New Air App Installation Overwrites Existing Air App

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xhin
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Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:11 am

New Air App Installation Overwrites Existing Air App

Post by xhin »

I'm a first time user of AIR, so with Flare. I like to use AIR because of it's single-file output and for easy distribution to users. I noticed that everytime I install a new .air output it overwrites the previously installed air application. So I searched Flare's build-in help for the solution. I wasn't able to find it there. All I found was a short description of the "Options" for WebHelp AIR output. I tried the knowledge base, this forum, but I wasn't able to find the answer. Or maybe I just typed the wrong search word. But anyway, I'm sure there are people who might have the same dillema or might encounter this problem in the future, that's why I'm posting this.

I found the answer in this site: "http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/article ... _apps.html"
Thanks to David Deraedt for writing this article. It was really helpful for someone who doesn't know about AIR.

Here's the answer I found (only part of the article):

On the importance of the application ID

As you probably know, AIR applications are identified by the runtime and the OS through an application ID, a string that you provide in your application descriptor XML file. This ID serves several purposes:

It ties the application to the so-called Application Storage Directory.
It is also used to tie the application to its Encrypted Local Store.
It is used by the runtime during the update process to determine what application is to be replaced.
These are only some of the reasons why you should never change an application ID after you've published a build, unless you want it to be treated as a completely new application. Note that, in some rare cases, this may actually be what you want, in order to let users install and use each of these versions independently.

In most cases, though, you must choose your application ID before the first public release, and never change it. Using a reverse DNS naming scheme such as "com.mycompany.myapplication" used to be considered good practice in early beta versions of Adobe AIR. However, it is no longer necessary since the application ID now combines with the publisher ID to identify the application.

You don't have to worry if you have to change the commercial name of your software after a public release (for legal issues, or because the marketing said so, for example); the application ID is not related at all to the name under which the application will appear on the system while running, or during the install process—users of your application will never have to see this ID.

Note that the application ID is not the unique criteria for identifying an application. For security reasons, two applications with the same ID but built with different signatures will also be considered as different applications, unless a proper migration procedure has been put in place.


Ok, I hope I was able to help. Pass it on ... :D
Madcap Guru
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Re: New Air App Installation Overwrites Existing Air App

Post by Madcap Guru »

You may want to send that as feature sugestion, so that the Madcap guys can add that info into the target.
Rick Ferrell
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KevinDAmery
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Re: New Air App Installation Overwrites Existing Air App

Post by KevinDAmery »

Until next time....
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Kevin Amery
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Paul Griffiths
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Re: New Air App Installation Overwrites Existing Air App

Post by Paul Griffiths »

You may want to send that as feature sugestion, so that the Madcap guys can add that info into the target.
It already is in the target. It's defined in the ID field of the Adobe AIR Options dialog.
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