views:

180

answers:

4

Is there any equivalent to a Flash projector for iPhone? Flash projectors basically seem to package script and Flash libraries into one executable file that can be run on a PC. I'm wondering if anyone has made a similar thing for iPhone where I can take my existing code and package it with the necessary iPhone stuff to make a PC executable. Of course hardware-specific things would not be available like accelerometer/phone/gps, etc. but I don't need any of those. If not, is there anyone currently attempting this?

Thanks for the input guys, but I think everyone except Noah is misinterpreting my question. Flash was just an example, if you hate Flash just pretend I said something else. I am wondering if it is possible to make code for iPhone run on a PC in a similar way to the way a projector works for Flash.

A: 

Not at this time. However, Flash CS5 will create iPhone applications.

Daniel A. White
I don't think that's really relevant to what Myz is asking—the objective is to run an iPhone app as a generic executable, not anything specifically Flash-related.
Noah Witherspoon
A: 

Flash is not available on the iPhone.

Furthermore, any company attempting to make a Flash runtime -- which would require doing bytecode interpretation -- would run up against Apple's developer agreement, which specifically forbids that.

Shaggy Frog
you mean apple? it's not that flash's fault apple locks down their platform. they both pretty much suck though
Shawn Simon
No, I couldn't care less about flash getting on the iPhone, I'm complaining about the horrible experience it was on my mac, and thanks to ClickToFlash and Kill Flash got rid of.
@starkhalo shouldn't rants go on meta?
George Profenza
Answer is not really true, take a look at CS5. No bytecode interpretation will be necessary. It'll suck because of other things, though, like fonts that will be different from OSX and for not using default controls.. It'll be useless for most things but games, it seems.
Eduardo Scoz
@Eduardo: I'd say the answer is correct - though CS5 brings Flash-the-technology to the iPhone, Flash-the-runtime is still blocked by policy. It's the same as how the Java runtime is forbidded, even though in theory you could author an app in Java if you had the right compiler.
fenomas
A: 

I think Adobe is planning for CS5 the export to iPhone app feature. It essentially compiles flash's runtime to Apple's cocoa touch framework and produces a true iPhone app, thus circumventing the bytecode interpretation clause. Time will tell, time will tell...

--- Thanks for the clarification Myz... WTB Noah's reading skills, I thought you had typo'd the PC part due to the outrageousness of your question.

If by PC you mean a windows binary simulator interpreting .ipa files. No, such thing doesn't exist and I don't expect to see it for decades. The platform is much more harder to emulate than the old SNES/N64 and others.

He's not asking about a windows binary interpreting .ipa files, he's asking about compiling source into a standalone app (instead of an .ipa).
fenomas
Now that's even crazier...
A: 

Right now, the only way to run an iPhone app outside of an iDevice is to compile it from source for a non-iPhone target, so it depends on what you're using to compile. If you're authoring in XCode, you can target the Simulator (which is mac-only), but Apple doesn't currently have a way to compile for any other targets, or a way to compile an object file that runs on Macs without the simulator. If you're authoring in Flash CS5, of course you can just publish a projector.

fenomas