In this tutorial I will show how to create an iOS native extension for Adobe AIR. My extension enables sending an e-mail by invoking MFMailComposeViewController on iOS. This way you can send an e-mail without leaving you app, attachments are supported, too.
Grab the source from github: iOS In-app mail Native Extension for Adobe AIR
How to use iOS mail extension
Create an intance of class pl.randori.air.nativeextensions.ios.MailExtension and call method
sendMail(subject:String, messageBody:String, toRecipients:String, ccRecipients:String = ””, bccRecipients:String = ””, attachmentsData:Array = null):void
To add an attachment from application bundle:
- filename|bundle|file_mimetype|name_of_file_to_be_shown_in_mail
to add an attachment from application documents directory use
- filename|documents|file_mimetype|name_of_file_to_be_shown_in_mail
sendMail method implementation should make it more clear
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | /** * @param subject Mail subject * @param messageBody Mail body (can include HTML) * @param toRecipients To: recipients in format: "mail@example.com,mail2@example.com" * @param ccRecipients Cc: recipients in format: "mail@example.com,mail2@example.com" * @param bccRecipients Bcc: recipients in format: "mail@example.com,mail2@example.com" * @param attachmentsData Attachments in format: ['filename|bundle|mimetype|name of file to display in attachment'] * example: ["Default.png|bundle|image/png|Application splash screen.png","Example file.dat|documents|text/xml|A file saved in Adobe AIR iOS app.txt"] */ public function sendMail(subject:String, messageBody:String, toRecipients:String, ccRecipients:String = '', bccRecipients:String = '', attachmentsData:Array = null):void { extensionContext.addEventListener( StatusEvent.STATUS, onStatusEvent); extensionContext.call( "sendMailWithOptions", subject, messageBody, toRecipients, ccRecipients, bccRecipients, attachmentsData); } |
MailExtension dispatches MainExtensionEvent.MAIL_COMPOSER_EVENT to let you know what’s going on. You will be notified if the user has sent the mail, saved it, canceled, etc.
Also there will be notifications WILL_SHOW_MAIL_COMPOSER and WILL_HIDE_MAIL_COMPOSER so you could know when the mail composer is shown and dismissed.
This can be used to stop / resume task in AIR while the mail composer is present on the screen
Creating an native extension for Adobe AIR requires some iOS/Objective-C knowledge so don’t worry if not everything’s clear at the beginning.
I divided the process of development to three steps
1. Creating a native library in Xcode
2. Creating an ActionScript library which will act as a middleware between Adobe AIR and iOS
3. Creating an example Adobe AIR app
My development environtment was Flash Builder 4.5 with Flex SDK 4.5.1 and AIR SDK 3.1 and Xcode 4.2 and iOS SDK 5. Flash Builder 4.5 doesn’t support native extensions development, so I’ve used ANT to compile and package everything.
Before starting be sure to merge Flex SDK with Adobe AIR SDK.
Creating the native library in Xcode for AIR an iOS
A native library can be written in Objective-C, C/C++ or Java depending on the target platform. Currently extensions for iOS, Android, BlackBerry PlayBook and AIR TV are supported. The library exposes an API that the Adobe AIR application can use, which can include functionalities that are not available in the current release of Adobe AIR or make use of performance of native code (math, physics computations; image processing, etc.).
On iOS Adobe AIR cannot access to such APIs as: Game Center, In-App Purchase, Twitter or Bluetooth. With native extensions we can create a fully featured iOS app.
In Xcode create a new static library project and set the project setting as follows:
Set “Enable Linking with Shared Libraries” to NO if when packaging your app into an ipa archive you see in console a message that looks like:
ld warning: unexpected srelocation type 9
Add FlashRuntimeExtensions.h and implement required methods
Next, you need to add FlashRuntimeExtensions.h to your project. This file can be found in FLEX_SDK\include. This file will provide necessary data types definitions and functions that will be used for communication between native code and AIR app.
Native extension written using C API (which iOS extension are) requires four methods to be implemented:
- extension initializer
- extension finalizer
- context initializer
- context finalizer
In MailExtension.m those functions are: ExtInitializer, ExtFinalizer, ContextInitializer, ContextFinalizer. Those are just the names I used, they can actually be named anything you want, but you must provide those functions’ names in configuration xmls.
