Does the action bar do something?

[bianca...@gmail.com]

Does the action bar do something?

Also I noticed there is a 3 point "button" (kind of) on the right of it but only on app inventor: on the device there is just the action bar and the screen title.

[Moliata]

It does, before asking that please next time build an .APK trying out all these features.
Best regards, Ben (@moliata on GitHub)

[bianca...@gmail.com]

So it does work on apk only but not on companion...

OK good to know

[bianca...@gmail.com]

Made the APK. and installed the app: the action bar still does nothing even after installation... till now it still seems totally useless, as it seemed just under companion.

Il giorno sabato 30 dicembre 2017 18:55:21 UTC+1, Moliata ha scritto:

[Moliata]

Probably, your device is too old. More information about action bar at https://developer.android.com/design/patterns/actionbar.html

[bianca...@gmail.com]

Android 5.0.1

Bought 6-8m ago

[Moliata]

That's weird, I can't reproduce that. I have tested on multiple devices from Android 5.0 to Android 8.1 and I am able to see difference. When you toggle ActionBar off, you should see an old-fashioned title bar and if you check this on, you should see a new-styled action bar (similar to the one, in my link given before).

[Conor]

Make sure that the "TitleVisible" property is enabled.

[bianca...@gmail.com]

Il giorno martedì 2 gennaio 2018 12:14:09 UTC+1, Moliata ha scritto:

That's weird, I can't reproduce that. I have tested on multiple devices from Android 5.0 to Android 8.1 and I am able to see difference. When you toggle ActionBar off, you should see an old-fashioned title bar and if you check this on, you should see a new-styled action bar (similar to the one, in my link given before).

Sorry, allow me to better explicate:

On the device I see the action bar with its own title, no buttons on it: for clarification see the following screenshot just taken:

 

[Moliata]

Hello, so it works correctly. If you toggle action bar off, you should see old-fashioned App Inventor's title bar.

[Moliata]

Also, Action bar doesn't have to look 100% the same like on the designer.

[bianca...@gmail.com]

Ah ok than it doesn't matter if the 3 point button on the right is not showed into the device: here a screenshot of the AI Designer in which the button is showed (the green arrow points to it).

Such a button isn't showed into my device as shows my previous post.

So what is the aim of the action bar? (as I said in the OP in my device it does nothing, but showing the screen title into it with a customizable background)

What actions does it carry with into modern devices?

Perhaps is intended to be just a colored application title? or does it do something else with other devices?

Its content can be configured someway? I did a little research and it seems that AI doesn't have any customizable option for it.

When do I have to use it?

[Moliata]

Hello,
a) Action bar should have an options menu, interesting you don't have it.
b) it is a new title bar used by must of applications today
c) action bar can hold buttons like menu button and etc.
Best regards, Ben

[bianca...@gmail.com]

Il giorno mercoledì 3 gennaio 2018 10:49:38 UTC+1, Moliata ha scritto:

Hello,
a) Action bar should have an options menu, interesting you don't have it.

If you mean the 3 point menu on the right it is shown in Designer only but not in the device 

 

b) it is a new title bar used by must of applications today

 

c) action bar can hold buttons like menu button and etc.

I've just tried to drag'n drop a button on it but it doesn't drop there it returns to the previous place

 

Best regards, Ben

[Evan Patton]

Hi Bianca,

What device are you using and which version of Android is it running? The ... button replaces the older menu button that is typically found on devices running Android < 3.0. If we know what device/version you are running we might be able to pinpoint the problem.

Right now the action bar is there to allow users to make their apps look and feel like newer Android apps. We are planning to add components such as navigation/tab bar and bar buttons in a future release as part of iOS build out.

Regards,

Evan

[Moliata]

Evan, he said 5.1 lollipop a few posts ago.

[bianca...@gmail.com]

Thanks Moliata.

I forgot to say the device that is a Hasee x50 ts

[Sandeep Tamhankar]

I have a similar question: the action bar looks great on my Samsung S6, running Android 6.x. The drop-down of the 3 dots menu has a Settings link. How do I configure a settings screen to go to when that is clicked? My hope/plan is that I can have a screen that loads/saves my settings in TinyDB and my main screen loads those settings and allows my app to tweak behavior based on those settings.

It would be awesome/magical, if the answer is, "Just make a screen called Settings". I'll try that while awaiting the answer, but honestly that sounds hoky; I'd much rather see a property of Screen1 called "Settings screen" whose text value is the name of the screen containing settings.

Thanks!

-Sandeep

[Conor]

The "Settings" menu item is only shown on the companion. When you press it before connecting, you will see a screen to change the rendezvous server the companion uses.

[Sandeep Tamhankar]

Not sure I follow. When running my app under the companion, it has to be connected to the AI server first, right? And even if I could change the rendezvous server, what would I point it to and why would that even be necessary? I think I'm missing some architectural knowledge here. My thinking is that the Settings button under the overflow menu (the three dots) in the action bar would lead to a new screen (activity?) that I would define in my project that would load and update the settings (in TinyDb in my case).

Is there any documentation that explains how to use Settings? Also, I just realized that this is the App Inventor Open Source Development room; my question may be more appropriate for the "MIT App Inventor Forum" since I'm trying to create an app with settings, not update existing settings functionality within the App Inventor system itself. Let me know if I'm barking up the wrong tree here.

Thanks!

-Sandeep

[Evan Patton]

Hi Sandeep,

On Sunday, April 8, 2018 at 3:07:48 PM UTC-4, Sandeep Tamhankar wrote:

Not sure I follow. When running my app under the companion, it has to be connected to the AI server first, right? And even if I could change the rendezvous server, what would I point it to and why would that even be necessary? I think I'm missing some architectural knowledge here. My thinking is that the Settings button under the overflow menu (the three dots) in the action bar would lead to a new screen (activity?) that I would define in my project that would load and update the settings (in TinyDb in my case).

When you compile an app, the settings menu item should not appear. As Conor mentioned, it is only presented in the companion so that we can adjust the rendezvous server location. This is typically done when we run a workshop at a location with a weird network setup that prevents connecting to the rendezvous server at MIT, in which case we run a server locally and point clients to it.

 

Is there any documentation that explains how to use Settings? Also, I just realized that this is the App Inventor Open Source Development room; my question may be more appropriate for the "MIT App Inventor Forum" since I'm trying to create an app with settings, not update existing settings functionality within the App Inventor system itself. Let me know if I'm barking up the wrong tree here.

Again, we don't expose the settings feature in any way (yet) to app inventors, but it seems like a logical next step to expose that functionality.

Evan

[Sandeep Tamhankar]

Oh, now I get it. It's currently for internal use. I'd suggest renaming it to make it clear that it's not for the app itself, especially since eventually when you do add support, you may end up with two Settings items in the overflow menu (one from the user defining it in their app, one from the app inventor infrastructure adding it in for Companion-loaded apps). Maybe "Settings-AI" or some such.

Thanks for the clarification.

-Sandeep