This session is about how to get started with mobile development. Most developers are used to build software for desktop. Regardless of the technology you pick up for building mobile apps there are some tips and tricks that can help smooth your path.

1. Starting Mobile Development
Mihai Corlan | Web Developer Evangelist | Adobe
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

2. About Me
Mihai Corlan
 Adobe Web Developer Evangelist
 Blog: http://corlan.org
 Twitter: mcorlan
 Email: mcorlan@adobe.com
2
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

3. How to become a mobile developer?
… or from web/desktop developer to mobile developer
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4. Practice beats everything!
You have to start working on mobile apps
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5. Design a Plan and Follow it
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6. Example of Plans
 Create a mobile game for iPad
 Create a mobile application for the metro system from my town
 …
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7. Chemistry Brothers – iPad game build with AIR & ActionScript
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8. One Week
Three People
From Nothing
to
Finished Game
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9. Tuning the Idea
1. Build the app in a week or less
2. Build an app that solves a need you have or you are intimate with
3. Finish your app and publish it
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

10. Your approach could be…
1. If you are a developer:
 Work for 2-4 weekends to build your app
 Most important thing is to finish your app and publish it
 Keep working on it to polish and explore new approaches
2. If you are a company:
1. Assemble a small team
2. Find an idea for an application
3. Define crystal clear what does complete app mean
4. Organize a bootcamp – could be 3 days or 7 days of work exclusively on the
project
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

11. Creating Mobile Apps
With AIR, Flex, & Flash Builder
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12. Understand the Tools – Flash Builder & Flash Professional
 Creating Flex and ActionScript projects
 Design View
 Testing the app in the desktop simulator
 Debugging the code in the desktop simulator or on the
device
 Support for packaging the app - native installers for iOS,
Android, and PlayBook
 Flash Builder for PHP
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

13. Understand AIR runtime capabilities
 AIR 3.0 support for:
 iOS, Android, and PlayBook
 Captive Runtime
 Native Extensions
 …
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

14. Understand Flex Support for Mobile Development
Screen Metaphor Session Persistency Multi-Screen
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

15. Creating Custom Components/Layout Managers
 Take a look at the existing Flex mobile components and learn how to
extend them and build new ones
 Understand layout managers so you can build your own if necessary
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

16. Understand Flex Mobile Skinning
 Using CSS
 Using FXG – start in Photoshop or Illustrator
 ActionScript based skins
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

17. Creating Liquid UIs – dealing with screen fragmentation
 Master layout managers and APIs for detecting screen
resolution/densities and operating system
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

18. Stay Informed About What’s Coming Next
 No need to reinvent the wheel
 Ex. Flex 4.6 brings callout buttons and data spinner
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

19. Question Everything
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20. Custom Look & Feel vs. Native UI
1. There are libraries that skin your app as an iOS or Android native app
Examples:
1. http://e-skimo.com/index.php
2. https://github.com/olsonjj
3. http://madskool.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/madcomponents-wow/
2. I favor custom look & feel over native UI because:
1. You’ll save time that you can use for working on additional features or
improve the existing one
2. Customers care about great user experience
3. It is easier to bring your app to multiple OSs: iOS, Android, and PlayBook
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

21. Conqu – Running on iOS / Android / PlayBook
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22. Question the UI: Lists
 Lists are one of the most abused UI components
 Ask yourself do I really need a list?
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23. If You Need A List Make The Best Possible List
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

24. If You Need A List Make The Best Possible List
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

25. Question the UI: Built-in Keyboards vs. Custom Keyboard
 Can your app be more usable if using a custom keyboard?
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

26. Landscape and Portrait Orientation
 Don’t use both modes just because you can
 For some apps one could make more sense than the other
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

27. Mobile App – Server/Service Communication
 The vast majority of mobile apps don’t talk to a server or cloud service –
so it doesn’t seem to be a must, right?
 Things are changing – Android synch services, Apple iCloud will make
people to expect
 your app to support synchs data across multiple devices or user accounts
 There are companies providing synch services and storage
 You can use Peer2Peer support available in AIR
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

28. Working with SQLite
 Use a desktop tool for creating database structure / adding data
 For Mac you can use SQLite Database Browser – free app
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

29. Working with SQLite
 Get the database file created by the tool and add it to your project
 When you first run your app just copy the database file from app directory
to application storage folder
public function initiliazeDB():void {
var file:File = File.applicationStorageDirectory.resolvePath(“myDatabaseFile”);
if(!file.exists) {
var destination:File = File.applicationStorageDirectory;
var source:File = File.applicationDirectory.resolvePath("assets/orbdb");
source.copyTo(destination.resolvePath(DB), true);
}
sqlConnectionSync = new SQLConnection();
sqlConnectionSync.open(file, SQLMode.CREATE);
}
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

30. Persist Locally Internet Data
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

31. Providing Dummy Data for a Quick Start
 People using for the first time your application will learn faster how to use
it
 See PeopleORB and aTabSplitter
Hints for new users
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

32. Question Devices
=
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33. Make Your App Available Everywhere
 Some say they’ve made more money with their PlayBook version of their
apps than with the Android or iOS ones
 My app (aTabSplitter) had almost 10X more PlayBook downloads than
Android’ downloads
Android Devices iOS Devices BlackBerry PlayBook
(+ NOOK Color)
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

34. Conclusions
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35. It’s time for you to start building amazing mobile apps!
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

36. Thank You!
Question & Answers Time!
http://corlan.org
http://twitter.com/mcorlan
http://github.com/mcorlan
mcorlan@adobe.com
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

37. Resources
 Flash Builder 4.5 (60-day trial period):
www.adobe.com/go/try/flashbuilder
 Adobe Developer Connection:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/
 My blog:
http://corlan.org
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

38. My Approach
 Think of a mobile application you’d
want to have
 Build that app and use this experience
to learn how to build mobile apps
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.

39. Or Make It Better: Introducing the Section Tile List
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

40. © 2010 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

41. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe AIR, the Adobe AIR logo, the Adobe PDF logo, AIR, ColdFusion, ColdFusion Builder, Flash, Flash Builder, the Flash logo, Flex, LiveCycle, and R
are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respec
owners.
© 2010 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. 9102xxxx 3/10
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe AIR, the Adobe AIR logo, ActionScript, AIR, Flash, Flash Builder, Flash Catalyst, the Flash logo, Flex, and LiveCycle are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. Java is a trademark or registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
Printed in the USA. 91023957 3/10
© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated.