AdMob in App Inventor

[Gary]

I plan on adding AdMob to App Inventor. I am currently thinking of adding a new type, like a label but it is where the AdMob ad goes.

That requires the AdMob component, the AdMob library, and changes to the AndroidManifest.xml. It should not be hard,

  should...

I currently am adding App Inventor source to Android projects. That makes it easy to set up a start page in Android that includes AdMob. Easy :-)

I am also looking at getting the holo theme and menus that work with App Inventor. Then we are a step closer to building the new shiny apps that we can with Android.

Woo Hoo

Gary

[Joe Harder]

Greetings Gary! I must say Thank you first for all your work with AI4A. As Admob is the preferred source for advertising i can appreciate you (the master) tackling this issue. I was checking out some other pay sites that offer no code compiling of apps to see how they are doing it, and i'm thinking that it could be done with a script where the user enters in their publisher code variable and the script re compiles the manifest with the added permissions, as well as the necessary jars from admob sdk. I have tried Implementing this myself, but the re-compiled .apk always has serious resolution errors. Best of luck with this cause! thanks again.

Joe

[Gary]

On Sunday, December 30, 2012 9:15:25 PM UTC-6, Joe Harder wrote:

Greetings Gary! I must say Thank you first for all your work with AI4A.

:-) :-) :-)

 

As Admob is the preferred source for advertising i can appreciate you (the master) tackling this issue.

I picked AdMob because it is the preferred source. Others should be 'easy' once I have it working for AdMob.

 

I was checking out some other pay sites that offer no code compiling of apps to see how they are doing it, and i'm thinking that it could be done with a script where the user enters in their publisher code variable and the script re compiles the manifest with the added permissions, as well as the necessary jars from admob sdk. I have tried Implementing this myself, but the re-compiled .apk always has serious resolution errors. Best of luck with this cause! thanks again.

Good plan.

You have to do a bit more than modify the manifest and add the jars. You can do it in code or!!! with XML files.

Like any View, an AdView may be created either purely in code or largely in XML.

https://developers.google.com/mobile-ads-sdk/docs/admob/fundamentals

The XML route should... be easy. The problem is repacking the App Inventor app does not give you a way to edit the res/layout/main.xml

If App Inventor used XML files for the layout, we could edit it to add AdMob and pack it up again. Changing App Inventor to do that would not be HARD, but it would be a lot of work.

Gary

[Isaias Rosario]

Really excited for this to happen :) I have been using app inventor for a few years on and off but when these new updates become available I will definitely be on it more!

[nua...@gmail.com]

Hi all, any news regarding AdMob implementation within AppInventor?
Best regards.

[Gary]

Not really. I did a bit, but nothing worth reporting at this time.

[MURAT SAYIN]

Approximately when can you manage implementation admob ?

25 Ocak 2013 Cuma 02:42:41 UTC+2 tarihinde Gary yazdı:

[Gary]

On Monday, January 28, 2013 10:49:14 AM UTC-6, MURAT SAYIN wrote:

Approximately when can you manage implementation admob ?

I will follow up on AdMob after getting some other things done, both in the server and on other projects.

How soon depends on how interested folks are in it.

How you show you are interested is getting one or more of the AI4A Server from our store

  https://sites.google.com/a/jsoft.com/appinventor/home/store

The more you get, the easier it is for us to know folks are interested.

If you get 1, we know someone is interested in the server.

If you get 30, we know you are very interested.

If you get 100,000 we start working as soon as we get back from the bank.

We have had around 2 folks interested in the last month.

sooo

It may take a while.

Gary

 

[Aunt Jane]

Gary,

    I hope you follow up on this. I have published a few apps using App Inventor. It would be nice, considering all the time I have spent learning App Inventor and the expenses involved (like buying a smart phone and paying for it monthly), if I had a hope of a useful app I might publish being able to return a modest return to me.  I have studied Android development quite a bit on my own, but I have been unable to master it enough to complete real publishable apps. For people like me who really only understand App Inventor, an automated way to insert ads into our apps would be a huge improvement. Please keep us posted on any progress you make in that direction. 

Thanks for all your work,

Aunt Jane

[Gary]

Howdy Aunt Jane

I was excited when I first reallized we can put AdMob and other things into App Inventor.

Then I dug deeper. :-)

I am working on tools that let you develop in App Inventor. Then you can take your source and build an app with the Android tools. You can add AdMob

  sorta...