My main extension file MailExtension.m looks like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 | // // MailExtension.m // MailExtension // // Created by Piotr Kościerzyński on 11-11-29. // Copyright (c) 2011 Randori. All rights reserved. // #import "MailExtension.h" @implementation MailExtension static NSString *attachmentsSeparator = @"----"; static NSString *event_name = @"MAIL_COMPOSER_EVENT"; FREContext g_ctx; MailComposerHelper *mailComposerHelper; - (id)init { self = [super init]; if (self) { // Initialization code here. } return self; } int canSendMail(void) { BOOL result = NO; //On pre iOS 3.0 devices MFMailComposeViewController does not exists Class mailClass = (NSClassFromString(@"MFMailComposeViewController")); if (mailClass != nil) { // We must always check whether the current device is configured for sending emails if ([mailClass canSendMail]) { result = YES; } else { result = NO; } } //this will never happen since Adobe AIR requires at least iOS 4.0 else { result = NO; } return (int)result; } //Can we invoke in-app mail ? FREObject PKIsMailComposerAvailable(FREContext ctx, void* funcData, uint32_t argc, FREObject argv[]) { BOOL ret = canSendMail(); FREObject retVal; FRENewObjectFromBool(ret, &retVal); return retVal; } //Send mail FREObject PKSendMailWithOptions(FREContext ctx, void* funcData, uint32_t argc, FREObject argv[] ) { BOOL ret = canSendMail(); if (!ret) { FREDispatchStatusEventAsync(ctx, (uint8_t*)[event_name UTF8String], (uint8_t*)[@"MAIL_COMPOSER_NOT_AVAILABLE" UTF8String]); return NULL; } if(argc<3) { FREDispatchStatusEventAsync(ctx, (uint8_t*)[event_name UTF8String], (uint8_t*)[@"NOT_ENOUGH_PARAMETERS_PROVIDED" UTF8String]); return NULL; } //Subject uint32_t subjectLength; const uint8_t *subjectCString; //To Recipients uint32_t toRecipientsLength; const uint8_t *toRecipientsCString; //CC Recipients uint32_t ccRecipientsLength; const uint8_t *ccRecipientsCString; //Bcc Recipients uint32_t bccRecipientsLength; const uint8_t *bccRecipientsCString; //Message Body uint32_t messageBodyLength; const uint8_t *messageBodyCString; NSMutableString *attachmentsString = nil; NSString *subjectString = nil; NSString *toRecipientsString = nil; NSString *ccRecipientsString = nil; NSString *bccRecipientsString = nil; NSString *messageBodyString = nil; //Create NSStrings from CStrings if (FRE_OK == FREGetObjectAsUTF8(argv[0], &subjectLength, &subjectCString)) { subjectString = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char*)subjectCString]; } if (FRE_OK == FREGetObjectAsUTF8(argv[1], &messageBodyLength, &messageBodyCString)) { messageBodyString = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char*)messageBodyCString]; } if (FRE_OK == FREGetObjectAsUTF8(argv[2], &toRecipientsLength, &toRecipientsCString)) { toRecipientsString = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char*)toRecipientsCString]; } if (argc >= 4 && (FRE_OK == FREGetObjectAsUTF8(argv[3], &ccRecipientsLength, &ccRecipientsCString))) { ccRecipientsString = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char*)ccRecipientsCString]; } if (argc >= 5 && (FRE_OK == FREGetObjectAsUTF8(argv[4], &bccRecipientsLength, &bccRecipientsCString))) { bccRecipientsString = [NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char*)bccRecipientsCString]; } uint32_t attachmentsArrayLength = 0; //argv[5] is a an array of strings if (argc >= 6 && (FRE_OK != FREGetArrayLength(argv[5], &attachmentsArrayLength))) { //No valid array of attachments provided. } if (attachmentsArrayLength >= 1) { attachmentsString = [[NSMutableString alloc ] init]; uint32_t attachmentEntryLength; const uint8_t *attachmentEntryCString; for (int i = 0; i < attachmentsArrayLength; i++) { FREObject arrayElement; FREGetArrayElementAt(argv[5], i, &arrayElement); FREGetObjectAsUTF8(arrayElement, &attachmentEntryLength, &attachmentEntryCString); [attachmentsString appendString:[NSString stringWithUTF8String:(char*)attachmentEntryCString]]; if (i<(attachmentsArrayLength-1)) [attachmentsString