App crashes on click of menu (three vertical dots) button

[Manish Jaiswal]

Hi,

My app crashes when I click on the Settings/Menu Button which appears as three dots vertically at the right bottom of the screen. These dots do not appear on the design in App Inventor screen but only when I install it on my mobile.

I am not sure how did it appear or how to make it hidden.

Any help is appreciated.

Manish

[Chris Ward]

Hello Manish

That is the "ActionBar", which was introduced in version nb165 as part of the new Themes options. I think you probably have the "Classic" Theme selected (Screen1 Properties Pallet)? If so, either select a different Theme or uncheck (un-tick) the ActionBar option.

[Manish Jaiswal]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the reply. Action Bar was already off for me.

I also checked after changing the theme and the app did not even open after changing the theme. It crashed as soon as it opened up.

Any other pointers?

[Chris Ward]

Hi Manish

Can we see your Project File? Or at least an image of the relevant blocks, all those related to when Screen1.Initialize

How to Post: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/mitappinventortest/LVrxusdHgVU/_pSLkuzCEQAJ

[Manish Jaiswal]

Sure Chris. There is not much I am doing inside Screen Init.

Could it be anything related to my handset? Mine is Nexus 5 running Android 5.1.

[Chris Ward]

Hi Manish

It is not your device, I think it has to be something to do with the Themes. We are testing the next release tonight, if you can post your project file here, I can test it.

[Manish Jaiswal]

Hi Chris

Ok, I will send the file to your email id from which I received the reply: c*****a*d**2...@gmail.com. Is that fine?

[Chris Ward]

That's fine Manish :)

[Manish Jaiswal]

Sent. 

[Abraham Getzler]

Here's the test announcement, if you want to test directly ...

We are testing the next release on ai2-test.appinventor.mit.edu. This is a bug fixing release that addresses the following issues:

* ActionBar presence is now tied to the theme. Classic will provide the old title bar and new themes will use the ActionBar.

* Updated CompanionUpgradeHelper to fix a crash when upgrading the emulator.

* Added a check for Mac OS X 10.13 High Sierra warning about incompatibility with the emulator.

* Fixed a crash when tapping on the ActionBar menu button.

* Fixed an issue where the titlebar would not hide in the Classic theme.

* Fixed an issue where themes on some versions of Android were not styled correctly.

* Fixed issue where Markers with percent width/height would prevent project loading.

* Fixed an issue where a trailing comma in the permissions list of an extension would result in a compiled app that would be rejected by Google Play Store.

There will not be a new companion with this release. Please help us test. We would like to release this version tonight as it addresses some critical issues that users have encountered since the Dec 27th update.

ABG 

[Manish Jaiswal]

Hi,

I imported my project file in the test portal and it did not even build there so could not really test on handset.

[Abraham Getzler]

(assigned to Evan at MIT)

ABG

[Evan Patton]

Hi Manish,

Can you email me your AIA file so that I can test it?

Thanks,

Evan

[Chris Ward]

It looks as though the logic within a timer might be the cause - it is certainly not ideal.

[Manish Jaiswal]

Hi Chris,

I have 3 timers in there. Could you please point out the one causing the problem?

[Manish Jaiswal]

Sure Evan, sent you be email.

[Chris Ward]

Hi Manish

Well, I think you have a number of long 'If'' blocks that should be all Math no Strings (initialise 'empty' boxes to zero).

However, that is not causing the app to fail! Also, I do not see the three dots with  the Theme Classic selected and ActionBar not selected, as per your settings, which should be perfect and indeed under test on my device [Android 4.4.4) is perfect.

Try this, works on my device (btw, your GUI design is very nice):

1) Screen1 Designer Palette

a) Select Sizing Responsive

b) Select Screen Orientation Portrait

2) Delete Screen2 for now, it isn't doing anything and might cause your build issue.

3) To my surprise, your app icon (app launch icon) is actually too small (32 x 32pix). It should never be too big, but a minimum of 48 x 48.

http://iconhandbook.co.uk/reference/chart/android

https://material.io/guidelines/style/icons.html

[Riccardo Risi]

I've the some problem on three dots that crash my app.

[Manish Jaiswal]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried all of them but still I am getting the three dots at the bottom right clicking on which crashes the app on my handset. :(

[Chris Ward]

Hi Manish

Can you take a screenshot (the whole screen) and post it here. Also, what is the exact name of your device, exact Android version?

https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/google-android/android-screenshot-3623449

[Chris Ward]

Hi Riccardo

Are the three dots in the bottom right of your screen?

[Manish Jaiswal]

Hi Chris,

It's Nexus 5 running Anriod 5.1.1. 

Here are the screenshots:

On clicking the three dots at the bottom right, here's what happens:

[Chris Ward]

I see, and that is on the Screen of the device, not on the body - I have checked other screenshots of the device, there are a number of options at the bottom of the screen. So, it's an ActionBar, a special one, provided by the OS - an LG/Google thing.

It would seem that this means App Inventor apps are incompatible with the device, which is incredible really because Google are behind App Inventor and Nexus - it should be a marriage made in heaven so to speak.

What to do next may depend on your intentions for the app. If it's just for your own use, don't touch the 3 dots! If you are going to make it available to the general public, it might be that modifying the Manifest value android:targetSdkVersion could fix the problem - a tricky area because the higher the SDK version, the higher the Android Version. However, if absolutely necessary you could release 2 versions of the app - one for Android Lollipop (and up), one for the rest of the world (App Inventor default). There might even be an in-between Sdk version that would serve the overall majority - I know people are setting the value to 14 (= Ice Cream Sandwich) to enable the WebViewer to work with online video (e.g. YouTube).

Let's wait to see what Evan thinks.

[Manish Jaiswal]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for looking into it. I will wait for Evan's response on this.