The App Inventor code is inside the Android code. It uses a starting 'Screen0', an android activity that can start the App Inventor Screen1 activity. You can go directly to App Inventor or you can put AdMob on Screen0. It is easy to get AdMob in and it would not be hard to put an opening screen with instructions there also.

I was hoping we could put AdMob into Screen0 with a bit of work. The first thing I was hoping for was to use the Android xml resources. But App Inventor implements that part of Android with code. There are good reasons why, but those good reasons do not help us.

I can probably add a component that is like the Label component for AdMob. That would be more along what folks that know App Inventor but no Android are expecting. That one would take time to do

  and result in the ai4a server starting to differ from the MIT version.

sigh

I'll let everyone know if (when?) I come up with more news.

Gary

[Juan Enrique Gomez]

Hola

¿Cuando podremos incluir Admob en Appinvenor? Seria muy importante para el futuro del sistema Appinventor?

Un saludo

El jueves, 27 de diciembre de 2012 14:30:32 UTC +1, Gary escribio:

Estoy pensando en añadir AdMob para App Inventor. Actualmente estoy pensando en añadir un nuevo tipo, como una etiqueta, pero es donde la publicidad AdMob va.

Eso requiere el componente de AdMob, la biblioteca de AdMob, y cambios en el AndroidManifest.xml. No debería ser difícil,

  debe ...

Yo actualmente estoy añadiendo fuente App Inventor para Android proyectos. Eso hace que sea fácil de configurar una página de inicio en Android que incluye AdMob. Fácil :-)

También estoy buscando en conseguir el tema holo y menús que trabajan con App Inventor. Entonces estamos un paso más cerca de la construcción de las nuevas aplicaciones brillantes que podemos con Android.

Woo Hoo

Gary

[Gary]

I agree. Doing it the way I think it should be done has some technical issues. 

You may want to see what Jose did https://plus.google.com/u/0/113276726471257296438/posts/ZJALAV5verT

I have not had time to look into it.

[MURAT SAYIN]

Gary some people managed to adding admob ads to appinventor https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_progetto2003.SCAN this application made with appinventor but includes admob ads and when menu button is pressed stop this application selection is not shown then they also managed to changing menu options 

20 Şubat 2013 Çarşamba 15:06:24 UTC+2 tarihinde Gary yazdı:

[Gary]

Interesting, thank for the pointer.

I am not working on this, I am focusing on other things for now.

But it is good to know someone got AdMob into App Inventor.

[Jose Mª Martin]

Well sorry to say that this app is not made with AppInventor.
And it's not an assumption, it is a statement.

[Sebastiano T.]

I know the publisher of this app, originally he made it with AI, then he switched to Eclipse and Android sdk because of the AdMob sdk implementation,

so this app definetely is not a good example ;)

ps: i've just made a donation for Gary servers hoping he will continue development on AdMob and App Inventor plus other nice things :)

[Gary]

Thanks for the donation. The more I get, the easier it is to convince Jefferson Software (my company) that we should spent time with App Inventor.

and I wondered about the app. The tabs looked Android.

I am working on licensing for App Inventor when I am doing some ai4a stuff. It works but it works with tools that I use that I will not release. I am looking at ways to get what I do to the point I feel others would want to use it. It's a variation of what I did to build an app that has AdMob and App Inventor.

One concern is if the ai4a servers support AdMob, they will not be source compatible with MIT. What should we do about that?

Another concern is if the ai4a servers have AdMob, people have to use AdMob according to their TOS. It would be sad... if someone built an app and got cross wise with the AdMob TOS.

[Gary]

And while we are on the subject ;-)

I am working on tools that let you use App Inventor source in Android. It is very nice using Eclipse to develop (once you get it set up ;-)) and if you are using the tools, then AdMob is easy. BUT you put the AdMob into an Android view, not an App Inventor screen.

That opens our apps to using the nifty new stuff in Android, menus, fragments, Holo theme and all the rest of the things that got added to Android after App Inventor started.

It's an interesting situation. How do I provide the shiny new stuff and still work with App Inventor???

[Lennart Bogaerts]

Hee Gary,

Admob was not that interesting to me, but the Holo theme was! Does this also mean that we're going to get the new checkboxes and buttons?

Coming back to the theme part, I tried to add an custom theme to my appliacation but it's really not possible, wouldn't it be an nice extra option?

