Adobe AIR Application Distribution and Installation

The Problem

How to create your own installer for an Adobe AIR Application and distribute it using offline channels (CD/DVD/LAN)

The Solution

I suggest you use Aptana for development as it has a good set of examples that can you help you kick-start development. Once your application is ready, you are encountered with the problem of distribution. Adobe does not allow distribution of the AIR runtime (via CD/DVD/LAN) without license. Don’t sweat, all you need to do is apply for a distribution license. It takes a few minutes to acquire one- all you have to do is enter your company details and the number of people you will be distributing the application to. Although they claim that they will get back to you in 3 working days, we got a response from them almost immediately with a link pointing to the runtime distribution files for Windows as well as Mac.

1. Make sure you download the Adobe AIR Runtime installer files for Windows (.zip) and for Mac (.dmg)
2. Extract them and add a file called .airinstall.cfg containing the path to your .air file
3. Run the installer and watch the Adobe AIR Runtime as well as your AIR Application install seamlessly.

To brand the installer even further, Adobe AIR Runtime Installer supports silent installation. We can use a variety of tools to create our own installer. For a free open-source installer I suggest using an open-source installer like InstallJammer. It works great for Windows. Here are a couple of guidelines to get your AIR Application install seamlessly

1. Compress your files (Adobe AIR Runtime Installer + .air Application) as a zip file (AIR Application.zip in this example)
2. Follow the File > New Project Wizard and create your project.
3. Delete the Program Files folder from Groups and Files and add the following:

4. Create a New File Group called AIR Application

5. Add your compressed AIR Application.zip file to the file group

6. Insert two new actions in Install Actions under Install Panes and Actions
a. Unzip File

b. Execute External Program

Make sure you set the Working Directory to <%Temp%>

Once that is done, you can build and test your new installer which packs everything in a single .exe file and silently installs your Adobe AIR Application!

Debugging & Notes
If everything is working fine except for the fact that its not installing the application then remove the -silent option and try to install the AIR app. You will be able to see the errors during installation.

Make sure that the Adobe AIR application installation directory is different from the InstallJammer installation directory. Best to use something like:

installer -silent -eulaAccepted -desktopShortcut -programMenu -location <%InstallDir%>/resources yourapp.air

Sample InstallJammer Project
For those who are having trouble getting InstallJammer up and running, here is a sample project to begin with:
Sample InstallJammer Air Project

Create a file called myapp.zip in C:\myapp\ folder. The contents of myapp.zip should look like the following:

