Even with the holidays approaching, the RIA landscape continues to change. This week saw Adobe AIR for Linux come out of beta, the first visual editor for JavaFX applications, a new way to unit test Ajax, and a new iPlayer desktop application from the BBC. All this and more on the Weekly RIA RoundUp from InsideRIA.

FEATURED: Adobe AIR 1.5 for Linux Released

Adobe has been releasing betas for Adobe AIR on Linux for many months, but this week it emerged from beta into a full production release. Currently, the AIR development team focused on support for Fedora, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE. This version is targeted at 32-bit platforms, but Adobe has also posted a tech note for getting it working on a 64-bit platform.

Adobe AIR Team Blog: Adobe AIR 1.5 now available for Linux

Ajaxian: Adobe AIR v1.5 Shows Linux the Love

While the reaction has been very positive, many Linux users have experienced problems with installing either the runtime or applications. This is mostly due to people attempting to run AIR outside of the given requirements. Adobe has since provided some quick notes for how to overcome these issues:

Tips on resolving application issues for Linux users

On2 Flix Adds Support for JavaFX Video

On2's line of Flix encoders now supports encoding for JavaFX video. This comes right after the release of JavaFX 1.0. In addition, this is currently the only encoding product capable of encoding video for JavaFX.

GeniusDV.com: On2 Adds Support for JavaFX Video to Flix

On2: FAQ: On2's JavaFX Support

JavaScript Unit Testing Firefox Extension

John Resig and Jan Odvarko just finished a new Firefox extension the integrates with Firebug to provide a basis for JavaScript unit testing. According to John's blog:

FireUnit provides a simple JavaScript API for doing simple test logging and viewing within a new tab of Firebug.

In summary, this provides not only an API for performing JavaScript unit tests, but it also provides a visual test runner inside of Firebug.

Ajaxian: FireUnit: JavaScript Unit Testing Extension

BBC Launches AIR Application

The BBC recently launched an AIR application to compliment their online iPlayer. This application allows the user to download content and view it when offline. As Andrew states in his post - this means that BBC users can view video in the browser or on the desktop, online or offline, and on Windows, Mac, and Linux. See Andrew's post below for more information on getting the application installed (see comments).

Note: This application is currently geo-restricted to UK residents.

Andrew Shorten (Adobe): BBC launches iPlayer desktop on Adobe AIR

Reaction to Google Native Client

Just over a week ago, Google released their Native Client. This was initially lauded with praise by many in the RIA community, but after the initial news many developers are trying to see how this platform will fit into the RIA landscape. We have collected some of the posts to gauge the community's reaction:

InsideRIA: Google Native Client: A Game Changer or an Also-Ran?

Jadbox.com: Why Google Native Client is not a Flash competitor

Rishabh Singla: PREDICTION: Google's Native Client Technology Is A Game Changer

JavaFX Visual Designer Tool

James Weaver highlighted the recently released JFXBuilder, a visual designer tool for JavaFX 1.0 developed by ReportMill Software. According to the press release, this tool will provide the following functionality:

• Perform drawing and illustration
• Add and edit rich text (fonts, colors, styles, wrapping, spelling, etc.)
• Apply advanced fills (textures and gradients)
• Apply advanced effects (shadow, reflection, emboss, glow, etc.)
• Apply advanced transforms (rotation, scale, skew)
• Drag and Drop images and other media
• Drag and Drop application components
• Apply Key-Frame based animation
• Apply path-based animation
• Apply Input-related behavior (Mouse-over, Mouse-down, etc.)
• Attach to a database or XML and perform data binding
• Design simple layouts for default JavaFX mobile devices
• Generate JavaFX code on the fly

JFXBuilder is a Java Web Start application, and it can be launched from the link below:

JFXBuilder

James Weaver: A JavaFX Visual Designer Tool Just Fell out of the Sky

JFXBuilder Press Release

Read more from David Tucker.