appendString:attachmentsSeparator]; } } if (mailComposerHelper) { } else { mailComposerHelper = [[MailComposerHelper alloc] init]; } [mailComposerHelper setContext:ctx]; [mailComposerHelper sendMailWithSubject:subjectString toRecipients:toRecipientsString ccRecipients:ccRecipientsString bccRecipients:bccRecipientsString messageBody:messageBodyString attachmentsData:attachmentsString]; if (attachmentsString != nil) [attachmentsString release]; return NULL; } //------------------------------------ // // Required Methods. // //------------------------------------ // ContextInitializer() // // The context initializer is called when the runtime creates the extension context instance. void ContextInitializer(void* extData, const uint8_t* ctxType, FREContext ctx, uint32_t* numFunctionsToTest, const FRENamedFunction** functionsToSet) { //we expose two methods to ActionScript *numFunctionsToTest = 2; FRENamedFunction* func = (FRENamedFunction*) malloc(sizeof(FRENamedFunction) * 2); func[0].name = (const uint8_t*) "sendMailWithOptions"; func[0].functionData = NULL; func[0].function = &PKSendMailWithOptions; func[1].name = (const uint8_t*) "isMailComposerAvailable"; func[1].functionData = NULL; func[1].function = &PKIsMailComposerAvailable; *functionsToSet = func; g_ctx = ctx; } // ContextFinalizer() // // The context finalizer is called when the extension's ActionScript code // calls the ExtensionContext instance's dispose() method. // If the AIR runtime garbage collector disposes of the ExtensionContext instance, the runtime also calls // ContextFinalizer(). void ContextFinalizer(FREContext ctx) { [mailComposerHelper setContext:NULL]; [mailComposerHelper release]; mailComposerHelper = nil; return; } // ExtInitializer() // // The extension initializer is called the first time the ActionScript side of the extension // calls ExtensionContext.createExtensionContext() for any context. void ExtInitializer(void** extDataToSet, FREContextInitializer* ctxInitializerToSet, FREContextFinalizer* ctxFinalizerToSet) { *extDataToSet = NULL; *ctxInitializerToSet = &ContextInitializer; *ctxFinalizerToSet = &ContextFinalizer; } // ExtFinalizer() // // The extension finalizer is called when the runtime unloads the extension. However, it is not always called. void ExtFinalizer(void* extData) { return; } @end |
MailExtension.m is responsible for instantiating the extension and invoking the methods called from ActionScript.
Second part of Objective-C code is MailComposerHelper class which does all the work needed to send the mail.
This class manages MFMailComposeViewController and dispatches events back to ActionScript.
MailComposerHelper implementation looks like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 | // // MailComposerHelper.m // NativeMail iOS extension for Adobe AIR // // Created by Piotr Kościerzyński on 11-11-28. // Copyright (c) 2011 Randori. All rights reserved. // #import "MailComposerHelper.h" @implementation MailComposerHelper static NSString *attachmentPropertySeparator = @"|"; static NSString *attachmentsSeparator = @"----"; //Event name static NSString *event_name = @"MAIL_COMPOSER_EVENT"; -(void) sendMailWithSubject:(NSString *)subject toRecipients:(NSString *)toRecipients ccRecipients:(NSString *)ccRecipients bccRecipients:(NSString *)bccRecipients messageBody:(NSString *)messageBody attachmentsData:(NSString *)attachmentsData { FREDispatchStatusEventAsync(context, (uint8_t*)[event_name UTF8String], (uint8_t*)[@"WILL_SHOW_MAIL_COMPOSER" UTF8String]); MFMailComposeViewController *mailComposer = [[MFMailComposeViewController alloc] init]; mailComposer.mailComposeDelegate = self; if (subject != nil) [mailComposer setSubject: subject]; if (messageBody != nil) [mailComposer setMessageBody:messageBody isHTML:YES]; if (toRecipients != nil && [toRecipients rangeOfString:@"@"].location != NSNotFound) [mailComposer setToRecipients:[toRecipients componentsSeparatedByString:@","]]; if (ccRecipients != nil && [ccRecipients