Examples of Native Apps Using Flash as the UI?

Question

I'm considering using Flash as the UI of a native Windows app, for several reasons, but before I dive in and start building, I figured I'd poll the community to find out whether anyone's got any good examples of this particular approach out there today, just to prove the concept satisfactorily.

So I guess that's pretty much the question: Anyone built one specifically? Or better, anyone know of an app in relatively wide distribution that demonstrates the viability of this approach?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

If you build it in Flash, it's no longer going to be a native Windows app.

While Flash might look pretty, it's going to require users to at least install Flash player on their computer (which, in some corporate environments, is still not allowed).

Personally, I'd suggest checking out WPF. It's part of .NET and can produce some really REALLY great UIs.

Answer 2

You can't build native windows/mac apps in Flash. What you CAN do is use AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) to build AIR applications which run on your desktop. These aren't quite native - they require the AIR Runtime in order to work, a bit like Java programs require a JRE.

Adobe has done a pretty good job, however, making the runtime download and installation fairly seamless. When you install your first AIR app it'll install the runtime if you don't have it.

After that, you have complete control over the look/feel of your app. If you want it to look like a native Windows app that's more or less up to you - if your design chops are up to the task you can simulate it pretty well. Most people, however, don't try - one reason being that AIR apps work on both mac and windows, though you could in theory tell it to emulate its host OS.

If you want an example of AIR apps, check out TweetDeck - it's probably the most widely used. Other than that, run a google search for the Adobe AIR Marketplace.

I hope that helped!

Answer 3

One that comes to my mind is TweetDeck. You can see more AIR applications at Adobe AIR market-place

Answer 4

Adobe's own Creative Suite supports Flash-based panels. In fact, I believe most of the panels in Flash CS4 are built with Flash. I am 100% certain that the library is made in Flash, and many of the other panels have the same look and feel which definitely isn't from the native OS.

When I worked on Crystal Xcelsius, it hosted Flash content in a native Windows app. The app allows users to build Flash dashboards using Excel data. The drawing area itself is a WYSIWYG view of the resulting output running on Flash Player. Property editing windows for each component are built with Flash too. They're skinned to look like Windows, I think, but there are a few tell-tale signs of the fact that they're Flash.