Android App Inventor

Objective #1: Describe App Inventor.

• App Inventor is a free, easy-to-use, drag-and-drop Android app development tool from Google and MIT. It's great because it allows you to create full-fledged Android apps without having to type any code or even own your own Android smartphone! It is also good because of the abstraction that it gives you so you don't have to worry about system details.
  
  
• Benefits of App Inventor
  
  • minimal software & hardware requirements since the emulator is free
  • no code to type
  • library of easy-to-find puzzle pieces match one another making it easier to build functionality
  • includes variables, lists, loops, if’s, procedures, random #’s, click events, debugging, etc.
  • includes media, phone sensors, web services, SQL & more for range of interesting projects
  • make engaging apps that are easy to test & distribute to anyone with an Android phone, tablet, Kindle Fire
  • its abstraction keeps you from having to worry about system-level details.
    

Objective #2: Install & use App Inventor to create apps.

• In order to use App Inventor you must create an account at the websie appinventor.mit.edu Click the "Create Apps" button to begin learning and using App Inventor.
  
  
• All of your projects are automatically saved on the website.
  
  
• App Inventor is web-based and works in most web browsers. However, there are some technical requirements like installing the AI Companion Java app.
  

Objective #3: Use the Designer in App Inventor.

• There are lots of components that can be integrated to the design of an App Inventor app including:
  
  
  • User Interface
    • Button
    • TextBox
    • ListView
    • DatePicker
    • TimePicker
    • CheckBox
    • Label
    • ListPicker
    • Slider
    • PasswordTextBox
    • Notifier
    • Image
    • WebViewer
    • Spinner
  • Layout
    • TableArrangement
    • VerticalArrangement
    • HorizontalArrangement
  • Media
    • Player
    • Sound
    • TextToSpeech
    • YandexTranslate
    • VideoPlayer
    • Camcorder
    • Camera
    • SpeechRecognizer
    • ImagePicker
    • SoundRecorder
  • Drawing and Animation
    • Canvas
    • ImageSprite
    • Ball
  • Sensors
    • Clock
    • BarcodeScanner
    • LocationSensor
    • OrientationSensor
    • NearField
    • AccelerometerSensor
    • ProximitySensor
  • Social
    • EmailPicker
    • Texting
    • PhoneNumberPicker
    • PhoneCall
    • Sharing
    • Twitter
    • ContactPicker
  • Storage
    • FustiontablesControl
    • File
    • TinyWebDB
    • TinyDB
  • Connectivity
    • BluetoothClient
    • BluetoothServer
    • Web
    • ActivityStarter
  • LEGO MINDSTORMS
    • NxtDrive
    • NxtColorSensor
    • NxtLightSensor
    • NxtSoundSensor
    • NxtTouchSensor
    • NxtUltrasonicSensor
    • NxtDirectCommands
      
      
• The Screen Orientation can be set to "User" in which an app's user can select portrait or landscape mode or "Sensor" which autorotates as the phone rotates.

Objective #4: Use the Blocks Editor in App Inventor.

• When you use the Blocks Editor in App Inventor, you can copy and paste blocks by using Control-C and Control-V on the keyboard rather than right-clicking Copy and Paste with the mouse.
  
  
• The Sprites and Canvases are of the Components Panel includes the events Flung, TouchUp, & TouchDown.
  
  
  • Flung - when a user touches a sprite & quickly swipes his finger in some direction
    
    
  • TouchDown & TouchUp - when a user places his finger on a sprite, a TouchDown event is triggered & when a user lifts his finger a TouchUp event is triggered in addition to the Touched event.

Objective #5: Use the basic components with Prof. Wolber's Course-in-a-Box demos at AppInventor.org

• Download and import the following source files into App Inventor. Learn by reviewing the source blocks and modifying them.
  
  
  • PaintPot - http://www.appinventor.org/apps2/paintpot2/paintpot2.aia
  • MoleMash - http://www.appinventor.org/apps2/AndroidMash/AndroidMash.aia
  • Pong - http://www.appinventor.org/apps2/pong/pong.aia
  • No Texting While Driving - http://www.appinventor.org/apps2/notext/notext.aia
  • Presidents Quiz - http://www.appinventor.org/apps2/presidentsQuiz2/presidentsQuiz2.aia
  • Creating Procedures: Logo - http://www.appinventor.org/apps2/logo/logo.aia
  • Stock Market - http://www.appinventor.org/apps2/stockMarket/stockMarket.aia
    

Objective #6: Tips and tricks with App Inventor.

• How to record a video clip with the Camcorder RecordVideo block.
  
  
• How to record a video clip using App Inventor's VideoWall.
  
  
• This tutorial on the TextBox component helps you build an investment portfolio & uses the ScreenAlignment component.
  
  
• Your app must be packaged in order for the GPS sensor to work.
  
  
• Here is a demo on using texting app emulators - http://www.appinventor.org/no-text-while-driving
  
  
• This utility can help you copy an App Inventor screen - http://www.tair.info/ai-screen-copier-v2

Objective #7: Use the online Reference Documentation and tutorials for App Inventor.

• There is a lot of educational information on the website at http://appinventor.mit.edu
  
  
• The API for App Inventor is found in the website's Reference Documentation section at http://explore.appinventor.mit.edu/library
  
  
• Prof. Wolber's website at appinventor.org is invaluable
  
  
• App Inventor Concept Cards with handy visuals - appinventor.mit.edu/explore/resources/beginner-app-inventor-concept-cards.html
  
  
• Community Tutorials - sites.google.com/site/appinventorresources/home/tutorial-topics
  
  
• Mobile CS Principles course (Morelli, Wolber, etc.)
  • Course Overview - mobile-csp.org
  • Curriculum - https://ram8647.appspot.com/mobileCSP/preview
  • Resources - https://ram8647.appspot.com/mobileCSP/resources
    
    
• Prof. Morelli’s great tutorials from his Trinity College course
  
  
• Pure Vida Apps contains App Inventor tutorials and code snippets - http://puravidaapps.com/snippets.php
  
  
• Prof. Turbak’s course at Wellesley - sites.google.com/site/wellesleycs117fall11
  
  
• Prof. Szathmary's course at Bucks County Community College - sites.google.com/site/cisc106bccc
  

Objective #8: Install App Inventor apps onto your tablet or phone

• AppInventor helps you make a QR code for any apps that you create in AppInventor. The QR code makes it easy to install these apps on your Android device.
  
  
• Link your phone via WiFi to your computer using the App Inventor Companion app.

Objective #9: Install your own TinyWebDB

• Follow Prof. Wolber's instructions at http://appinventorapi.com/program-an-api-python to download and install Python and the App Engine SDK for Python to your home computer. Then install App Engine for Python on your home computer and use GoogleAppEngineLauncher to deploy your own public TinyWebDb service to your own free Google App Engine.
  
  This would allow you to use your unique URL address in your MakeQuiz & TakeQuiz apps instead of Mr. Minich's http://wyo-tinywebdb.appspot.com.
  
  
• Here is another page of instructions for setting up your own custom TinyWebDB - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZIWcJ7_h_GfKsxivsk5jM7_rxxN8NdICQz_jhaQEgn4/edit
  

Objective #10: Host App Inventor on your own server.

• You can even host App Inventor on your own (free) Amazon EC2 server by following these instructions - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6EFC033BD80893ED
  
  
• The latest downloads for the server itself are found at https://github.com/mit-cml/app-inventor