Shu FAQ's

  • What can I do with Shu?
    • Shu SA and Shu SA Lite both enable you to convert an Adobe AIR file into a standalone application.
    • Shu SA also provides you with a number of extra commands to add to your actionscript/javascript to extend the capabilities of your application.
    • Shu provides all the commands of Shu SA, but installs your application to your users' desktop, and makes the licensing of your application much easier.
  • Does my output application require Adobe AIR at all?
    • With Shu SA and Shu SA Lite, your Shu application is completely standalone.
    • With Shu, the Adobe AIR framework needs to be installed on your user's desktop — however, the Shu installer takes care of this for you effortlessly.
  • Will my Shu application work on Mac and Windows?
    • Yes. You will however need access to both a PC and a Mac to create the output for each platform.
  • Does the Shu application require installation?
    • With Shu SA and Shu SA Lite, your Shu application is good to go straight away — no installation required.
    • With Shu, your user will need to run an installer produced by the Shu packager. Installation of all required components is handled seamlessly by the Shu installer, with minimal effort required by your user.
  • Can my Shu application be run from CD-ROM or network share?
    • Yes, applications produced by Shu SA and Shu SA Lite can run from CD-ROM and network shares. Applications produced by Shu are installed and as such cannot be run from CD-ROM or network share.
  • I have been using an swf2exe (Zinc, SWF Studio etc) tool, should I switch to Shu?
    • If you want stability and speed, Yes.
    • If you want your application to be cross-platform (Mac and Windows), Yes.
    • If you want to make use of all of Adobe AIR's features yet still have a standalone application, Yes.
    • If you want an easy licensing option from Adobe, Yes.
    • If you require a standalone applcation under 5mb, No.
  • Why are Shu applications N MB?
    • Shu SA and Shu SA Lite applications have the AIR runtime bundled to enable them to be standalone, hence the increased filesize.
    • Shu applications only bundle the Shu stub, and hence have a much smaller application size.
  • Do I need a license to distribute my Shu applications?
    • To distribute applications produced with Shu, you only need an Adobe AIR Runtime Distribution license for distribution of the AIR installer.
    • If you wish to distribute applications produced by Shu SA or Shu SA Lite, you will need a custom license from Adobe.
    • See our licensing information page for more details.
  • Why are there so few commands compared to the swf2exe tools?
    • Most desktop applications use commands already available in AIR. Shu only implements common commands that that we feel are missing.
    • Shu also allows developers to increase application functionality by adding their own commands via an Extensions API. As such, over time, there will probably be many third party extensions available.
    • swf2exe applications need to add all the common commands a desktop application would need as they make use of the Adobe Flash Player which has no native desktop based commands at all.
    • We have focused on making Shu a robust, stable and scaleable development tool, ensuring that commands are warranted, add value and are bug free.