Digital Workshop

The reason Flex does not support some features is because Flash itself does not support those features; it has very little to do with Opus -- and to my knowledge there was no sacrifice of features in Opus Pro because it expanded to include Flash output as an option. On the other hand, an executable file created using Opus Pro can still use the entire robust set of features and capabilities -- a feature set that has expanded over the years.

What you're expressing concern about is a limitation inherent in Flash. In fact, there will be limitations in anything currently being published for iOS or Android (or published to HTML5 using Javascript and CSS). Opus isn't the bottleneck; the platform is. This is all a bit like worrying that you won't be able to say a specific English idiomatic phrase identically in Italian -- you might not be able to. but that is a limitation inherent in translation to any second language. (Except that in the case of iOS and Android etc. that "second language" has a smaller vocabulary.)

If Opus continues to provide output as executable files (which I assume would continue to be an option) then the full set of features you & I both appreciate would remain intact -- but only in executable files.

In short: Don't expect Siri to dance; she's still learning to speak.

Regarding your database concern: Obviously, using an Opus executable to store data on a client computer is easy; I have no idea about the restrictions that tablets impose. I'll defer here to someone with more expertise.

Hi,

I did some searching regarding SQL DB support in AIR and found what appears to be robust support: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AIR/1.5/dev ... -7fb4.html (for unencrypted and encrypted DB's), apparently part of the AIR runtime. However, I suspect the AIR player route, if available to Opus, would require Opus (Flex) output as AS3, not AS2.

AIR APK's are applications residing on the platform, and, if a variety of permissions are accepted by the user, can extensively interact with the device's OS, similar to a Windows app. Each new iteration of AS3, the AIR player and AIR SDK adds features, which are already fairly robust. So far, in my apps testing (including "translating" apps that I had earlier done in Opus Pro/Flex to AS3), I haven't found any functional limits or where a work-around wouldn't solve it. (But, these are a limited sample of apps.)

Having dropped Eclipse-Google Developer tools testing in favor of the AIR route, I am not sure what features can be achieved in non-AIR APK's. However, I think these are also robust. The Eclipse-Google Developer tools are free, as I recall. This route also requires no player. The APK's from "Hello World" on can be side-loaded and tested on Android devices (or probably in emulators).

Here's the link for SQLite and Android: http://developer.android.com/reference/ ... abase.html.

The hopeful element is that all of these routes have a common underlying script "parent": JS.

So, maybe Opus can be seamlessly integrated with and export using these Eclipse-Google Developer tools?

HTH

above is a partial quote

I did not mean to imply Flex restrictions were caused by Opus. What I was thinking of in bringing up the Flex example is what we face at development time -- we have to be conscious of what scripts, commands, triggers, and actions we give up to output to a Flex-type Pub. DW has done a decent job of 'greying out' Standard Actions and Triggers if you start with a Flex-type Pub to begin with (well 'yes' I can change Type mid-stream, but I might have unwittingly included unsupported actions. When it comes to OpusScript, they are not greyed-out for Flex. I just have to learn what to use and what to bypass when it comes to Flex.

When I get to developing Pubs / Apps for multiple devices, I would prefer not to design for the least-common-denominator. I expect I will want to, or need to, make several passes at it to produce say four different outputs. As for my database interests, I may have to move to a more granular and traditional programming environment (eclipse? ajax? jquery?). And I do not want to do that with my limited skill. But I can step through a chain of tools.

The Opus authoring oddity that you point out is well taken; I've made that same mistake (i.e., starting out with a full Opus publication, deciding later to port it out to Flash, discovering afterward that I had unwittingly included unsupported actions or appearances). I guess it's too thorny an issue for Opus to highlight wherever something unsupported has crept in.

Regarding "lowest-common-denominator" programming: That's the world facing everyone now. If a particular trick isn't something that Javascript can handle, the trick probably won't appear on any major site. However, Javascript executes its tricks quite well, and its repertoire of tricks isn't terribly small. HTML5 still isn't universal, but that will probably change over the next 2 years.

As for me, I'm still ticked off at Microsoft for compelling the world to replace Windows 7 with Windows 8 (my desktop is not a tablet!).

It's good to see the discussion and enthusiasm around the possibility of new OPUS output options for Android APK / AIR. Guess we can only hope that DW are listening and looking at the enormous commercial potential for such developments.