[Gary]

I agree with you. I am more interested in Holo and menus and other new stuff

well, until I start making money with AdMob :-)

Say more about what you would like to have.

[Lennart Bogaerts]

After we can insert custom themes I would like each listpicker to have his own activity so we can use different themes on them, this would mean that we can use it as an drop(scroll) down menu too.

Another thing would be html textboxes:) And better javascript integration would be nice too, this way App Inventor users who are more advanced can easliy go over to Eclipse after messing a little bit around with it.

[Gary]

Have you looked at the listpicker in asUtil?

It may be a step in the direction you are suggesting.

I think custom themes would be hard.

sigh

html textboxes, better Javascript integration

I want to get App Inventor working better with HTML5. The stuff Taifun and others are doing are great. I want more!!!

[Lennart Bogaerts]

Yes I did, but the last thing I want is my users to download another app so mine does work... If we are talking about the same?

Why would custom themes be hard? In AppToMarket there is already an custom theme implemented. When selecting the dialog picker type you can see it was made custom by Mr. Hossein. I tried to edit that file, before creating the new apk since it was added in the temp. map after updating the manifest, but it didn't work. Even changing the color to another would end up in an error when you try to create the new apk...

Yes I've seen it too!

[Gary]

On Thursday, March 7, 2013 2:56:00 PM UTC-6, Lennart Bogaerts wrote:

Yes I did, but the last thing I want is my users to download another app so mine does work... If we are talking about the same?

Kinda

I can combine Android with App Inventor. It is very easy to use, you develop and test with asUtil and then when you are ready to distribute, you can combine the two. Having it another app makes it easy to modify and test.

The only thing I have not solved is how to get the tools out there for all to use. It is not a great idea to require me doing the final step :-P

 

Why would custom themes be hard? In AppToMarket there is already an custom theme implemented. When selecting the dialog picker type you can see it

Perhaps I need to look more.

Have you used the manifest code in ai4a? If you come up with an example that uses Holo or Hossein's custom theme I will look again.

[Lennart Bogaerts]

I can combine Android with App Inventor. It is very easy to use, you develop and test with asUtil and then when you are ready to distribute, you can combine the two. Having it another app makes it easy to modify and test.

The only thing I have not solved is how to get the tools out there for all to use. It is not a great idea to require me doing the final step :-P

Wouldn't it be better when we could add javascript directly into AI, so we could create helpfull stuff and other people could use it? 

Have you used the manifest code in ai4a? If you come up with an example that uses Holo or Hossein's custom theme I will look again.

Can you point me in the right direction? I would be able to create an example! 

[Gary]

manifest info https://groups.google.com/d/topic/ai4a/nRnYudHZt18/discussion

[Lennart Bogaerts]

I don't have an personal server to work on, I don't really have the time for it... :(

But look at one of my tutorials on changing the theme:

http://www.douno.nl/AppInventor/snippets.php?title=customtheme

When you " android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo.Light" " it will change the screen into that theme. That works great!

I've used eclipse and I know these themes are in an .xml file in a seperate folder of the application.

When you open the Manifest with AppToMarket you search for the listpicker (when the picker was set to "dialog"), you will find this: " android:theme="@android:style/amerkashi" ". That and the looks would suggest it is an custom theme of Hosein. When you are in the AppToMarket folder go to temp_MyDecompiles, than go to res, than values and you will find an xml file named amerkashi.

I've already been going to all the files of AppToMarket to search where else it is defined, so maybe adjusting that would make custom themes avaible. But I couldn't find it. One thing is for sure, it's possible! Don't you think?

[Gary]

On Thursday, March 7, 2013 4:33:34 PM UTC-6, Lennart Bogaerts wrote:

I don't have an personal server to work on, I don't really have the time for it... :(

The Personal Server takes a few minutes to download from Sourceforge 

get V1.4.6.zip http://sourceforge.net/projects/ai4a-configs/files/V1.4.6/

around 24 seconds to unzip

and you have a Personal Server to work on!!!

well

assuming you have a Java JDK installed (if you have Eclipse, you probably do)

and set up JAVA_HOME correctly - there is a pointer to Oracle's documentation on how  in the buildserver cmd file

 

But look at one of my tutorials on changing the theme:

http://www.douno.nl/AppInventor/snippets.php?title=customtheme

App Inventor generates a manifest that usually has three activities. The listpicker is one of the three, that is why you can set a theme on it.

