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Add the Extension

The simplest way to install and manage your AIR native extensions and libraries is to use the AIR Package Manager (apm). We highly recommend using apm, as it will handle downloading all required dependencies and manage your application descriptor (Android manifest additions, iOS info additions etc).

However you can choose to install it manually, as you would have done in the past.

AIR SDK

This ANE currently requires at least AIR 33+. This is required in order to support versions of Android > 9.0 (API 28). We always recommend using the most recent build with AIR especially for mobile development where the OS changes rapidly.

Install​

info

Note: All of the commands below should be run in a terminal / command prompt in the root directory of your application, generally the level above your source directory.

If you don't have an APM project setup, expand the guide below to setup an APM project before installing the extension.

Setup APM

Install APM​

If you haven't installed apm follow the install guide on airsdk.dev.

Setup an APM project​

You will need an APM project for your application.

There are many ways to do this and for more options see the APM documentation. Here we will just initialise a new empty project:

apm init

Check your github token​

We use github to secure our extensions so you must have created a github personal access token and configured apm to use it.

To do this create a token using this guide from github and then set it in your apm config using:

apm config set github_token ghp_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If you don't do this correctly you may find the install will fail.

Install the extension​

Install the extension by running: 

apm install com.distriqt.Share

This will download and install the extension, required assets, and all dependencies.

Once complete apm will have created something like the following file structure: 

.
|____ ane
| |____ com.distriqt.Share.ane  # Share extension
| |____ [dependencies]
|____ apm_packages              # cache directory - ignore
|____ project.apm               # apm project file
  • Add the ane directory to your IDE. See the tutorials located here on adding an extension to your IDE.
info

We suggest you use the locations directly in your builds rather than copying the files elsewhere. The reason for this is if you ever go to update the extensions using apm that these updates will be pulled into your build automatically.

  • You will need to set the usage description strings for use in the authorisation dialogs. Call the following to step through the configuration values for this extension:
apm project config set com.distriqt.Share

Application Descriptor​

Updating your application descriptor will insert the required extensionID's and generate the manifest and info additions for your application.

You update your application descriptor by running:

apm generate app-descriptor src/MyApp-app.xml

Change the path (src/MyApp-app.xml) to point to your application descriptor.

caution

This will modify your application descriptor replacing the manifest additions and info additions with the ones generated from apm.

You should backup your application descriptor before running this command to ensure you don't lose any information.

If you need to insert custom data into these sections see the guides for Android and iOS

Android​

Queries​

Android 11 introduces changes related to package visibility. These changes affect apps only if they target Android 11. In order for you to correctly query if an application is installed you will need to add the package names you wish to query to the manifest.

If you are going to be launching or querying installed applications then you must define the package name of these applications in your additions. For example the following adds WhatsApp and Instagram:

<queries>
    <package android:name="com.whatsapp" />
    <package android:name="com.instagram.android" />
</queries>

To add these additions you need to add some additional configuration. Firstly add a custom Android configuration file by running:

apm generate config android

Edit the config/android/AndroidManifest.xml file that was generated to resemble the following, adding the queries node:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">

    <queries>
        <package android:name="com.whatsapp" />
        <package android:name="com.instagram.android" />
    </queries>

</manifest>

Once you have added this configuration run the steps above to update / generate your application descriptor.

iOS​

Usage Description​

You can customise the usage description messages as you see fit to suit your application. These messages are displayed in the main body area of the iOS authorisation dialog with the title and buttons being standard (and not customisable).

The image below is an example of the authorisation dialog. The content "Access to photo library is required to save images." is the usage description message you can set.

You set these values through adding the usage description keys to your application descriptor's info additions or simply by setting up your configuration options in your apm project.

Query Schemes​

If you are going to be launching or querying installed applications then you must define the schemes of these applications in your additions. For example the following adds WhatsApp and Instagram:

<key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
<array>
    <string>instagram</string>
    <string>whatsapp</string>
</array>

To add these additions you need to add some additional configuration. Firstly add a custom iOS configuration file by running:

apm generate config ios

Edit the config/ios/InfoAdditions.xml file that was generated to resemble the following, adding the LSApplicationQueriesSchemes node:

<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>

        <key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
        <array>
            <string>instagram</string>
            <string>whatsapp</string>
        </array>

    </dict>
</plist>

Once you have added this configuration run the steps above to update / generate your application descriptor.

Checking for Support​

You can use the isSupported flag to determine if this extension is supported on the current platform and device.

This allows you to react to whether the functionality is available on the device and provide an alternative solution if not.

Core.init();
if (Share.isSupported)
{
    // Functionality here
}