App Inventor is a free, cloud-based service that allows you to make your own mobile apps using a blocks-based programming language. You access App Inventor using a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari). With these beginner-friendly tutorials, you will learn the basics of programming apps for Android and iOS phones or tablets.
We have four tutorials to try out for the Hour of Code. We recommend starting with Hello Codi!, but any of the four tutorials are accessible for novice coders. They can all be completed within an hour timeframe.
You just made some pretty cool apps! But now the real fun begins: try turning TalkToMe into a Magic 8 Ball; turn BallBounce into a Mini Golf game, take DigitalDoodle to the next level by adding colors and incorporating pictures as backgrounds in PaintPot. The possibilities are endless!
Hello,
I discovered AI2 a few days ago, I followed the first tutorials, and I still have some to follow
I am not a programming specialist but a speech therapist who likes to build programs for my patients. I used to work with macromedia authorware in the past but this software is dead ... and the actual time is about mobile apps instead of exe for computers
In AI2, I recognize some features I found so usefull fin AW7 for the non-specialist I am (variables, reference to an external file, loops, if-then etc.). But I do have questions too, and I must admit that I do not find the doc section about this topic.
My first general question is : is it possible to code the variables, if-then, readextfile etc as lines of code, or do we have to do it with the puzzle pieces of the graphic interface ? I guess, that what we build in the blocks interface is converted in real code : do we have access to it ?
A very good way to learn App Inventor is to read the free Inventor's Manual here in the AI2 free online eBook ... the links are at the bottom of the Web page. The book 'teaches' users how to program with AI2 blocks.
There is a free programming course here and the aia files for the projects in the book are here:
How to do a lot of basic things with App Inventor are described here: .
I have been slowly implementing iLogic rules into our drafting department. However, my method for developing these rules consists mostly of finding something very similar that someone else has written and modifying it in very basic ways to fit my needs. If there is an issue with the code (which there usually is), my only option is to tweak one thing at a time with barely educated guesses until I get it to work... or give up. This is rather limiting and very time consuming. What would be the best way for me to learn how to actually write the codes myself (AKA, starting with a blank rule and typing). I understand that the internet is still going to be a valuable tool for ideas and diagnostics, however it would be very helpful to have a good foundation of understanding and some knowledge. Suggestions?
I would say that learning programming in general and getting a good grasp of how it works is going to be more beneficial than simply trying to piece together iLogic. The documentation on iLogic is spotty, but there are many, many resources available for learning programming languages like vb.net and vba.
Then I would start with basic rules and slowly add functionality so you can understand how things work. Before you get to far in, read about CODE encapsulation and DRY methodology. If you get stuck, spend a reasonable amount of time trying to solve it yourself - by searching the internet or simply using trial and error techniques - and then if you are still stuck after over an hour, then ask on the forums. The grit will teach you more than "cheating".
I've been writing iLogic rules for around a decade now and a lot of the most useful have (in all honesty) been cobbled together from other sources. I'm of the opinion that, barring some pretty nich use-cases, most of the things that can be accomplished with iLogic have already been done in some way.
Using the api help online is a good idea too - @MechMachineMan has a link to the post I put up a while back (and updated recently for 2019!) that allows you to set up an Inventor API-help search shortcut inside of Google Chrome:
Incidentally, the Commenting section of that article details creating Visual Studio-style summary header comments for methods; this is something I recently discovered you can now do natively inside of the iLogic rule window!
PS. When you do invariably go searching for solutions using my Google suggestion above it helps to put the object or objectcollection that you want help with i.e. DrawingView or AssemblyDocument or DrawingDimension etc. in the Your query part.
Hello good afternoon, I have a question about QR code scanner. I currently created an app that has a barcode scanner and i want to try to send the information that i scan, to a google sheets .csv spreadsheet. For example if i scan a QR code i want the information to show in the .csv file with the name under the name column, the number under the number column, etc. I actually have 2 questions:
Would it be possible to accomplish the same by scanning a QR code with my barcode scanner and then sending that information to another screen in my app where i have a textbox and spinner, what i mean by this is that if i scan the QR code can i automatically fill in my textbox and spinner fields from that QR code and then click the save button so that the name and number from that specific QR code saves into the .csv? (i have already successfully connected my textboxes and spinners to a specific .csv i created, so i was curious if this method was possible?) Thank you so much for the help in advance. I always appreciate the input.
Hi!
Thanks for the help but I can do program (25 years practice) and my game after 2 years development and optimization 15588 blocks now.
I asked if there was an easy way to search or replace any items in code. (as in most program language)
Best bet is CTRL+F
With all your programming experience everything will have a specific name - variables/blocks/etc. so should be reasonably easy to find things
There is also the highlight procedure feature
Exactly! These are the tools available with App Inventor 2. Either reduce your Block count sensibly, use the search methods available (as difficult as they are with a huge block count) or revert to Delphi (a very nice professional compiler). We do understand. Perhaps some day there will be another way to find specific code; today this is what is available. What is discussed is what is available with the App Inventor 2 Block language. This educational compiler was never intended to be able to make HUGE apps (but it can). It is built as an educational tool to teach programming concepts and as a stepping stone to learning Java. Java has advanced search features (Android Studio).
Works but not dependent on appinventor. You can create a project there and convert to jave. Unfortunately, this project is based on the old version of app inventor and there aren't many components and methods that are currently in app inventor.
I used to have a lot of code in my MIT APP Inventor, but when I logged in again, most of my code are missing. I have clicked on the save button every couple of minutes when I am coding... I have really worked on this project for over 70-80 hours, and it is just heartbroken to see everything being deleted. Are the codes automatically saved on the MIT APP cloud? If so, how can I get access to a technical person?
Thank you, and I really hope that my problem could be solved.
Victoria
All editing of your project happens locally. Whenever you make a change, a timer is set for 5 seconds in the future to trigger a save to the server. So for example, if you open a project in App Inventor and turn off your internet connection, you can edit as much as you please but nothing will get saved due to the lack of connectivity. If you are in an area with spotty internet service, then it is possible to experience some lossy behavior since not every save succeeds. Another potential concern with using ai2.appinventor.mit.edu is that if you have a particularly large blocks workspace and a slow connection you may bump into the hard one minute timeout enforced by Google's servers. The largest blocks workspace that I've seen in App Inventor weighs in at over 55 MB (!), and on a 56 kbps modem would require over 1000 seconds to send, which obviously won't work. In this case, you may want to migrate your project over to code.appinventor.mit.edu, which is more lenient in these matters.
Yes I am using the ai2 server. Previously, I have tested multiple versions of the app by making apk files, and they've worked all fine, which means that it had been saved properly. So is it possible that my code is still saved somewhere?
In case it's needed, my goal is to read data from an arduino, process them with the code in C and then just print few values. About using BT and arduino I think I know how to do it, the problem is the C code.
unfortunately it is not possible
you have to convert your code into blocks or write an extension for it
more information about how to create an extension see the App Inventor Extensions document
however that will be more advanced and will require some Java skills...
There is an open PR that adds support for native libraries for App Inventor extensions. Once that is merged and deployed it should be possible to include code written in C so long as you write a JNI implementation around it. Another option is to cross-compile your C code to WASM and then load the binary into a WebViewer component on a new-ish version of Android running a new-ish version of Chrome.
This is my first time using this software, and I'm still not the best at programming. At our school, we are looking to build an app for the students to use to help guide them during enrichment/intervention time. As we all are doing the remote learning business, I was wondering if there is a way with settings on a project that an application can be shared with multiple programmers. If Student A starts a project, can Student B work on it at a different time? If this is possible, how is it done? Thank you for your time.
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