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macOS install

System Requirements​

To install and run AIR your development environment must meet these minimum requirements:

  • macOS
  • 1.3GB free disk space (for the AIR SDK and does not include other tools)
  • A version of Java 11 JDK

Install the SDK​

You have two options to install the AIR SDK. The recommended method is to use the AIR SDK Manager. The manager will inform you of available updates and minimise the download required for each update.

Alternatively you can manually download the AIR SDK.

  1. Download the latest release bundle of the AIR SDK Manager:
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  1. Start the installer and follow the prompts to install the application.

  2. Once installed, set the AIR SDKs Location on your machine.

AIR SDK Location

This location will be where the AIR SDK Manager installs versions of the AIR SDK. This can be an existing directory of AIR SDKs however it is recommended to select a new location, eg /Users/<your-user-name>/sdks/air

The manager will construct a directory for each major version of the AIR SDK (eg AIRSDK_50.2.1), with point releases just be considered as updates.

  1. Select one of the available SDK versions and click the gear icon to Install the SDK. Once installed you can click Locate to locate the installation.

Set your Environment​

Next you will want to add the AIR SDK tools to your path so you can execute the build commands.

  1. Permanently adding the path will depend on the shell you are using on your machine. Typing echo $SHELL in your Terminal will generally tell you which sheel you are using and then you can edit the rc file for that shell type, the most common types are:
  • /bin/bash: Edit the .bash_profile or .bashrc file
  • /bin/zsh: Edit the .zshrc file
  1. Once you have determined the shell type add the following changing the [AIR_SDK_PATH] to be the path you installed the AIR SDK to above:
export AIR_HOME=[AIR_SDK_PATH]
export PATH="${PATH}":"${AIR_HOME}/bin"

  1. Run source ~/.<rc file> or start a new Terminal window to refresh the environment.

  2. Verify the AIR SDK bin directory is in your path by running:

echo $PATH

Verify you can access the AIR SDK commands by running:

which adt adl
note

You can check the version of the AIR SDK by running

adt -version

iOS setup​

Install Xcode​

While not entirely necessary, downloading Xcode will give you access to the latest developer tools and is highly recommended. This will also give you access to the iOS simulator so you can run your iOS applications in the iOS simulator on your development machine.

  1. Install the latest version of Xcode (using the download or via the Mac App Store).

  2. Ensure you have selected the latest version for the command line tools using:

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch
  1. Make sure you have accepted the license agreement by opening Xcode once and confirming (or running sudo xcodebuild -license from a Terminal).

Setup the iOS Simulator​

Make sure you can launch the iOS simulator by running the following in a Terminal:

open -a Simulator

Android setup​

note

AIR relies on the Android SDK and build tools in order to produce AAB builds and support the latest Android functionality.

You can either install the Android SDK directly or we suggest you install Android Studio (which includes the SDK) as this makes the installation process easier and provides additional debugging tools.

Install Android Studio​

  1. Download Android Studio
  2. Start Android studio and run through the setup wizard which will install the latest Android SDK, command line tools and build tools.

Set up your Android device​

If you have an Android device you intend on debugging with you must make sure you have set up the device for debugging.

  1. In order to debug an application on an Android device you need to enable "Developer Mode" and then enable USB debugging. Detailed process is described in the Android documentation.
  2. Plug your device into your machine using a cable, and you should receive a prompt on the device to authorise access via the computer;
  3. Run the following command and you should see a device listed:
adt -devices -platform android

Java​

You must make sure you have version 11 of the Java Development Kit installed and that your JAVA_HOME environment variable is set to the JDKs folder.