Download a file with Adobe AIR

Question

How do I download a file from the internet in a Flex based AIR application.

I tried using a file with url set to the address, but I got a file does not exist error

Answer 1

To build on seanalltogether's second idea, here is a function that should download a file from the internet, and save it to disk (in the specified file name on the desktop):

downloadFile: function (url, fileName) {
    var urlStream = new air.URLStream();
    var request = new air.URLRequest(url);
    var fileStream = new air.FileStream();
    // write 50k from the urlstream to the filestream, unless
    // the writeAll flag is true, when you write everything in the buffer
    function writeFile(writeAll) {
        if (urlStream.bytesAvailable > 51200 || writeAll) {
            alert("got some");
            var dataBuffer = new air.ByteArray();
            urlStream.readBytes(dataBuffer, 0, urlStream.bytesAvailable);
            fileStream.writeBytes(dataBuffer, 0, dataBuffer.length);
        }
        // do clean up:
        if (writeAll) {
            alert("done");
            fileStream.close();
            urlStream.close();
            // set up the next download
            setTimeout(this.downloadNextFile.bind(this), 0);
        }
    }

    urlStream.addEventListener(air.Event.COMPLETE, writeFile.bind(this, true));
    urlStream.addEventListener(air.ProgressEvent.PROGRESS, writeFile.bind(this, false));

    var file = air.File.desktopDirectory.resolvePath(fileName);
    fileStream.openAsync(file, air.FileMode.WRITE);

    urlStream.load(request);

}

Note: This solution uses Prototype, and AIRAliases.js.