It's the true sign of a mature platform ecosystem, using the platform to build tools to build tools to deploy tools that are built on the platform. Huh?
A while back, I worked with Adobe to build a better AIR install badge. Having done so, I thought it would be a neat idea to build an AIR application that made it easier to configure and deploy badge installers. Adobe agreed, and the Badger application was created.
Badger allows you to load a template install badge, configure all of its options, preview it live (via the HTML control in AIR), and then export it for deployment. Badger also takes the pain out of configuring badges by tracking down your application ID, publisher ID, version, and other information. You can even configure a badge to install Badger, click Install Now in the preview, and install Badger from Badger - though this is likely to cause a tear in the space/time continuum.
Badger (and its icon) was designed in Flash CS3, built in Flex 3, and deployed on the AIR platform. I find it quite strange that Adobe chose not to include an install badge for Badger, but maybe they have a strong sense of irony. Or maybe it was just too much work. :)
UPDATE: I've been informed that the lack of a badge installer is due to a limitation of the article page template.
You can check out the beta of Badger here.
Originally, we had hoped to name the application "AIR Badger" (which was discarded for legal or branding reasons), which led to the image below that I threw together for the fun of it. That image ultimately led to the icon you can see on the app today.
Click for the full size image.
Comments (23)
I love this app !
Posted by: Rémi at September 23, 2008 12:03 PMURL: http://www.remitoffoli.com/
SWEET! a flying badger never gets old
Posted by: Kenny bunch at September 23, 2008 12:13 PMURL:
We don't need no stinking badgers!
Posted by: Randy Troppmann at September 23, 2008 01:59 PMURL: http://www.randytroppmann.com
I actually created a similar tool back when Flex 3/AIR 1 was in beta:
http://blog.flexmonkeypatches.com/2008/02/06/adobe-air-badge-install-creation-application-monkeybadge/
http://code.google.com/p/flex-monkey-patches-monkeybadge/
I never did follow through and update it once AIR was release.
I think your app is way more full featured than mine was. And your flying badger is more cool than my "foot squishing banana" logo.
-Kyle
Posted by: Kyle at September 23, 2008 02:48 PMURL: http://flexmonkeypatches.com
I just like the fact theres a flying badger. That. Is. Sweet!
Posted by: Ryan at September 23, 2008 03:46 PMURL: http://www.bigbeam.co.uk
Very nice!
I too actually created something like this (called it the 'Badge Builder') not too long ago. My UI was not near as sleek.
Pulling the application ID, publisher ID, and version from the AIR file is too cool. Using the HTML control to preview live is a nice touch. Nicely done.
Posted by: jason at September 24, 2008 09:28 AMURL: http://www.knomedia.com/blog
Very cool idea. :)
Posted by: Harry Northover at September 25, 2008 09:12 AMURL: http://www.harrynorthover.com
Hello, Grant!
Posted by: injun #576871 at September 29, 2008 06:36 AMDo you have any ideas to support other languages except English?
Because I can not indicate local path to the files, if the name of folders not in the English…
URL: http://injun.ru
Hi Grant, nice work. It would be great to allow users to configure invoke parameters for their AIR application as well - i.e. the ability to pass a reference to an OPML file for Adobe Media Player for instance...
Thoughts?
Posted by: Andrew Spaulding at September 29, 2008 07:04 PMURL: http://www.flexdaddy.info
amazing guy! =)
Posted by: Alexander at October 1, 2008 11:24 AMNice work and well done!
URL: http://ugameasia.com
That's too funny, thanks for the tool, and entertainment!
Posted by: lee at October 4, 2008 04:10 AMURL: http://leefernandes.com
Awesome work!
Only problem is that it worked once but since then I always get #2032 Errors :(
Posted by: Jassa at October 8, 2008 12:59 AMURL: http://bangersandflash.net
Jassa,
I've never seen those errors. Can you please post the full error message (ie. stack trace) so that we can determine where the error is being thrown from?
Posted by: Grant Skinner at October 8, 2008 09:00 AMURL: http://gskinner.com/blog/
Hi Grant,
The error is occurring during the install process - http://www.bangersandflash.net/lab/spellr/
If you have a sec just follow the link above and hit the install button. If not, I'll post back here when I work out what it is.
Cheers.
Posted by: Jassa at October 14, 2008 12:10 AMURL: http://www.bangersandflash.net
Jassa - The appurl parameter must be an absolute path (ie. beginning with http:// ). You will notice in Badger that this parameter is highlighted in red if it is not an absolute url. Badger also generates a warning when you export (in problems and notes).
Posted by: Grant Skinner at October 14, 2008 08:27 AMURL: http://gskinner.com/blog/
Ahh, thanks Grant - I *really* should have picked that up earlier. My bad.
Posted by: jassa at October 14, 2008 11:01 PMURL: http://www.bangersandflash.net
I cannot insert special chars :s
I'm portuguese, and I need those chars: áàéèóòçãõ
Is the preview badge inside a html component? or is a SWFloader? I need it! I'll need to insert a badger into a flex site, and I don't know how :s
Posted by: Rui Cruz at October 16, 2008 03:47 AMbest regards,
rui
URL:
Yes! This is awesome. I was just struggling with getting the Install Badge manually setup for the past couple hours, and I knew you made it so I figured I'd go whine somewhere on your website, and lo and behold, the Badger saves the day! Most of my problems came from my oversight of the publisher id, which the Badger recovered for me.
I still have 2 small issues:
1. When upgrading or installing when the AIR runtime is already installed, users are prompted with an AIR Open/Save dialog instead of going straight to the install/replace page. Is that right? If AIR is not installed, it prompts to install AIR then goes straight to the Install screen, no somewhat-confusing Open/Save dialog.
2. After installation/upgrade/launch, the message on the badge still says "Please wait..." -- I really don't give a flip about it, but the client does. Fact of life, right?
Thanks for your work, and work on the work.
Posted by: Aaron at October 16, 2008 10:36 PMURL:
This is great! Are there other badge templates available somewhere?
I'm gonna use this a lot. Thanks!
Posted by: chad royer at October 22, 2008 02:46 PMURL:
No other templates yet, but we tried to build it so that it was simple and powerful to create badge templates for Badger. If anyone creates one, please link it back from here!
Posted by: Grant Skinner at October 22, 2008 03:21 PMURL: http://gskinner.com/blog/
I have absolutely no idea what the tool does but you should definitely find a way to use that image and the tagline "Bigger... Stronger... Badger!" commercially. (Although I would recommend changing "Bigger" to "Faster"...)
Posted by: Tyler Durden at November 18, 2008 06:00 AMURL: http://www.tylerdurden.com
The tool is nice, but is there a trick to link to an AIR file via a relative path?
The big question is > how can we distribute AIR apps on CDs without having the user to first install the AIR runtime then install the AIR app?
If we could use a badge that relatively links to the AIR app that'd do it!
Any clue would be really helpful!
Posted by: Quentin at November 25, 2008 03:48 AMURL: http://toki-woki.net
Is it possible to use a language other than English in the String parameters? I tried copying and pasting some japanese text and it wasn't allowed.
ie, in order to change "Install Now" to a localized label.
Posted by: David at December 4, 2008 07:14 PMURL: