This week Titanium releases its second preview release, AIR gets some bug fixes, Adobe gives some help to the recently unemployed, Tim Heuer breaks down Silverlight testing, Cappuccino makes some magic in the browser with Atlas, and a new eBook helps developers build enterprise Ajax applications with Microsoft tools. All this and more on the Weekly RIA RoundUp from InsideRIA.

FEATURED: Appcelerator Titanium PR2 Released

A new version of Appcelerator Titanium was released this week. For those of you unfamiliar with Titanium, it is an open source competitor to Adobe AIR which gives you the ability to deploy your web applications to the desktop.

The new version, PR2 (Preview Release 2), includes support for cross-language extensibility which enables developers to extend the core functionality of the runtime using Ruby, Python, JavaScript, and C++ (previously it was only C++). In addition, client side scripting can now also be written in Ruby, Python, or JavaScript (previously only JavaScript). In addition, this is the first version of Titanium with Linux support.

Appcelerant: Titanium Preview Release 2 (PR2)

Appcelerator Titanium

Adobe AIR 1.5.1 Released

There was a new version of AIR released this week: AIR 1.5.1. This release consists mainly of bug fixes (such as the shift+space bug), but there was one additional feature added to the API which enables the developer to determine if the application was launched manually or at login.

Adobe AIR Team Blog (Adobe): Adobe AIR 1.5.1 Released

PyAMF 0.4.1 Released

The latest iteration of PyAMF was released this week. This release mainly addresses bug fixes, and it also includes some fixes that improve Django and Google App Engine support.

PyAMF Blog: PyAMF 0.4.1 released « PyAMF blog

Free Copies of Flex Builder for the Unemployed

Several of the Adobe evangelists announced a program where those people who have recently been laid off can receive a free copy of Flex Builder Professional. FlashGen.com covers the details of how to get your information into the hands of one of those evangelists.

FlashGen.com: Free Copies Of Flex Builder For The Unemployed

Testing Silverlight Applications

Tim Heuer provided a run down of the current tools for testing your Silverlight applications. Tim covers both unit and functional testing solutions including: the Microsoft Silverlight Unit Test Framework, SilverUnit, and Silverlight-Selenium. This article provides a good summary of each option and its respective strengths and weaknesses.

Tim Heuer (Microsoft): Testing Silverlight Applications

Cappuccino Releases Aristo and Atlas

Cappuccino announced two new technologies at the FOWA (Future of Web Apps) conference last week in Miami. The first is Aristo: an open-source look and feel which can be used in any application (layered PSD files will be included as well). The second is Atlas: a browser-based visual development tool for creating applications on the Cappuccino framework.

Ajaxian: Big News from Cappuccino: Aristo and Atlas

3 Important Tips For Silverlight Development

Jeff Prosise highlights three important tips for Silverlight developers in the latest Wicked Code column at MSDN. In the article he covers on-demand assembly loading, just-in-time rendering, and avoiding regional dependencies. Jeff provides expert level advice that can benefit any Silverlight application.

MSDN (Microsoft): 3 Important Tips For Silverlight Development

Open Source XAML Editor

Kaxaml is a free open-source XAML editor created by Robby Ingebretsen for use with WPF and Silverlight applications. The latest version supports Silverlight 2 and is currently in beta. In addition to being a code editor, Kaxaml also provides a view to see the rendered content from your code.

developper-talk.blogspot.com: Kaxaml, design WPF and silverlight applications with a strong editor

Kaxaml

Free eBook on Microsoft Based Enterprise Ajax Applications

JungleJar has the book Developing Service-Oriented AJAX Applications on the Microsoft Platform as an eBook for download. The overview states:

Your essential guide to building Rich Interactive Applications (RIAs) using Microsoft technologiesDelve into the fundamental architectural principles and techniques for developing service-oriented AJAX applications for the enterprise. This guide offers a code-heavy, example-based approach to learning how to write a modern services API and an AJAX front end that can easily be extended, reused, and integrated by third parties.

The eBook also includes the code samples used throughout the book.

JungleJar: Free e-book: Developing Service-Oriented AJAX Applications on the Microsoft Platform