Tip – Using Projects | Checkpoint

As we develop our app code, we occassionally make changes that do not work. Sometimes our programming breaks a working app! When that occurs, we wish we had saved an copy of the file so that we can return to the original code before we messed it up.

There are several ways to save a copy:

• save a backup to your computer’s hard drive,
• use the Projects | Save project as … option to save the project into a newly named project file,
• use the Projects | Checkpoint method.

Projects | Checkpoint creates a copy of your project with the default name yourproject_checkpoint1 but leaves your current project in the editor, where yourproject is the actual name of your project. You may change the name of the checkpoint file at the prompt.

Projects | Save project as …, on the other hand, creates a copy of your project but then opens the project you just saved, under its new name.

• If you want to keep your current project in the Designer or Blocks editor, use Checkpoint.
• If you want to start a new project using your current code as the base, then choose Projects | Save project as …

Note – the next time you select Projects | Checkpoint, App Inventor will display a list of your previous checkpoints for this project, including the date and time when they were made.