Hunter Scott

A First Look: Android App Inventor

// July 13th, 2010 // Uncategorized

If you haven’t heard about the Android App Inventor, you probably will soon. It’s a project by Google to allow people to write their own Android apps without any coding knowledge. It’s currently in closed beta, but I managed to get one of the first invites. Here’s a quick overview of what it’s all about:

Once you log in, you have to launch the blocks editor. It opens as a separate window and connects to your phone that is plugged in via USB. As you edit your app, the changes appear in real time on your phone so you can see what it will really look like. I had some trouble getting my phone to connect, but I solved it by installing the HTC Sync program for my HTC Incredible. This installed a few drivers I didn’t have. I couldn’t get the blocks editor to talk to my browser while using Firefox, but when I switched over to IE8, it worked fine. If you have trouble getting it to connect, try searching on the Google Group. You can also try looking at the debug output for Java by going to Control Panel->Java->Advanced->expand the Console option, and check to show console. When you launch the blocks editor, another window will also come up and show you what’s going on under the hood. If you know enough about java, you can sometimes figure it out from there. If not, post it in the google group and someone else can help.

So here’s what you will have when you start to make your app:

On the left is the browser window where you’ll decide what the app looks like, and on the right is the blocks editor, where you’ll design the logic. The interface is pretty intuitive. You just drag and drop stuff into place. Some components are visible, meaning you will see them on the screen (like labels and buttons) and some are not visible, and they appear right underneath the screen when added (like sounds). As soon as you drag a new element over, it appears on your phone. If you select an element, all of the settings for it appear on the right. Once you add an element, the block for it appears in the blocks editor:

Clicking on the object shows you all of its uses:

When you snap pieces together, you get a nice snapping sound effect which tells you that your syntax is right. If you mess up, just drag the blocks into the trash can on the bottom right.

The sensors you currently have access to are the GPS, accelerometer, and the magnetometer. You can do a lot of cool things with those. I don’t want to go into too much detail, because most of that information is already online at http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/learn. But, I bet you’re wondering: when I make my awesome app, can I get it in the store? Well, I’m working on that. I’ll post another article on how to do it once I figure it out.