Maintaining an Adobe Air Desktop Application with an XML Document

Question

i am going to be utilizing a flash/jquery powered gallery on a webpage that is maintained and updated with an xml document. the xml data is used to add and sort images into a grid of small thumbnail images. i will customize this component so that when the user rolls over a thumbnail it will trigger jquery to replace a div using hide/show.

my employer would like to try to create an adobe air desktop widget that will mirror the content of this gallery so that as entries are added to the site users can access the content automatically via the desktop. i was thinking there may be a way to utilize the same xml document to maintain the app as well as the gallery.

as there is a fairly tight turn around on this project, i was wondering if anyone could confirm that adobe air apps can be maintained in this way, or if anyone had any sound advice as to how to approach this particular client request.

thank you.

Answer 1

Yes, they can easily be maintained this way if I understand your question correctly. Basically, your XML provides all the information about the images and their grouping, not the jQuery code directly.

You will be able to remotely fetch the XML using Adobe Air, and will also be able to reuse a lot of your jQuery and Flash that you have setup already to build the Air app.

The only caveat is you may need to use the XMLHTTPRequest interface directly for fetching the external XML vs. any of the jQuery AJAX functions. jQuery is meant to run in a browser with cross domain limitations, and I am not sure if it tries to enforce the limitations whether they exist or not. At least try jQuery first just be sure since using a familiar syntax would save time in development.

If you are on a tight deadline, I recommend you build a HTML/CSS/JavaScript Air app vs. a straight Flash/Flex app.