App Inventor 2 Essentials
eBook - ePub

App Inventor 2 Essentials

  1. 246 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

App Inventor 2 Essentials

Book details
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Table of contents
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About This Book

A step-by-step introductory guide to mobile app development with App Inventor 2

About This Book

  • Get an introduction to the functionalities of App Inventor 2 and use it to unleash your creativity
  • Learn to navigate the App Inventor platform, develop basic coding skills and become familiar with a blocks based programming language
  • Build your very first mobile app and feel proud of your accomplishment
  • Follow tutorials to expand your app development skills

Who This Book Is For

App Inventor 2 Essentials is for anyone who wants to learn to make mobile apps for Android devices – no prior coding experience is necessary.

What You Will Learn

  • Perform technical setup and navigate the App Inventor platform
  • Utilize the interactive development environment by pairing a mobile device with a computer using Wi-Fi or USB
  • Build three apps: a game, an event app and a raffle app
  • Create the user interface of the app in the Designer and program the code in the Blocks Editor
  • Integrate basic computer science principles along with more complex elements such fusion tables and lists
  • Test and troubleshoot your applications
  • Publish your apps on Google Play Store to reach a wide audience
  • Unleash your creativity for further app development

In Detail

App Inventor 2 will take you on a journey of mobile app development. We begin by introducing you to the functionalities of App Inventor and giving you an idea about the types of apps you can develop using it. We walk you through the technical set up so you can take advantage of the interactive development environment (live testing). You will get hands-on, practical experience building three different apps using tutorials. Along the way, you will learn computer science principles as well as tips to help you prepare for the creative process of building an app from scratch. By the end of the journey, you will learn how to package an app and deploy it to app markets. App Inventor 2 Essentials prepares you to amass a resource of skills, knowledge and experience to become a mobile app developer

Style and approach

Every topic in this book is explained in step-by-step and easy-to-follow fashion, accompanied with screenshots of the interface that will make it easier for you to understand the processes.

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Information

Publisher
Packt Publishing
Year
2016
ISBN
9781785281105
Edition
1
Topic
Computer Science
Subtopic
Hardware
Index
Computer Science

App Inventor 2 Essentials

Table of Contents

App Inventor 2 Essentials
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
eBooks, discount offers, and more
Why subscribe?
Preface
What this book covers
What you need to build mobile apps
Who this book is for
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Errata
Piracy
Questions
1. Unleashing Creativity with MIT App Inventor 2
What is MIT App Inventor 2?
Understanding your role as a mobile app developer
Brainstorming app ideas
The Design Thinking process
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test
Computational thinking
Best practices to design apps
MIT App Inventor – purpose and potential
Discovering the possibilities of MIT App Inventor
MIT App Inventor examples
Stopwatch and Timer
Yahtzee
BYJ3S
Loops
Quartet
Brain Reaction Accelerator
ConstHelp – Contractor Tools
UMATI
Ez School Bus Locator
Youth Radio
Rover 800 Remote
Summary
2. Setting Up MIT App Inventor 2
The initial setup
System requirements
Signing up a Google account
Logging in to MIT App Inventor
Connectivity setup
Downloading the AI2 Companion app
Connecting your computer and Android device with WiFi
Connecting the emulator or connecting using a USB cable
Step 1 – installing the App Inventor setup software
Installing the App Inventor setup software for Mac OS X
Installing the App Inventor setup software for Windows
Software installation – part A
Driver installation – part B
Installing the App Inventor setup software for GNU/Linux
Instructions for systems that can install Debian packages (for example Debian or Ubuntu)
Instructions for other GNU/Linux systems
Step 2 – launch aiStarter
Starting aiStarter
Step 3 – opening a project and connecting to the emulator
Step 4 – setting up your device with a USB cable
Step 5 – connecting your computer and device (authenticating if necessary)
Step 6 – testing the connection
Summary
3. Navigating the App Inventor Platform
The projects view
Creating a new project
The Designer
Palette
Viewer
Components
Properties
Media
Creating a game app
Creating the UI in designer
IDE
The Blocks editor
The Blocks drawer
Types of Blocks
Using Blocks to program Fling
The Play button
Moving the ball
Flinging the ball
Ending the game or bouncing the ball
The Reset button
Summary
4. Fling App – Part 2
Adding a scoring feature
Coding scoring blocks
Updating the score label
Increasing difficulty
Changing the game's dynamic
Creating levels
Updating the score label to display the level
Updating the Reset button
Updating the Play button
Summary
5. Building an Event App
User Interface for an event app
Setting the background image
Adding an image component
Adding buttons
Adding the ActivityStarter
Adding screens
Programming the blocks
Navigating between screens and launching maps
Screen1
Sharing blocks between screens using the Backpack
Adding text to screens
Summary
6. Introduction to Databases
Creating a database
Creating a Google Fusion Table
Designing the RSVP screen
Creating the GUI in the designer window
Setting up Google Authentication
Sharing the Fusion Table with the service account email
Connecting the app to the Google Fusion Table
Our goal
Pushing data to the Fusion Table
Ensuring empty rows are not inserted
Viewing the guest list
Coding the blocks – requesting data
Coding the blocks – receiving data
Sharing the Event App
Summary
7. Learning About Loops with a Raffle App
Creating the project and building the GUI
Creating a new project
Creating the User Interface (UI)
Programming the behavior of the Digital Raffle app
Creating and initializing the variable and list
Receiving text messages from participants
Adding the phone numbers of all the participants to the list
Selecting a winner
Notifying the winner
Notifying everyone else
Using loops
Clearing out the list and variable
Summary
8. Expanding Your Mobile App Development Skills
Design principles
User-centered design
Visual hierarchy
Responsive design
Research app markets
Design tools
App Inventor extras
Shortcuts
Help
Titles
Images
Virtual screens
Backups
Distributing your app
The App Inventor Gallery
Viewing the Gallery apps
Sharing your app in the Gallery
Creating an AIA file
Downloading and sharing
Creating an APK
QR code
Direct download (or side-loading)
The Google Play Store
Summary
Index

App Inventor 2 Essentials

Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: April 2016
Production reference: 1050416
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-78528-110-5
www.packtpub.com

Credits

Authors
Felicia Kamriani
Krishnendu Roy
Reviewer
Sergio MartĂ­nez-Losa del Ri...

Table of contents

  1. App Inventor 2 Essentials