| Limitation | Explanation | |------------|-------------| | | Based on Adobe AIR (Flash runtime), which Adobe officially stopped supporting in 2020. | | No Modern APIs | Cannot use modern web features (WebGL, CSS Grid, Fetch, ES6 modules) without heavy polyfills. | | Performance | Heavy overhead – launching an AIR extension could take several seconds. | | Security Restrictions | Extensions ran inside the AIR sandbox, limiting file system and network access compared to UXP. | | No Touch/High-DPI Support | Designed for mouse/keyboard; fails on modern 4K/Retina displays and tablets. | | Poor Version Compatibility | An extension built for CS6 often broke in CC without recompilation. | | Eclipse Dependency | Developers forced to use an outdated IDE; no support for VS Code or modern workflows. |
| Feature | Description | |---------|-------------| | | Provided project templates, code completion, and one-click packaging (ZXP files). | | Debugging | Step-through debugging of ExtendScript and JS code inside the Creative Suite host. | | UI Builder | Drag-and-drop UI creation using Flash/Flex components (buttons, panels, lists). | | Native Access | Bridge to ExtendScript DOM to control documents, layers, selections, etc. | | Cross-application | Write once, run in multiple Adobe apps (with minor host-specific adjustments). | | Packaging & Signing | Built-in ZXP packaging and certificate signing for distribution via Adobe Exchange. | adobe extension builder