Hello,
I am attempting to create an installer for Windows that installs the AIR runtime, our application, and all the content required such that any user can log in and use the application. Our application is an educational tool for autistic children, and will be installed in lab environments in schools.
Our AIR application by itself is not large - about 5MB. However, it relies upon about 600MB of external assets. These include various forms of media: images, audio clips, SWFs etc. If I try to bundle all of this into a single AIR file using FlashBuilder 4, FlashBuilder dies due to lack of memory to the JVM. I have tried to increase memory to the JVM, but even given the maximum it still does not work. I then attempted to package and sign the AIR file using the command line tools. That appears to work, however that operation results in a bloated AIR file that is over 1GB in size, almost double the size of the content packaged into it. If I attempt to use the sidecar installer provided by Adobe to install this AIR file the installer dies. Further investigation shows that others have hit this same size limitation with AIR files, but there is no resolution in site to this problem.
Since it seemed impossible to package the entire application into a single AIR file my next attempt was to keep the content separate from the AIR application. I have experimented with Installshield, but have found no way to chain together the sidecar installer MSI with another MSI that installs the content to the same location. I could install the AIR application, and then let the application itself finish the installation by copying the content to app-storage://, but then the application is only usable by the user who installed it. In a lab environment in a school this doesn't work, because typically the person who is installing the application is an administrator, not the end user. app-storage:// resides under a user's directory, not in a shared location. The application is unable to copy files to the app:// location due to the security model of AIR.
I know that I can do a silent install from the command line using the sidecar installer, but I haven't found a way to chain this together with another MSI that installs the content. It could be that I am too limited by what Installshield Express offers. I am now attempting to use NSIS.
Any advice anyone may have on how to do this is very appreciated. Surely others have needed to install large media rich AIR applications on Windows. AIR is a great platform for us in many respects, but I must be able to create an easy seamless install process for end users. Our product will be going into use over the next 6 months by over 1000 users, and that number will grow quickly. I would be willing to pay for a support incident from Adobe if that is warranted.
Thanks
Kevin MacDonald