rangeOfString:@"@"].location != NSNotFound) [mailComposer setCcRecipients:[ccRecipients componentsSeparatedByString:@","]]; if (bccRecipients != nil && [bccRecipients rangeOfString:@"@"].location != NSNotFound) [mailComposer setBccRecipients:[bccRecipients componentsSeparatedByString:@","]]; //Add attachments (if any) if (attachmentsData) { NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES); NSString *documentsDirectory = [paths objectAtIndex:0]; NSString *filePath; NSArray *attachmentProperties; NSString *fileName; NSString *fileExtension; NSString *fileSearchSource; NSString *fileMimeType; NSString *fileAttachName; NSArray *attachments = [attachmentsData componentsSeparatedByString:attachmentsSeparator]; for (NSString *attachmentEntry in attachments) { attachmentProperties = [attachmentEntry componentsSeparatedByString:attachmentPropertySeparator]; fileName = [[[attachmentProperties objectAtIndex:0] componentsSeparatedByString:@"."] objectAtIndex:0]; fileExtension = [[[attachmentProperties objectAtIndex:0] componentsSeparatedByString:@"."] objectAtIndex:1]; fileSearchSource = [(NSString *)[attachmentProperties objectAtIndex:1] lowercaseString];//bundle or documents fileMimeType = [attachmentProperties objectAtIndex:2];//mime type of file fileAttachName = [attachmentProperties objectAtIndex:3];//how to name the file //search for file in app bundle if ([fileSearchSource isEqualToString:@"bundle"]) { filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:fileName ofType:fileExtension]; } else //search for file in Documents if ([fileSearchSource isEqualToString:@"documents"]) { filePath = [documentsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:(NSString *)[attachmentProperties objectAtIndex:0]]; } else { //ERROR - ignoring continue; } if ([[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:filePath]) { NSData *fileData = [[NSData alloc] initWithContentsOfFile:filePath]; if (fileData) { [mailComposer addAttachmentData: fileData mimeType:fileMimeType fileName:fileAttachName]; } [fileData release]; } } } //show mail composer [[[[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow] rootViewController] presentModalViewController:mailComposer animated:YES]; [mailComposer release]; } // Dismisses the email composition interface when users tap Cancel or Send. -(void) mailComposeController: (MFMailComposeViewController*)controller didFinishWithResult: (MFMailComposeResult)result error:(NSError*)error { NSString *event_info = @""; // Notifies users about errors associated with the interface switch (result) { case MFMailComposeResultCancelled: event_info = @"MAIL_CANCELED"; break; case MFMailComposeResultSaved: event_info = @"MAIL_SAVED"; break; case MFMailComposeResultSent: event_info = @"MAIL_SENT"; break; case MFMailComposeResultFailed: event_info = @"MAIL_FAILED"; break; default: event_info = @"MAIL_UNKNOWN"; break; } FREDispatchStatusEventAsync(context, (uint8_t*)[event_name UTF8String], (uint8_t*)[event_info UTF8String]); FREDispatchStatusEventAsync(context, (uint8_t*)[event_name UTF8String], (uint8_t*)[@"WILL_HIDE_MAIL_COMPOSER" UTF8String]); context = nil; //hide mail composer [[[[UIApplication sharedApplication] keyWindow] rootViewController] dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES]; } -(void)setContext:(FREContext)ctx { context = ctx; } @end |
Native iOS code can dispatch events for ActionScript – it’s done by calling FREDispatchStatusEventAsync. This will be seen as a StatusEvent.STATUS in Adobe AIR. I used it to let my application know whether the mail composer can be shown and to inform about the mail compose result and status.
When you build the static library you will get libMailExtension.a file in ‘build’ directory.
This file will be needed in ‘NativeMail-iOS’ library project to create .swc and .ane files.
Creating Adobe Native Extension project
In Flash Builder create a new ActionScript Library project. The project will contain ActionScript classes responsible for calling iOS code.
