After I saw some tweets about issues related to accessing the Wi-Fi network from an AIR application running on Android I thought it is worth writing a post about this topic.

If you installed an Android application on your phone you know that during this process you are presented with a screen stating what permissions the application you are about to install will use: network communication, contact data, location, storage, and so on.

I think this is a good thing especially when dealing with applications from “not so trusted” sources. You have a last chance to decide if you are willing to install that app or not. Thus it is only natural Android apps build with Adobe AIR to follow the same rules. One more thing on security/permissions: I think it is a best practice, as a developer, to request the minimum permissions required for your application.

The way you setup these permissions is quite simple: you add an <android> node to your application descriptor file having the root the <application> node (the application descriptor file is the XML file you already use for setting the different configuration options for your AIR application – application name, enabling the update framework, initial size and position, and so on). Here is an example:

<android>
    <manifestAdditions>
        <manifest>
            <attribute name="android:installLocation" value="auto"/>
            <data>
            <![CDATA[
                <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
                <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
                <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK"/>
                <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.DISABLE_KEYGUARD"/>
                <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION"/>
                <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE"/>
            ]]>
            </data>
        </manifest>
    </manifestAdditions>
</android>

In this example I added an additional setting in the form of <attribute name=”android:installLocation” value=”atuot”/> in order to allow the user to install the application either on the internal memory or on the SD memory card. The same way you can add additional permissions supported by the Android OS.

Now, next time when you have problems accessing resources from your AIR app on Android, you should know what is the first thing to look for.

The next version of the Flex SDK, codename Hero, is available to you for download now. If you want to check this special builds just go here and download.

What is so special about Hero? Well, the most important thing is the added support for mobile development. So far you’ll find in this builds: Spark DataGrid, Spark Image, Spark Form, OSMF 1.0 integration, Mobile Application, View & View Navigator, and ActionBar. You can read more here.

No go and start play with it already :D!