Today, we are pleased to announce with Aptana that the next major update to the Adobe AIR Development Plug-In for Aptana Studio is now available for download. Joelle Lam, an Aptana engineer that worked on the project, has recorded a video overview (see above) and also authored an excellent overview article describing the new JavaScript debugging capabilities.

The full list of features in the plug-in include:

• Support for Adobe AIR 1.5. (new)
• Integrated JavaScript Debugger. Watch screencast. (new)
• Bundled JavaScript frameworks with full code assist (new)
• Tools for generating application badges (new)
• Integrated content assist for the Adobe AIR SDK
• Pre-installed Adobe AIR runtime and SDK
• Project wizard generates all necessary files for out-of-the box launching of Adobe AIR applications
• Export wizard bundles and deploys Adobe AIR applications
• Easily import Ajax libraries into Adobe AIR projects
• Create and manage certificates for signing Adobe AIR applications
• Support for localization, menu builders, and source viewing
• Adobe AIR samples that can be previewed or imported as project
• Help and online documentation

As we've been speaking to JavaScript developers, one of the most requested features has been the ability to debug their applications. While we exposed this capability in Adobe AIR 1.5 released in November of last year and Aptana announced a beta plugin that supports this, today's announcement is particularly exciting because the final version of this plugin is now available to users and includes many bug fixes and enhancements. Debugging support includes the ability to step in, step over, and step out of code. Errors are displayed in the Console.

Related links:

• Adobe AIR Developer Center Article: Debugging JavaScript code in Adobe AIR with Aptana Studio
• Download Aptana Studio
• Download Adobe AIR Plug-in for Aptana Studio

Oliver Goldman has written an excellent article titled Performance-tuning Adobe AIR Applications that is now available on the Adobe AIR Developer Center. The article explores how to define metrics, measure throughput and memory, and apply an optimization process to your development process.

It's a must read article whether you have already deployed an AIR application to your customers or you are simply in the early stages of thinking about building an AIR application.

If you have thoughts or experiences you would like to share, positive or negative, with regard to the performance of your AIR application, please feel free to leave a comment. If you think you have encountered a bug in this area, let our team know directly by sending us a description of your issue to our wish list.

In the coming months, we plan on sharing more articles that describe how to optimize the performance of your applications.