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About six days ago Ted Patrick threw up a post about a new server technology he's been working on called DARE, complete with a nifty dinosaur logo, that allows developers to re-fresh and re-test AIR applications with the same ease that HTML/JS developers have enjoyed for years.
Ted's thinking goes like this:
- HTML / JS developers aren't used to compiling their code
- Compiling is a major impediment to getting this community on the AIR train (or bus, as it were)
- These developers ARE willing to install a local server to compile their AIR apps for them
It's worth noting that while DARE is targeted for the AJAX community, it has the capability of quickly wrapping SWF's too. If you're a flash or flex developer who doesn't want to bother buildling AIR apps through those interfaces, DARE provides an easy way to package your SWF in a simple AIR wrapper.
Currently there's only a Mac version available, but a windows release is coming soon.
I downloaded DARE and had it up and running in a matter of minutes. It requires it's own installation of the AIR SDK, but that's fine. After launching the server, I copied over the existing index.html with the InsideRIA home page and with a few clicks built my AIR package. You can download my test project here if you're interested.
I was honestly much more impressed than I thought I'd be with DARE. My experience with local servers in the past has been anything but painless - there's usually some slough of configuration files to set up and little properties I need to configure to get the thing running right. DARE installed quickly and I didn't have to do anything at all to get it up and running. The install process was everything it should be - clean, easy, and complete.
My only complaints are with the DARE interface. First, there's no good error console. I had a .webarchive of the InsideRIA site in my project's root directory and for some reason this was breaking the compiler. My second complaint is that there's no easy way to kill the server. I had to go into my terminal, find the process, and kill it manually. The web interface should have some sort of "stop" button on it, or there should at least be a second "kill server" executable. Since this is a quick release and not a fully developed product, these things don't keep me from being a big fan of DARE.
I'd like to hear from the AJAX / HTML / JS community out there - have any of you tried DARE? How does developing with DARE compare to your normal development experience?
If you're an AJAX developer interested in checking AIR out but don't want to go through the hassle of setting up your own compiler environment or downloading FlexBuilder, I'd definitely recommend giving DARE a chance.
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I'm confused. Compiling an AIR app, especially for us Ajax folks, isn't that complicated. It's one command line call to run an app in debug mode. It's one command line that can be configured in most editors quite easily.
Although, that gives me an idea: to create a base AIR package for Ajax developers that includes shortcuts for reloading the app without requiring closing down. I do something similar with my app Snitter where I have a keyboard shortcut for refreshing the stylesheet so I can make edits and check them out quickly instead of closing and re-compiling the application each time.
That's not too far from what Dare is - you close the current app window and click a link from the DARE server page and your app re-loads. When you're satisfied, you click "package" and it wraps it up in an AIR package.
It's certainly not essential...just a little easier if you're not someone who enjoys "configuring" things.
I am working to open source DARE tonight. I am looking for someone to take the server to the next level. It is fully written using Python so it is very easy to port cross-os.
Ted :)