A simple photo sharing app for friends and family

[curtis chou]

This is a very primitive, Instagram-like app strictly implemented in AI2. It can be found here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_yescurtischou.gang01_copy7

Because of its social-network nature, this app is intended to be used for a group of two or more phones to share photos. In this app, a phone with a Google account is called a channel. A channel is a place holder of any number of posts. You can share your posts with others by displaying the QR code of your channel to them so that they can scan to join (subscribe to) your channel.

All posts will be accessible for a period of THREE (3) days only.

When started, Screen1 (Initialize) will acquire a Google account (the gmail address) from the user on the first run. It then try to determine the GPS location of the phone (by using Google Maps), though I have not implemented any use of that GPS information at this time.

This app then brings up the Screen2 (Playground), as the attached screenshot. The first channel displayed is your own channel. Each channel required an Image ID to identify itself since there is no "channel name" implemented. On the first run, a default Image ID (an image of black dots on red background) is assigned to your new channel. You will need to replace this default image with your own image (activate your channel, so to speak) in order to share your channel to others. Activate your channel by clicking on the "QR Code" button or tapping on this default image.

Should you choose not to activate your channel (and hence not to share your posts to others), you can still post photos, as well as join (subscribe to) other channels.

I have not implemented a keep-alive or peer-to-peer signaling so you will have to rotate through all channels to see any new posts.

I have not implemented a function to "un-register" an account. All accounts being inactive for a period of THREE (3) months will be removed automatically.

A few implementation remarks:

* Google APIs: This app uses publicly available Google APIs, including OAUTH2, Google Account, Google Maps, Google Drive, Google FusionTables, and Google QR code generator.

* User Account: This app uses a phone's Google account to identify a specific user. The only personal information this app collects is the gmail address.

* Files: This app creates a "Gang" directory under /SDCARD/Pictures and a "Post" under "Gang" for all image files. A "Gang/std.err" text file is for debug purpose, and a "Gang/Post/log.json" is for removing aged posts. The TinyDB component is used to store various information across screens and sessions.

* Server Storage: This app uses Google Drive to store all uploaded images, and Google FusionTables for account and post records. None of the information stored to the Drive and FusionTables will be accessible outside of this app.

Okay, that's all for now. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. If possible, please also attached the "log.json" and "std.err" files mentioned above, and screenshots if available, so that I can better understand your use situation. Thank you.