App Possible in App Inventor?

[Sascha Simkanich]

Hi, 

One of my students has an idea for an app, but I want to know if it is possible to do in app inventor.  She wants to create a phone/ smart phone monitoring app that can manage phone use of teens.  Is it possible to have program in App Inventor to sett the phone that  when someone sends 30 text messages that the app will then block the use of texting?  Also, is there a way that the app can start up on its own and set time limits for use?  It will then send warnings as time is expiring and then the phone will lock once the time has expired.  Are these possible using App Inventor 2?  If so, how can I guide my student in which strategies, programming blocks, etc...  I just want to make sure that it is possible before they work on an app that won't work.  

Thank you for your help and support!

Sincerely,

Sascha Simkanich

[SteveJG]

Sorry Sascha, most of what your student wants to do is not possible with App Inventor.  Partially because AI2 apps cannot run in the background (AI2 is single threaded, not multithreaded).

What the Social components can do is here http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/reference/components/social.html   ; among these documented capabilities is a description of what can be done with the phone using AI2.    AI2 cannot provide code that will block the use of texting.  The app cannot start up on its own, AI cannot run in the background.  The phone cannot be locked using AI2. AI2 cannot send notifications (although the capability might soon be there...one of our members is developing a notifications Extension; however extensions are in experimental mode and not available on the main MIT server.

You student will want to find out what AI2 is capable of developing...and to have fun with App Inventor so here are some resources to help you learn to use the AI2 tools  A very good way to learn App Inventor is to read the free Inventor's Manual here in the AI2 free online eBook   http://www.appinventor.org/book2 ... the links are at the bottom of the Web page.  The book 'teaches' users how to program with AI2 blocks.  The book also provides many examples of the type of apps that can be developed with AI2.   Your student might also visit the MIT Gallery (the link is on the browser Menu) to see some of the apps other AI2 developers have shared with the community.

There is a free programming course here http://www.appinventor.org/content/CourseInABox/Intro  and the aia files for the projects in the book are here:  http://www.appinventor.org/bookFiles  

How to do a lot of basic things with App Inventor are described here:  http://www.appinventor.org/content/howDoYou/eventHandling  .

The MIT tutorials are here:  http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/ai2/tutorials.html

Another free course is here:  course for Teachers in the link: http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/teaching-app-creation.html