Many technologies promise to put features of desktop applications on the Web; Adobe AIR, instead, brings the flexibility, convenience, and ease of Web development to the desktop. The AIR is a cross-platform runtime environment that allows Web developers to use their existing skills to start building applications for the desktop. Adobe AIR in Action introduces AIR to developers familiar with Flash and Flex, showing them how to build solid AIR-driven desktop applications. Using examples, the expert authors walk web developers through the new topics they will need to develop AIR applications for the desktop. Readers will learn the essential features of the AIR API with examples and code samples that they can use to get up and running in AIR quickly. The book shows how to create and customize native windows, as well as how to read and write files and folders on the local file system.