Convert a file source from AI (.zip) to AI2 (.aia)

[Androdiante]

anyone knows how to convert a file source from AI (.zip) to AI2 (.aia)?

[Gareth Haylings]

AI 1 projects can't currently be imported  into AI2

[Ralph Morelli]

Hi Gareth,

I think the only difference is the suffix.  I believe the 'aia' suffix is used

to prevent some browsers from unzipping downloaded projects.  

-- ralph

[Gareth Haylings]

Hi Ralph

Currently a project created in AI1 can't be imported into AI2 as the code for converting AI1 projects hasn't been written yet. The only part of a AI1 project you can import to AI2 is the screen designer form, but you would need to do a little bit of work to do this anyway at the moment. The Blocks file structure has totally changed so AI1 projects aren't currently portable to AI2.

[Jos Flores]

Gareth is correct, projects can't be reused in that way between the two versions. You could get the layout to load, but not the blocks.

Cheers,
José

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[Javi Marina]

Are you going to do a converter or not? It´s to know if I should wait to the converter or I should start to rewrite the apps on AI2

El lunes, 12 de agosto de 2013 15:20:43 UTC+2, Jos escribió:

Gareth is correct, projects can't be reused in that way between the two versions. You could get the layout to load, but not the blocks.

Cheers,
José

On 12 Aug 2013 06:26, "Gareth Haylings" <gareth....@googlemail.com> wrote:

Hi Ralph

Currently a project created in AI1 can't be imported into AI2 as the code for converting AI1 projects hasn't been written yet. The only part of a AI1 project you can import to AI2 is the screen designer form, but you would need to do a little bit of work to do this anyway at the moment. The Blocks file structure has totally changed so AI1 projects aren't currently portable to AI2.

On Monday, 12 August 2013 11:14:02 UTC+1, Ralph Morelli wrote:

Hi Gareth,

I think the only difference is the suffix.  I believe the 'aia' suffix is used

to prevent some browsers from unzipping downloaded projects.  

-- ralph

On Sunday, August 11, 2013 1:09:33 PM UTC-4, Gareth Haylings wrote:

AI 1 projects can't currently be imported  into AI2

On Sunday, 11 August 2013 17:21:28 UTC+1, Androdiante wrote:

anyone knows how to convert a file source from AI (.zip) to AI2 (.aia)?

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[Jos Flores]

It's in the list but hasn't been started or even thought about, so we don't know if there are limitations of what we can automatically do.

Cheers,
José

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[Javi Marina]

It would be interesting if Gareth could do the converter, he talked about it some time ago. A converter would help a lot of people because start developing the app again is a very hard work, especially people with large apps

[Gareth Haylings]

This is something I may look at some point in the future but not at the moment as the AI2 code may still change quite a bit which could have an effect on any work I do on this. I think this is not impossible task do, but will be quite challenging and will take a while to get the conversion working correctly. Currently I have a large number of other AI mods I am looking at so won't get round to look at make a conversion tool for sometime sorry. 

[Mattias Kratz]

I do love the new layout of ai2 without external java blockwindow. There is just one major problem. I have an app made in ai1 that have multiple screens and ALOT of blocks and other "coding" in it. I have spent around 500 hours the last year on this app and also integrated into the company i´m working at.

I do now wonder for how long ai1 will be active and functional so i can continue develop my app until hopefully a convert tool is released. Otherwise i have a full time job for 4-5 weeks to copy/re-code my app in the ai2.

Copy/re-code my app is not something i'm look forward to. This might be a make or break moment for me and app inventor.....

Please create/move the "ai1 to ai2 convert tool" to the list just beneath the "make ai2 stable" in your "to do list".

I do love app inventor and what it has done for me...... but another question is, if I have to rewrite my ai1 app in ai2 what will happen when ai3 might come out in the future. Do i have to spend hundreds of hours to rewrite it again.... I am not sure i want to rewrite it in ai2 at all.

