General, Uncategorized

Can you build an App Inventor app for the Google Play store?

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I wrote this in response to a question on this web site’s Facebook page.

Someone asked if there was perhaps a paid version of App Inventor required for building apps that go in the Google Play store? No, there is no paid version.

You do not need a paid version of App Inventor; just use the Build .apk option to create an Android package file that can be installed on an Android device.

You can then submit your apps to the Google Play store. You will need to pay a US $25, one time only, to open a developer account. Thereafter, you may upload as many apps as you want to the Play store.

You’ll also need to create some screen snapshots and upload those as part of your app description in the Play store. There is much additional good information here – http://beta.appinventor.mit.edu/learn/reference/other/appstoplay.html

How to create App Inventor apps for the Google Play store is on my list of future tutorials. Unfortunately, I do not have time right at the moment to put that together – but eventually I will have something and describe the process in step-by-step detail!

Components, Uncategorized

Multiline text input in App Inventor

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The App Inventor TextBox control supports both single line and multi-line input; the TextBox control default to single line mode – and you may not have realized it can support multiple line text input too!

In single line input, text is entered using the on screen keyboard, followed by the Enter key (or you can use an external Bluetooth keyboard). Once the enter key is pressed, the on screen keyboard goes away.

Multi-line mode is enabled by checking the Multiline checkbox item in the control properties. However, the Enter key is used to enter multiple text lines – that means you need to complete the multiline text entry by adding another control, such as a Done button.

The multi-line control is easy to use – and needs just a single line of blocks code to implement! Describing the operation of the control takes more time!

App View

The multiline TextBox looks like a single line text box, as shown here, after entering “first line” into the TextBox control as the app is running.

Screenshot_2015-04-08-18-03-40

To enter a second (or third…) line, tap the green/blue Enter button at the lower right of the onscreen keyboard. Here is the result after typing three lines of text:

Screenshot_2015-04-08-18-03-57

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General, Uncategorized

Android App Inventor app creation is world-wide!

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This webblog web server tracks the country of web site visitors and draws this map showing which countries visited this web site in one day this past week.

AppInventorPevestReadership

Since this web blog was started, readers have visited from 158 countries around the world! Thank you for stopping by!

The entire world is interested in creating Android apps using App Inventor!

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General, Uncategorized

What is inside a .aia project file?

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As you may know, you can save your App Inventor project to your local computer using the Projects | Export selected project (.aia) to my computer menu option:

ExportSelected

Use this feature to save a backup copy on your local computer or to share your code with others (email or transfer the file using DropBox – or similar – or merely copy to a USB thumb drive).

What is inside the .aia file?

Surprisingly, the .aia file is just a regular .zip file. You can verify by saving a copy to your local disk drive, and then rename the file to have a .zip file extension instead of .aia. Then use Windows Explorer, StuffIt Expander or other utility to open and decompress the .zip file.

PLEASE NOTE – DO NOT MODIFY THE CONTENT OF THESE FILES.  THIS INFORMATION IS NOT SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO WRITE APP INVENTOR APPS AND IS PROVIDED “AS IS” “FOR YOUR INFORMATION” ONLY.

Continue reading What is inside a .aia project file? →

General, Uncategorized

Have App Inventor questions?

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If you have questions about App Inventor or App Inventor programming, try posting your questions on the Facebook page “wall” and also here in the comments (I will be working to have the comments cross linked between this web site and FB eventually).

Also check out these two online forums:

Carlos has posted a good question about a problem with Bluetooth communications. If you can help, add a comment there.

 

Components, Uncategorized

Using TimePicker and DatePicker for entering time and date information

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The TimePicker and DatePicker User Interface Controls

Entering the date and time are common features of business applications. We could use a text edit box and let the user type in times (like 10:30) or dates (12 January 2015) but both methods require the user to enter the time or date in the proper format – and the app needs to test the entered data to ensure it was entered correctly.

A better solution is to use App Inventors TimePicker and DatePicker controls. Both provide a graphical method of selecting input values. For example, the TimePicker displays the following:

TimeDate_TimePickerUIThe time is set by pressing the + or – buttons above and below the hours and minutes. The AM/PM indicator is a toggle – when it shows PM, a press changes it to AM, and when it shows AM, a press changes it to PM. With this input system, the user can never entered an invalid time (the user could, of course, enter the wrong time, but that is a different problem!)

Continue reading Using TimePicker and DatePicker for entering time and date information →

App Inventor News, General, STEM Education, Uncategorized, Video

Raspberry Pi 2 (US $35) computer board features Scratch

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Raspberry Pi 2 is a US$ 35 computer board to which you attach a monitor, keyboard, mouse and Ethernet connection. You can use the Pi 2 for web browsing and other functions, but it also comes with Scratch.

Scratch is a programming system that is very similar to MIT App Inventor. You can learn more about Scratch in our previous post on that topic!

But because one of Raspberry Pi’s goals is to advance computer science education, there’s a few pieces of bundled software that can help achieve that goal. This includes a drag-and-drop visual programming language called Scratch (great for beginners to create animations and games), as well as Sonic Pi (for creating electronic music) and more advanced programming languages like Python (also included).

via Surf Report: Taking a bite out of Raspberry Pi.

And speaking of STEM, here are some videos from yesterday’s Oregon City FRC FIRST Robotics Pacific Northwest District 2 (Oregon) robotics competition. 35 high school robotic teams took part, with Team #4488 “Shockwave” taking first by total points. I am biased: I am a volunteer engineering mentor with the Shockwave team, from Glencoe High School, Hillsboro, Oregon. Go Shockwave!

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App Inventor News, STEM Education, Uncategorized

Motion picture highlights high school robotics

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Press Release – January 14, 2015 | USFIRST.org.
New Movie Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, George Lopez, Carlos PenaVega, and Marisa Tomei Highlights FIRST® Students’ Famous Underdog Robotic Victory against MIT

‘Spare Parts’ Debuts in Theaters Nationwide on January 16 Featuring Robots Built by FIRST Teams.

Watch the Spare Parts movie trailer on Youtube here.

FIRST Robotics is not App Inventor, but FIRST is a high visibility showcase of youth STEM programs. Since 2008, I have been a volunteer engineering mentor with high school FIRST Robotics teams. The 2015 FIRST robotics competition season is underway now.

To learn more about FIRST Robotics in your area, or to start a team, visit USFIRST.ORG.

The team where I volunteer (Shockwave Team #4488!!!!!) has implemented several Android apps using MIT App Inventor. One of their apps, a robotic-themed game based on the 2015 competition, is available in the Google Play store as a free download. Other apps are used by the team during competition to collect data on other teams, which is then analyzed in an Excel spreadsheet (written using Visual Basic for Applications code) to develop optimal competitive game strategies.

(Sorry for no new App Inventor code examples this week – had an ear infection for a few days that caused dizziness. Everything is okay now!)

App Inventor News, Uncategorized

Blockly – the code editor that drives App Inventor

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Blockly is the block code editor used in App Inventor. Blockly provides a way to write programs by arranging blocks of code, rather than writing out traditional “source code” text programs.

This approach is helpful for new programmers who can focus on the programming – and not the details of the structure of the programming language (of which there are many in programming languages like Java, C/C++, and C#).

Continue reading Blockly – the code editor that drives App Inventor →

The quick and easy way to write Android Apps