Joe Miller
Hi Anant Garg,
Thanks for nice tutorial, that was exactly what I was looking for.
But I ended up with no chance unzipping file
“Error in action ExecuteAction: Error in action UnzipFile: couldn’t open “C:/DOCUME~1/ADMINI~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/ijtmp_DE1CA1F4-D075-4E4A-B504-5BB4C2845DFC/myApplication.zip”: no such file or directory”
I added the zip file to Groups & Files, set the folder’s destination .
Did I ignored anything ?
- Anant Garg
  @Joe The error you are receiving is because myApplication.zip has not be attached to your setup file. One way to debug is to see the size of your setup file. If the setup file is less than 15MB then the AIR Runtime files (in your case myApplication.zip) hasn’t been included. Goto Components and Files -> Components and in Default Components, make sure AIR Application is ticked, else it will not be packed with your setup file.
Martin Maack
Thank you for this tutorial. I followed your instructions but ended up with the uninstaller installed only. As command line I used this: installer -eulaAccepted -desktopShortcut -programMenu -location /resources myapp.air
- Anant Garg
  @Martin, Use the following: installer -silent -eulaAccepted -desktopShortcut -programMenu -location < %InstallDir%>/resources myapp.air
  If the problem persists, then remove the -silent option inorder to debug the installer.
Martin Maack
Hi Anant,
Thank you for your quick response.
The problem persits and I’m not be able to debug the installer. I have tested the install with an open console window. What have to be inserted in the “Install Selected Files” Action?
Kind regards
Martin
Uri Tz
Hello Anant,
Thank you for the lovely article, it is very helpful!
Sadly, I’m stucked like Martin.
The installation installs the Unistall.exe and an app.exe which is an empy .exe.
It doesn’t seem to touch the .zip file.
When you say to run it without the -silent do you mean in the Execute External Program action, where do I see the log?
And another question, doesn’t AIR take care and installs the necessary program shortcuts, uninstaller etc? shouldn’t the installer just unzip and execute the external program command line?
Thank you very much for your help,
Uri
- Anant Garg
  @Martin @Uri Hello, I have updated the article and added a sample InstallJammer Project file. Please download the file, match the myapp.zip file to the screenshot and build the setup file.
  @Uri Yes, you are right, AIR does take care to install the uninstaller, the program menu shortcut and the desktop shortcut. In the sample file I have attached InstallJammer does not create any extra uninstaller/shortcuts as that is handled by AIR.
  Do let me know your feedback.
Uri Tz
Hello Anant,
I just wanted to say thanks for the sample file, it worked great!
Martin Maack
Hello Anant,
I have checked your example. It worked fine.
Thank you!
Martin
Yevgen
I used project and AIR Application is ticked but I’m getting error
Error in action ExecuteAction: Error in action UnzipFile: couldn’t open “C:/DOCUME~1/Yevgen/LOCALS~1/Temp/ijtmp_60CBBFFB-6FC0-4572-97A1-96C462D9D354/test.zip”: no such file or directory
Error in action ExecuteAction: Error in action UnzipFile: couldn’t open “C:/DOCUME~1/Yevgen/LOCALS~1/Temp/ijtmp_60CBBFFB-6FC0-4572-97A1-96C462D9D354/test.zip”: no such file or directory
while executing
…..
Damon Courtney
For the record, I think your problem is that adding the new file group “AIR Application” doesn’t automatically include that file group in any component. By default, InstallJammer will not include any file group which is not a part of some component. This can be disabled with the Application Information -> Project Preferences -> Skip Unused File Groups.
Because your file group was never included in a component, the .zip file was never installed. This resulted in the error you got saying that it couldn’t find the .zip file to unzip.
Hope that helps! 0-]
Damon Courtney
InstallJammer Developer
Dmitry
Hello Anant,
I’m trying to run your example. Installation finished, created folder in C:\Program Files… but this folder is empty, .air file doesn’t run!!
Can you any idea?
Thank you
- Anant Garg
  @Dmitry Hello, am not sure exactly what went wrong, can you please follow the steps again and try. Most probably the .zip file is not being extracted and the installer is not being executed at all.
rahul
Hi Anant,
It is installing the air application if I replace “installer” with the path of my “adobe application installer.exe” in the statement
installer -eulaAccepted -desktopShortcut -programMenu -location /resources myapp.air
Well any how application is installed 🙂
But how to uninstall it. If I uninstall it through the “uninstall.exe” created by “InstallJammer” then it does not remove the newly installed air application.
This may be because this application was installed by ” execute external program” so AIR application installer installed it.
Now how to make “uninstaller” 🙂
- Anant Garg
  @rahul Hello, creating an InstallJammer uninstaller is a complicated process. By default, Adobe AIR will create an uninstaller and you should be using that to uninstall the application. If you use the sample file which I have provided, it does not create any uninstaller.
rahul
Hi Anant,
I know it’s a complex process. I googled out for this.
I found that first we need an upgrade code. It may come from product ID and application ID.
Then we will pass this upgrade code to OSID generator that will generator a unique ID.
Now this ID will be passed to msiexec for uninstallation.
I can create a vc program that will call at the time of uninstallation that will do the above work.
I have Application ID , Product ID but I don’t know how to get “upgrade ID”. Can you help me by telling which application can be used to generate upgrade ID. If it is a small application/exe , Can you please upload it some where for me.
rahul
One more thing my air app installer does not create “uninstaller” for air applications.
Little modification in previous post,
“OSID will generate upgrade code”
and from upgrade code my vc program will retrieve the actual product code that will be used with msiexec to uninstall air app.
I found it here
http://forums.adobe.com/message/1921259;jsessionid=98D063E0DFAFD52E551CB91BD9242037.node0
AndrewBoldman
I really liked this post. Can I copy it to my site? Thank you in advance.
Arpit Khandelwal
Hi Anant,
Can you please give me clue how I can deploy a Windows Forms project (.Net) using Installjammer. I have been using VS2005 Setup project but my requirements for installing integrated AIR applications with the Windows application brought me here.
Hope you could help..
Thanks
- Anant Garg
  @Arpit Hello, Instead of packaging the AIR file, all you have to do is create a zip file for your release code and extract it to the Installation folder. You may also want to create an uninstaller which can be done by modifying the setting in InstallJammer. Try the wizard if you get stuck.
vibhu
Hi Anant,
When I tried to run the silent installation command in cmd it says “failed “. But when I try to install it using the .airinstall.cfg it works perfectly fine. Is there something to do with the certificate? As I have a self signed certificate. Or is there something else that i am missing? Thanks for such a great post and for help.
Thanks!!
prabhu padala
Hello Anant,
I have checked your example. It worked fine.
I have one more doubt.how to add licenses key(serial key) capability in My Air Application.
Priyesh R
Hi Anant,
Can we write such a installation script in which ,say, i want to execute AdobeAIRInstaller.exe and once it get installed,then i want to execute myapp.air on top of it.Can we do it with install jammer and if yes can you please suggest how to do it.
Thanks,
ravi
i have developed an air applcation along with runtime distribution it works fine on windows, but when i try to install it on MAC it is installing AIR runtime only not the air application i need to install AIR application seperately again. i included air application name in .airinsatll.cfg file still it’s not working help me some one…..
Rob
Thanks for you tutorial. But I just can’t seem to get it to work. I can unzip the file into a directory but nothing runs after that. I have downloaded your sample file, and renamed my files to myapp but it still doesn’t work….
Any ideas?
keontra
my air application is not working i ave one need to have one installed
Simmy
Hi Can you give me a command line for silently installing adobe air on Mac OSX ? And Can we skip the acceptance of EULA ?