I guess there are alot of people with same problem just like me and for us it is crucial that there will be an conversion tool in the future. I understand it will take some time but as long that I know you are working an a conversion tool with high priority I will keep on spending hours and creating new wonders in App Inventor.

[Mark Friedman]

I can't speak for the MIT team but my understanding is that AI1 will stay around for quite awhile after AI2 becomes the official version.  Not to mention that you will always have the option of running your own AI1 for as long as necessary.

My own personal opinion is that it is important for the App Inventor team to be able to innovate between major versions without having a hard constraint of backward-compatibility, as long as earlier versions remain available.  That said, it looks likely that a conversion tool might be doable (possibly by someone outside the MIT team) at some point.  So far, it appears that the core blocks language will remain backwards-compatible but it's less clear about the components.  I could imagine that some of the "Not yet ready for prime time" components might get removed or that some of the existing component APIs will get changed in an incompatible (or difficult to be compatible) way.

-Mark

--

[Mark Adams]

When I started using AI 1.3.1, and the Image property of my ImagePicker component was suddenly causing an error, I found it annoying having to delete the block and recreate it as an ImagePath property. I was only slightly annoyed though. I look forward to refactoring my app in 2.x, taking advantage of local variables. I was originally just using App Inventor to build a proof of concept, but after the concept stage, I sat down and tried to learn the Android SDK. After spending 8 hours just doing the layout of one screen using Android Studio, I've determined that it will be easier for me to continue to use AI.

Additionally, after doing enough research into the Android SDK just to enhance AI, I've also learned that the AI team cares a lot more about backward compatibility than the Android team. You're less likely to have to refactor your code by continuing to use AI than if you were to switch to using the Android SDK directly. IMHO.

-mark a.

[Gareth Haylings]

I could imagine that some of the "Not yet ready for prime time" components might get removed or that some of the existing component APIs will get changed in an incompatible (or difficult to be compatible) way.

A number of the mods and enhancements I am working on could make other components redundant.

• The addition features I am adding to the Imagesprite component makes the Image component redundant 
  
• One of the mods for Button component I'm adding is a checked feature which means the button component could be used as a radio button, checkbox or just a button. This mean all the features of the Checkbox component can be done using the Button Component instead
  
• The sound and player components could be merged
• I am looking to make a panel component which will allow you to switch between horizontal and vertical this would replace the Horizontal and Vertical arrangement components.

[Carter Smith]

Hello

all I did was go and rename the file instead of .zip rename to .aia it works with no loss of work

[scottfromscott]

The Screen may look the same, but did any blocks get copied over?

---

Scott

[Carter Smith]

no

[Jeffrey Schiller]

And if you create new blocks, all will seem fine until you go to build the project (aka create a .apk file) and you will then have problems.

-Jeff

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[scottfromscott]

Your only safe solution is to do this:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/app-inventor-developers-library/BFtMa0BpJq8

---

Scott

[astral...@gmail.com]

i made it. what i did was . after downloading the .aia file. you convert it to .zip file by renaming it. then after i copied the screens i wanted to copy from another screen. i saved the file in the same destination folder (the location of the downloaded .aia file) then yes to replace it. now here's the trick i did. in the destination folder you saved the file. i pressed the CTRL+z then the .zip file was recovered to .aia file. then upload it to the AI. and it was succesful. the screens i copied was there

[scottfromscott]

Great!

Just so others reading this don't confuse your solution with converting an AI Classic zip project to an AI2 aia project - astral's project was originally an ai2 aia archive. The original thread referred to converting AI Classic to AI2 which currently has no solution. (Screens can sort of get copied but not blocks and I understand that the screens will give errors.)

---

Scott

[Rodney McKay]

I visited the old app inventor site and I've got this message:

"The App Inventor team will begin deprecating the App Inventor Classic system sometime this fall. Before that, we will provide a tool that will provide help in translating existing App Inventor projects to App Inventor 2. But if you are starting new projects, you should start them with App Inventor 2." 

Maybe the problem will be solved this fall! 

