Unable to update companion app on emulator. Unable to load apps into emulator.

[RIG]

After the recent update to App Inventor (ai2.appinventor.mit.eud) I am unable to load my apps in the emulator.

I have issued a Hard reset for the emulator

Then  Connect -> Emulator.

Message box appears saying emulator has started.

Emulator reports “Waiting to get blocks”

AI then reports “Your Companion App is out of data. Click “OK” to start the update.

I click OK

 Message box reports that it is downloading the update. This closes almost instantly being replaced by an error message

 “Software Update” saying “unable to load updates from App Inventor server” with a single button “Got It”.

I click “Got it”, the update process them quits with no further information supplied.

The emulator is left behind, reporting “MIT App Inventor 2 – Running in the emulating, waiting to get blocks…” Version 2.11ai2.

How do I update the emulator to allow me to run the apps in the emulator? I really need to get this fixed now. I have a class of students who are completing examination work and cannot proceed until this problem is resolved.

Any help greatly appreciated

Thanks

RIG

 

 

[Enis]

Hi RIG...

Sounds to me like the school network is blocking access to that file when AI tries to download it.  Perhaps the firewall is stopping it?  A Hard Reset always resets back to 2.11... the current Companion is 2.24...

I can email you the companion file, but you'd have to install it via the adb and I can't find those instructions right now... Let me take a quick look and I'll be back in a few...

[Enis]

RIG... I'll email you the companion.  Then follow below...

1. Copy it from your download folder to the "Program Files <x86>\AppInventor\commands-for-appinventor\" folder.
2. open up a Command prompt window.
3. go to Program Files <x86>\AppInventor\commands-for-appinventor\
4. type adb -e install -r MITAI2Companion.apk
5. Now, it should be installed on your emulator.

[Enis]

Sent...

[RIG]

Enis 

Thanks for getting back to me so rapidly. I have applied the update now the emulator and apps seem to work fine. 

Thanks very much for your help.

[Enis]

Glad you got it working... make sure you save the instructions, and you can always download the Companion separately and then use that file with the same steps...

[Jag]

Enis,

I'm also having the same problem with updating emulator at our school.

I've followed the above instructions and when I finish entering the above dos commands I get a message saying:

error:device not found

waiting for device

Pls can you help

[Enis]

Are you switching to the appropriate folder before issuing the adb command?

[Rbrads]

Hi

I'm also having the same problem, both at school and on my own laptop. The emulator says it needs to update, it updates and says that it is using version 2.24 but then says it's waiting for blocks and nothing happens.

[Rishworth School]

Is the update available for download from anywhere in the appinventor sites? We are having the same issue.

[SteveJG]

@ Rishworth School     You should be able to update Companion to 2.24 on individual computers by   doing a  Connect > Hard Reset  and following the instructions in the pop up.  That does not work for you?  If you are behind a firewall, that may be impeding the update.  Do you use Deep Freeze on your school network?

@ Rbrads     Same instructions to try; however in your case you may have a different issue.   If you use Companion, try Firefox; If you use Firefox, try Companion and see what happens. If you have coding issues on your Project, you could get this response.    Try loading a simple new project  .... in the Designer, place a Button on the screen.  Do nothing else.   Now  Connect > Emulator  .   What happens, if that loads, then the issue is in your Project code.

Regards,

Steve

[Enis]

Hi...

You can always download the current Companion from the App Inventor user interface by going to the Help menu, and then Companion information at the bottom of that menu.  When the dialog box pops up, the link is there...

[Rishworth School]

Thanks for the info, the update will come through our firewall, however I am the sole technician and need to update 150 machines, an executable would make the process a lot quicker and easier, especially considering that the updates are fairly frequent.

[SteveJG]

@ Rishworth School 

The following  is part of a new document being developed to aid in setting up a school network. The document is a work in progress.  The procedures there should help you install all 150 machines in one go and should help you now. IT departments probably understand what all this means, but not everyone is an expert, if in doubt ask more, we will try to get you additional advice.

When you get up and running, please do let us know; if still issues post here again.

Regards,

Steve

The Emulator - Silent Install

The new Installer works in silent mode.  Here are the flags to use:

At the command prompt type the following.

/S - for silent mode (default will be all users) and will need admin permissions.

/user=all or /user=current (again you will need admin permissions for all users)

/update - update installation.

/skiplicense - skip license

>MIT_App_Inventor_Tools_2.3.0_win_setup [/S] [/user=all or /user=current]

or

>sudo MIT_App_Inventor_Tools_2.3.0_win_setup [/S] [/user=all or /user=current]

if you need admin permissions.

Companion - Needs to be update every time a significant App Inventor 2  version is updated by MIT.

The emulator is the standard Google Android emulator.  The emulator literally emulates an Android phone. Just as phones have memory where the operating system and applications are stored, so does the emulator. In the case of the emulator the storage lives in a file. This file is copied and maintained for each user. You find this User specific file in:

 [Windows7] /Users/<username>/.appinventor/emulator/Appinventor-emulator-data

The first time a User accesses the emulator the file does not exist. The file is copied from:

 /Program Files/AppInventor/commands-for-Appinventor/extras/Appinventor-emulator-data

The "template" copy is created when you install the emulator setup tools. The setup tools contains an *old* Companion and Companion must also be updated. The first time a user uses the Emulator for App Inventor not only is the Appinventor-emulator-data copied, but the user is then prompted to upgrade the Companion in the emulator. The updated Companion is then stored in the copy of Appinventor-emulator-data in the User’s directory.

Some school networks us an application called Deep Freeze to limit access to their PCs.  If you use Deep Freeze, it probably removes the User's personalized copy of Appinventor-emulator-data.  This results in a fresh copy being brought in the next time the User logs in (say on the next day).  This means each User  has to updateupdadte the Companion again.

Administrators can get around this. Using some account, login, use the emulator, go through the Companion update process and THEN COPY Appinventor-emulator-data FROM THE USER'S DIRECTORY back to the version in /Program Files.  Make the copy before Deep Freeze makes its "official" frozen copy. In this fashion when a student logs in and a fresh copy of Appinventor-emulator-data is copied from "Program Files" to their directory, they student/User will get the copy that contains the up-to-date Companion.

To get this to work you may need to follow the above directions with one small adjustment.  If you run a Deep Freeze type program,  the program erases any changes to the computers when they restart and updating  can be a tricky.  One school found through extensive testing that the Appinventor-emulator-data has to be copied (after updating) from the user profile back to the .appinventor/emulator folder in the root of the C: drive, not the Program Files folder.

You have to update User profiles each time we release a new Companion.  New releases tend to happen only every few weeks (or sometimes after a month or so).

[Rishworth School]

Thank you for this information, I have also found that the appinventor-emulator-data has to be updated in the c.appinventor folder in the root of the C: drive. Although I am disappointed that a large amount of time and extensive testing has been required to resolve this problem. I hope that google will soon have a standard install for this software as it does appear to be growing in popularity throughout the education sector.

[Enis]

Google has nothing to do with App Inventor anymore... Everything is done by MIT and contributors.  However, these issues only happen when there are protections on school networks... things that don't allow stuff to be installed on lab computers like Deep Freeze...