Learning Flex 3

Chapter 15. DEPLOYING YOUR APPLICATION

In this final chapter, I’ll cover the required steps for sharing your application with the world. Whether you choose to deploy your application on the Web, on the desktop, or on both, I’ll show you how.

Each deployment has its pros and cons. Web applications are accessible by going to a web page that hosts the application. This is very convenient to many people, because the application can be used on any computer and is available as long as the computer has access to the Internet. However, some people may not have an Internet connection available at all times or may want to use the application offline.

Desktop applications are always available, because they are installed on each person’s computer. Such applications are more traditional, opened by going to the Windows Start menu, to the Mac OS X Dock, or by other means. They are available without using a browser, because they run in their own window. Desktop applications also provide the ability to drag and drop from other applications, and they can read and write to a computer’s filesystem. However, they also must be installed on each computer on which they’re going to be used.

Whichever method you choose, you can be assured that your application will work on any major operating system. This means you can write a Flex application once and make it available to anyone, regardless of what operating system they prefer.

Deploying to the Web

You’ve primarily been developing and testing the Flex applications ...