Create a new ActionScript project in Visual Studio Code that targets Adobe AIR for desktop platforms

Learn to set up a project in Visual Studio Code to create an Adobe AIR application that runs on desktop operating systems, including Windows and macOS.

1. Install the ActionScript & MXML extension for Visual Studio Code.

2. Create a new directory for your project, and open it in Visual Studio Code.

   To open a directory, select the File menu → Open... or click Open Folder button in the Explorer pane.

3. Choose an ActionScript SDK for your workspace.

4. Create a file named asconfig.json at the root of your project, and add the following content:

   {
   	"config": "air",
   	"compilerOptions": {
   		"output": "bin/Main.swf"
   	},
   	"application": "src/Main-app.xml",
   	"files":
   	[
   		"src/Main.as"
   	]
   }

5. Create directory named src.

6. Inside src, create a file named Main.as, and add the following code:

   package
   {
   	import flash.display.Sprite;
   	import flash.text.TextField;
   
   	public class Main extends Sprite
   	{
   		public function Main()
   		{
   			var tf:TextField = new TextField();
   			tf.text = "Hello World";
   			addChild(tf);
   		}
   	}
   }

7. Inside src, create an AIR application descriptor file named Main-app.xml. AIR application descriptors may be configured with many more elements, but you can use the following simple content as a starting point:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
   <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/24.0"> 
   	<id>com.example.Main</id> 
   	<versionNumber>0.0.0</versionNumber> 
   	<filename>Main</filename> 
   	<name>Main</name> 
   	<initialWindow>
   		<content>[Path to content will be replaced by asconfigc]</content> 
   		<visible>true</visible>
   	</initialWindow>
   </application>

   Be sure to update the version number in the namespace http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/24.0 to match the version of Adobe AIR that you are targeting.

Next Steps

• Build an ActionScript project in Visual Studio Code
• Debug an Adobe AIR desktop application
• Package an Adobe AIR application in Visual Studio Code