FDT ANT tasks - exportAirApplication vs release.AirApplication

Question

I'm struggling with customised ANT-driven AIR packaging under FDT 5.6.x .

I've just upgraded from FDT 5.0.x and I'm struggling to rebuild by workflow. I had an ANT script which loaded current project properties (build numbers etc), injected them into an AIR properties.xml file and then packaged a version of the app using the fdt.release.AirApplication task, with a custom file name to indicate the release etc.

I can see that there's been significant refactoring of the release packaging mechanism; gone is the ability to create a release profile in the Launch Configuration dialog, instead it's now in the Project Properties.

Also gone is the ANT task that I was using (fdt.release.AirApplication) . The only thing that seems to come close is fdt.exportAirApplication, which only takes 2 arguments, and according to the docs is:

This task executes the same behaviour as pressing the 'Export Application' button within 'Mobile properties > Deploy'

I'm not sure the dialog it references is even called that anymore.

The dialog in Project Properties > FDT AIR Properties > Desktop indicates you can pass custom parameters to the AIR packager, but I've been unable to find any documentation of how to use this feature.

Like so much in FDT there is great power here, and so little documentation to accompany it. Has anyone got ANT-driven customised compiles working under 5.6.x?

Answer 1

To customize and have control over your AIR packaging via Ant, you'll need to use:

• A prepackage launcher. This is just an existing launcher which exists. This is to make sure you're compiling an optimized SWF.
• Inject your variables into the 'com.powerflasher.fdt.core.prefs' file.
• Use fdt.exportAirApplication

com.powerflasher.fdt.core.prefs

Below is a screenshot of a selection of the 'com.powerflasher.fdt.core.prefs' file. In it you'll fine all the properties used for AIR Export. To modify ADT arguments, look at:

...CUSTOM.ADT.CMD.LINE.

There you can see global variables that FDT uses - e.g. ${target}. To change this, just add in your own arguments. Example:

CUSTOM.ADT.CMD.LINE=${package} -target ipa-debug-interpreter ${connection}...