How to access devserver App Inventor from client PCs?

[BrianL]

I often end up teaching in schools or centers where Internet access is
not available or so unreliable that I cannot count on it being
available to use the hosted MIT App Inventor offering. So far, I have
resisted going the route of setting up a 3G/4G hotspot, as this is
costly and also unworkable in many of these situations, as cell phone
reception is often very poor to non-existent.

Because of this, I have a need to run a local copy of App Inventor
server on my quad-core, Intel i7-based laptop running Windows 7
Professional. To that end, I have downloaded the App Engine SDK and
successfully have it running on the laptop, even though I have a
couple problems regarding saving files, uploading .zip archives, etc.,
which are a lower-priority problem than my immediate one, which is
that I would like to be able to access the App Inventor server
(running on the laptop) from my collection of XP Professional
laptops.

When I start the App Inventor server on the laptop, it is configured
to run on port 8888, which, on the same laptop, I can access from via
the URL: http://localhost:8888. However, I have been unable to find
the correct syntax to access the App Inventor server from any of the
laptops. The laptop server’s name is Instructor2-PC, and I can
successfully connect to an internal intranet I have set up on the
laptop by simply typing http://Instructor2-PC/learntodiscover from any
of the XP laptops, which brings up the correct page. Perhaps naively,
I thought I could use syntax like: http://Instructor2-PC:8888 to
access the server from the student laptops, but it always times out. I
have poked a hole in the Windows Firewall on the instructor laptop for
port 8888, thinking this might help, but I still cannot connect. I
have also tried many variations of configuring IIS to no avail. Before
I pull even more of my hair out, I want to make sure that what I am
trying to do is even possible. Is it? If not, I may have to abandon my
efforts to teach App Inventor, which would be one of the worst things
I can imagine. Might I have to run a local copy of App Engine on EVERY
ONE of the XP laptops? Ugh.

If you could provide even a little bit of guidance, I would be
extremely grateful. I highly respect all of you and your time. Thanks
in advance for any guidance you can give me!

[Mark Friedman]

Brian,

  Try adding a '--address=0.0.0.0' command line argument to your invocation of dev_appserver.sh, i.e. something like:

dev_appserver.sh --port=8888 --address=0.0.0.0 war-directory

  where dev_appserver.sh is in the App Engine SDK's bin directory and 'war-directory' is the location of the unpacked war directory from MIT jar file.

  The major caveat of this approach is that it doesn't really scale beyond a small number of users.

 Also, note that if you upgrade to the lates (i.e. 1.6.3) version of the App Engine SDK you should get more reliable project and file saving in conjunction with App Inventor.

-Mark

[Gary Frederick]

On Tuesday, March 20, 2012 4:05:34 PM UTC-5, BrianL wrote:

I often end up teaching in schools or centers where Internet access is
not available or so unreliable that I cannot count on it being
available to use the hosted MIT App Inventor offering. So far, I have
resisted going the route of setting up a 3G/4G hotspot, as this is
costly and also unworkable in many of these situations, as cell phone
reception is often very poor to non-existent.

Because of this, I have a need to run a local copy of App Inventor
server on my quad-core, Intel i7-based laptop running Windows 7

What are you doing for a buildserver?

The folks running a Personal server that runs both the App Engine dev server and the buildserver

on Windows are very pleased.

Then again you said below

Running a copy on the laptops is easy, you can even run on a usb if you do

not want to copy the files to each PC.

That is the setup we are working on for our schools. Personal servers on the students

PC and a Public or Private server in the cloud where the cloud makes sense.

I have put work on configurations for schools on hold while I wait for MIT to 

update the source. I am currently seriously fragmented, because MIT has not

updated the source. I can test your setup with the old horribly fragmented version

I am forced to use while waiting for MIT.

I think Mark's input is good, I will test and 

follow up in this group user supported getting set up and connecting with App Inventor - Google Groups

Gary

[Taifun]

Gary, the source (Version 101)  is available: http://appinventoredu.mit.edu/download-jar-files

or are you waiting for something else?

Taifun

[Mark Friedman]

And the source code itself is available at the App Inventor Releases code site and repository.

-Mark

[Gary Frederick]

I was waiting for the source...

see my follow up to Mark's response

[Gary Frederick]

Woo Hoo.

I missed the announcement!

off to update!!!

On Wednesday, March 21, 2012 9:23:20 AM UTC-5, Mark Friedman wrote:

And the source code itself is available at the App Inventor Releases code site and repository.

-Mark

Gary 

[Gary Frederick]

and another woo hoo

I'll add my mods to run the buildserver on windows to my local repository

I was getting depressed as all the new cool stuff was being added

Gary

[Gary Frederick]

I have my changes in to run the buildserver on Windows.

It mostly works ;-)

It's getting an interesting new error trying to run the jarsigner. I am stepping away for a bit (I'm starting to flail) and then look at the code that was added since v61

woo hoo

then I will test your configuration Bryan.

Gary

jsoft on G+

[Gary Frederick]

Flail => it seems you have to actually put the aapt.exe where you said you put it... duuh

I copied the jar files to a usb stick, plugged the stick into another Windows PC and was up and running by clicking the scripts for the servers.

and a build of a large project that did not load in the old days was fast - 4 times faster than a server in the cloud

-----

We are working on alternate configurations for those that the out of the box configurations do not fit. Like what I understand you want Bryan. 

I put warnings on the App Inventor about issues and the documentation gives more details.

But it works and works quite well for those that want those configurations.

I have not tested your configuration Bryan, the pc that has the port open is visible on the internet. The other has both servers on a usb drive. I have not tested the App Inventor server talking to a buildserver with both on a local network. soon(ish)

Gary