My project’s structure – you can see the libMailExtension.a file present
Since I used command line tools to create the extension there are lot of configuration files and ANT scripts, if you’re using Flash Builder 4.6 it should be much simpler.
iOS library methods are invoked by calling extensionContext.call method.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 | package pl.randori.air.nativeextensions.ios { import flash.events.EventDispatcher; import flash.events.IEventDispatcher; import flash.events.StatusEvent; import flash.external.ExtensionContext; /** * An iOS native extension for Adobe AIR 3.1 for sending mail. * Implements MFMailComposeViewController in iOS * * @author Piotr Kościerzyński, piotr@flashsimulations.com * www.flashsimulations.com * www.randori.pl * * */ public class MailExtension extends EventDispatcher { protected var extensionContext:ExtensionContext; private static const EXTENSION_ID : String = "pl.randori.air.nativeextensions.ios.MailExtension"; public function MailExtension(target:IEventDispatcher=null) { super(target); extensionContext = ExtensionContext.createExtensionContext( EXTENSION_ID, null); } /** * @param subject Mail subject * @param messageBody Mail body (can include HTML) * @param toRecipients To: recipients in format: "mail@example.com,mail2@example.com" * @param ccRecipients Cc: recipients in format: "mail@example.com,mail2@example.com" * @param bccRecipients Bcc: recipients in format: "mail@example.com,mail2@example.com" * @param attachmentsData Attachments in format: ['filename|bundle|mimetype|name of file to display in attachment'] * example: ["Default.png|bundle|image/png|Application splash screen.png","Example file.dat|documents|text/xml|A file saved in Adobe AIR iOS app.txt"] */ public function sendMail(subject:String, messageBody:String, toRecipients:String, ccRecipients:String = '', bccRecipients:String = '', attachmentsData:Array = null):void { extensionContext.addEventListener( StatusEvent.STATUS, onStatusEvent); extensionContext.call( "sendMailWithOptions", subject, messageBody, toRecipients, ccRecipients, bccRecipients, attachmentsData); } /** * @private * Handle mail compose result. * When the native mail composer finished an result event will be dispatched. * Event will contain the result information. * */ private function onStatusEvent( event : StatusEvent ) : void { if( event.code == MailExtensionEvent.MAIL_COMPOSER_EVENT) { dispatchEvent( new MailExtensionEvent(event.code, event.level )); } } /** * Can the in-app mail composer be invoked? */ public function isMailComposerAvailable() : Boolean { return extensionContext.call( "isMailComposerAvailable") as Boolean; } /** * Clean up */ public function dispose():void { extensionContext.removeEventListener( StatusEvent.STATUS, onStatusEvent ); extensionContext.dispose(); } } } |
ANT script used for creating .ane and .swc files:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <project name="NativeMail iOS for Adobe AIR Extension" default="build-extension" basedir="."> <property file="local.properties" /> <property file="build.properties" /> <target name="clean"> <delete dir="${app.builddir}"/> <delete dir="${app.releasedir}"/> <mkdir dir="${app.builddir}"/> <mkdir dir="${app.releasedir}"/> <delete file="${app.rootdir}/library.swf"/> <delete file="${app.rootdir}/${app.swcfilename}"/> </target> <target name="build-extension" depends="clean"> <exec executable="${ACOMPC}"> <arg line=" -output ${app.builddir}/${app.swcfilename} -load-config+=${app.configfile} +configname=airmobile -swf-version=14 "/> </exec> <copy file="${app.builddir}/${app.swcfilename}" tofile="${app.rootdir}/${app.swcfilename}"/> <unzip src="${app.builddir}/${app.swcfilename}" dest="${app.rootdir}"/> <delete file="${app.rootdir}/catalog.xml"/> <exec executable="${ADT}"> <arg line=" -package -target ane ${app.releasedir}/iOS_MailExtension.ane ${app.extensionxmlfile} -swc ${app.swcfilename} -platform iPhone-ARM library.swf libMailExtension.a -platformoptions ios-platformoptions.xml "/> </exec> <delete file="${app.rootdir}/library.swf"/> <delete file="${app.rootdir}/${app.swcfilename}"/> </target> </project> |
Native extensions ADT parameters
One of the most important parameter in this script is -platformoptions ios-platformoptions.xml . Why?
My extension uses iOS frameworks that are not linked by ADT packager by default, as a result the linker won’t fine MFMailComposeViewController definition and will fail.
Sadly, the documentation is very poor and I haven’t found any examples except from this one Adobe Blogs: iOS5 support for AIR/Using external SDKs to package apps
MFMailComposeViewController requires MessageUI.framework so adding it to ADT’s linker solves the problem.
