subscribing as a Apple developer, obtaining certificates and so on I think this informations are quite valuable but easy to forget:

iPhone icon and initial screen images

The iPhone adds a glare effect to the icon… To remove this default glare effect, add the UIPrerenderedIcon key to the InfoAdditions element in the application descriptor file…

All iPhone applications display an initial image while the application loads on the iPhone. You define the initial image in a PNG file named Default.png stored in the main development directory… The Default.png file is 320 pixels wide by 480 pixels tall, regardless of the initial orientation of the application or whether it is full-screen or not.

The iPhone displays its status bar over the 20 pixel-wide rectangle at the top or left of the default image.

For iPad support, you can define images for each supported initial orientation (Default-Portrait, Default-PortraitUpsideDown, Default-LandscapeLeft, Default-LandscapeRight.png)… Initial screen images for the iPad are 768 pixels wide and 1024 pixels high.

iPhone application settings

There must be way more settings than this:

<iPhone><InfoAdditions><![CDATA[
<key>UIStatusBarStyle</key>
<string>UIStatusBarStyleBlackOpaque</string>
<key>UIRequiresPersistentWiFi</key>
<string>NO</string>
]]></InfoAdditions></iPhone>

Debugging an iPhone application

Debugging the iPhone App over Wi-Fi is possible and GPU rendering diagnostics can be activated at compile time.

Continue reading about more specific ActionScript notes here.