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CommandProxy is a proof of concept by Mike Chambers (Adobe AIR team) that offers a solution to a feature that Ben and I have wanted in AIR…. the ability to talk to native code:

Two of the most requested features for Adobe AIR have been the ability to launch native executables from an AIR application, and the ability to integrate native libraries into an AIR application. Unfortunately, neither feature will be included in Adobe AIR 1.0.

However, this does not mean that you cannot build an AIR application that has closer / tighter integration with the underlying operating system. This lower level of integration is possible, but it requires some work on your part. I have put together a proof of concept project, which shows how to integrate Adobe AIR applications with c# / .NET code on any operating system that Adobe AIR currently runs on (Mac and Windows). The project is called CommandProxy. It provides a communication proxy between an AIR application and the underlying operating system and could theoretically work with other web based desktop runtimes (such as Mozilla Prism).

How does it work?

The general concept behind the project is similar to the now defunct Artemis project (which was Java based). The AIR application communicates with the CommandProxy process to communicate and integrate with the underlying operating system. Currently the command proxy supports launching processes (and getting the output from the processes) as well as taking a screenshot of the user’s current screen. However, the framework is built in such a manner that it is possible to add new functionality to the proxy.

The project is opensource and more info is available on the project page on Google Code.