Also, note that -swf-version is set to 14 because we’re targeting for AIR 3.1. See: Adobe Docs: Building the ActionScript library of a native extension
ios-platformoptions.xml looks like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | <platform xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/extension/3.1"> <sdkVersion>5.0</sdkVersion> <linkerOptions> <!-- to use the MessageUI framework --> <option>-framework MessageUI</option> </linkerOptions> </platform> |
Another new parameter is extensions.xml file. It holds information about native libraries we want to include. Here we define the id of extension and the names of extension’s initializer and finalizer methods. See that the names of functions in <initializer> and finalizer match the names of functions in MailExtension.m
Here’s extension.xml
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | <extension xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/extension/3.1"> <id>pl.randori.air.nativeextensions.ios.MailExtension</id> <versionNumber>1.0.0</versionNumber> <platforms> <platform name="iPhone-ARM"> <applicationDeployment> <nativeLibrary>libMailExtension.a</nativeLibrary> <initializer>ExtInitializer</initializer> <finalizer>ExtFinalizer</finalizer> </applicationDeployment> </platform> </platforms> </extension> |
After running ANT script we will have two new files: NativeMail_iOS.swc in ‘build’ directory and iOS_MailExtension.ane in ‘release’ directory.
iOS_MailExtension.ane is the AIR native extension we wanted to create.
Example – using native extension in Adobe AIR application
‘Can I send mail?’ button calls MailExtension.isMailComposerAvailable() method which returns true / false.
This method will return false if iOS mail client hasn’t been properly configured. This check is also done before sending the mail to prevent the app from crashing.
‘Send mail’ button calls MailExtension.sendMail method. In the example all available mail fields are filled and two attachments are added.
Invoked mail composer view
Example app project structure:
Copy ‘iOS_MailExtension.ane’ file to ‘extensions’ directory.
One last thing left to is to add the following information you you application descriptor file. extensionID has to match our extension’s id. Otherwise ADT will fail to package the app.
1 2 3 | <extensions> <extensionID>pl.randori.air.nativeextensions.ios.MailExtension</extensionID> </extensions> |
Packaging application is done by following ANT script:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <project name="NativeMail iOS extension for Adobe AIR example app" default="publish-ios" basedir="."> <property file="local.properties" /> <property file="build.properties" /> <target name="clean"> <delete dir="${app.builddir}"/> <delete dir="${app.releasedir}"/> <mkdir dir="${app.builddir}"/> <mkdir dir="${app.releasedir}"/> </target> <target name="copy" depends="clean"> <copy todir="${app.builddir}" preservelastmodified="true" verbose="true"> <fileset dir="${app.sourcedir}"> <patternset> <include name="assets/**"/> <include name="*.png"/> <include name="*.xml"/> <include name="*.ane"/> </patternset> </fileset> </copy> </target> <target name="compile" depends="copy"> <exec executable="${MXMLC}"> <arg line=" +configname=airmobile -output ${app.builddir}/${build.swfname} ${app.sourcedir}/NativeMail.mxml -source-path+=${app.rootdir}/src -load-config+=NativeMail_app.config -swf-version=14 "/> </exec> </target> <target name="publish-ios" depends="compile"> <copy file="${app.builddir}/${build.swfname}" tofile="${app.rootdir}/${build.swfname}"/> <copy file="${app.sourcedir}/NativeMail-app.xml" tofile="${app.rootdir}/NativeMail-app.xml"/> <exec executable="${ADT}"> <arg line="-package -target ipa-test-interpreter -provisioning-profile ${build.mobileprofile} -storetype ${build.storetype} -keystore ${build.keystore} -storepass YOUR_PASSWORD ${app.releasedir}/${build.name} ${app.descriptor} ${build.swfname} -extdir extensions -C ${app.builddir} Default.png Default@2x.png"/> </exec> </target> </project> |
Notice ‘-swf-version=14′ and ‘-extdir extensions’ parameters
That’s it.
Worth reading:
Adobe Blogs: iOS5 support for AIR/Using external SDKs to package apps
MFMailComposeViewController Class Reference
Adobe Docs: Building the ActionScript library of a native extension
Native Alert iOS native extension tutorial
AIR Native Extension Example: iBattery for iOS
as3c2dm – AIR native extension to push notifications with C2DM