 

When you " android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo.Light" " it will change the screen into that theme. That works great!

I've used eclipse and I know these themes are in an .xml file in a seperate folder of the application.

That's why I think it would be hard. App Inventor does not use the .xml files. If it did, we could do a lot more, including changing the themes.

more below

 

When you open the Manifest with AppToMarket you search for the listpicker (when the picker was set to "dialog"), you will find this: " android:theme="@android:style/amerkashi" ". That and the looks would suggest it is an custom theme of Hosein. When you are in the AppToMarket folder go to temp_MyDecompiles, than go to res, than values and you will find an xml file named amerkashi.

I've already been going to all the files of AppToMarket to search where else it is defined, so maybe adjusting that would make custom themes avaible. But I couldn't find it. One thing is for sure, it's possible! Don't you think?

It's possible. I am very interested in talking more. However...

There is a lot of info about themes and styles with Android. For example, this page http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/themes.html

it would be nice if we could use res/values*

and...

If App Inventor used the xml files to layout views, we could do things like add AdMob with a few easy steps.

As the Android documentation says, you can declare a layout in two ways, declare UI elements in XML or instantiate layout elements at runtime.

http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/declaring-layout.html

App Inventor instantiates layout elements at runtime. There are good reasons for doing so, but it cuts down on what we can do.

Modifying App Inventor to make more use of the .xml files would give us great power, but with great power comes great responsibility and we know how that usually ends up ;-)

[Lennart Bogaerts]

The problem is that the next two weeks I don't have time to work on it! And when I download it now, I know I will work on it. But I can probably have time next week after wednesday.

I've already been trough the whole android developers site, it's very interesting. I'm now working on an java appliaction for my website. This application would talk people trough building an application. You would start with thinking about what you app needs, then you can make an screen to screen diagram (this lets people think about the logic in there application) after that is the screen layout. I think this would get the applications to an higher level. Have you seen some in the Comunity Gallery?

I'm still looking for some one to help with the website...

Yes probably enabling all of those stuff would end up in people creating worse applications, witch Google Play is already pritty full off.

[Gary]

:-)

So many interesting projects, 24 hours in the day.

I am as concerned about all the people that start making changes and then need help. It will end up frustrating them and then App Inventor will get a bad reputation :-)

[Lennart Bogaerts]

Where we've come right now is an good solution. People should stay on the real appinventor site, when a few others will not so we can get new stuff faster into the real version.

But indeed we would want to have an select group of knowleged people who would create new or improve existing components.

[Gary]

Lennart (and anyone else interested in helping)

If you comment in this conversation https://groups.google.com/d/topic/ai4a/nRnYudHZt18/discussion

about the stuff you got from Hossein's mods to the manifest, we are closer to getting them into App Inventor

[蔡華宇]

hi, anything new about this topic ?

I googled.... It seems only one way to make admob into App Inventor 2 is using AiLive2Complete and need to pay USD$70 at first... ?

hope there is another way to do it and not too complex ^^"

[Bosko Ristovic]

Hi i know im a bit late but i was wondering is implementing adMob ads in AppInventor2 still a possibility? I heard about the AiLiveComplete but I just cant afford it. Or are there clever ways to transform the AI code into Eclipse code and the implement the ads that way? 

On Thursday, December 27, 2012 at 2:30:32 PM UTC+1, Gary wrote:

I plan on adding AdMob to App Inventor. I am currently thinking of adding a new type, like a label but it is where the AdMob ad goes.

That requires the AdMob component, the AdMob library, and changes to the AndroidManifest.xml. It should not be hard,

  should...

I currently am adding App Inventor source to Android projects. That makes it easy to set up a start page in Android that includes AdMob. Easy :-)

I am also looking at getting the holo theme and menus that work with App Inventor. Then we are a step closer to building the new shiny apps that we can with Android.

Woo Hoo

Gary

[zeeshan zafar]

[Dhruv Shetty]

Is There any new update on how to do this?? has all changes to appinventor died??

[Taifun]

this is an old project from 2012/2013 and Gary meanwhile disappeared

for AdMob you can try the paid version of AppyBuilder, see also the overview https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ai4a/ajG4Q6UrRR8

see also https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/mitappinventortest/admob%7Csort:relevance

Taifun