[Hal Abelson]

see this newer notice:

http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/classic.html

We'll update the message on the AI classic site.

==Hal

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[P West]

The App Inventor Classic website says 'We expect to release this converter in about 2 weeks (i.e., around June 8).' Is there any word on if this has been released? I know the website says around but I thought there might have been a link to the converter somewhere I couldn't find!

Thanks!

[Jos Flores]

As far as I know, it is still not out. You should download any zip
files for projects you want to keep anyway, even if the tool has not
been released yet, as a matter of caution.

cheers,
José

[P West]

Thanks! I have done :D

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Peter West

[Josh @ MIT]

Hi All,

The converter is being worked on feverishly, but still needs some last development and testing before we release it to the "wild"...

One thing to be sure of, when downloading projects from AI1, is that you OPEN them in AI Classic before you download them. Opening them will update the projects to the most recent file type for AI Classic, which is likely necessary for using the converter.

All the best
Josh

On Monday, June 8, 2015 at 1:22:30 PM UTC-4, P West wrote:

Thanks! I have done :D

On Mon, 8 Jun 2015 at 18:16 Jos Flores <josmas...@gmail.com> wrote:

As far as I know, it is still not out. You should download any zip
files for projects you want to keep anyway, even if the tool has not
been released yet, as a matter of caution.

cheers,
José



On 8 June 2015 at 18:13, P West <pkwj...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The App Inventor Classic website says 'We expect to release this converter
> in about 2 weeks (i.e., around June 8).' Is there any word on if this has
> been released? I know the website says around but I thought there might have
> been a link to the converter somewhere I couldn't find!
> Thanks!
>

--

Peter West

[Abraham Getzler]

Is opening the projects in the Designer enough,

or do I have to also open them in the Blocks Editor?

(Java-free)

ABG

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[P West]

Great! Thanks!

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Peter West

[Franklyn A Turbak]

Hi, Abraham --

Ideally, the projects should be opened up in the Blocks Editor as well as the Designer, since some upgrading of the blocks file takes place there. 

But if you don't have Java on your machine, then you can't do that. 

I suspect you may not be the only person in this situation, so the .zip files you provided will be good real-world test cases. 

- lyn -

[Abraham Getzler]

I may have opened one or two of those projects (Sierpinski, Sieve1-4) in the Blocks Editor during a temporary re-install of Java after the recent flurry of impending closure announcements, for the sake of screen shots..  I'll leave Java off in the mean time, for maximal test coverage.

It's no big deal to re-install Java, if needed.

ABG

[P West]

Do you have to download them from somewhere on each projects page or is it okay to press download all projects on the my projects page?

Thanks!

[Josh @ MIT]

As far as I know, it should be fine to download all projects. However, before doing that, for best results with the converter tool, you should open each project, preferable (if possible) also opening the blocks for each project.

[Moi C'EST]

Hello
Where is the the converter tool?

Thanks

[P West]

It doesn't seem to be up yet :(

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Peter West

[Taifun]

there will be an announcement as soon it is available

please be patient meanwhile

Taifun

[Moi C'EST]

Ok 

Thanks

[cleber kct]

Eu também estou pacientemente desesperando aguardando a ferramenta para converter um projeto.

Bem que o MIT poderia estender por mais uns 2 ou 3 meses o final do appinventor classic.

[Taifun]

The conversion tool for converting an App Inventor Classic project to App Inventor 2 is now available. 

Details see here http://explore.appinventor.mit.edu/classic

Taifun

[P West]

Thanks for the converter! I unfortunately had started to move my project over to AI2 and improved the design a lot. Is there any way to copy the code across from my converted project to the one i'd started to make? Thanks! 

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Peter West

[Taifun]

you can convert AI Classic projects using the new converter tool and you can copy complete screens, see here

 How to copy screens by Scott and a video by Hossein

to keep the design of a screen and copy only the blocks is not possible

Taifun

btw. the correct place to ask questions like this is the main forum https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/mitappinventortest