PaintPop (Part 2)

The Designer

The Block Editor

The Emulator

In part 2 of PaintPop, I learned how to make Big dots and Small dots. I had to define a global variable named small whose value was the number 2. Similar to small, a global variable big whose value was 8 was also defined. Then, a global variable dotsize was defined and I gave it an initial value of 2. In this tutorial, I learned that a global ... block produces the value of a variable while a set global ... block sets the variable to a new value.

There was a minor difficulty that occurred-the Android phone and the Designer was not showing the same thing even though both of them were connected to each other. That’s why, I had to close the Android phone, the Block Editor, and reopen everything. Finally, it worked and this whole process took only 30 minutes. In addition, I thought PaintPop Part 2 will be twice as hard as PaintPop Part 1, but I’m so glad that I was proven wrong. Therefore, PaintPop Part 2 is very simple, exciting and easy to create.

Source: https://joners-inventor.appspot.com/learn/tutorials/paintpot/paintpot-part2.html

PaintPop (Part 1)

The Designer:

The Block Editor:

The Emulator:

Creating the PaintPop App was very enjoyable and LOTS OF FUN! I did not have any difficulties at all. All I had to do is follow the simple and straightforward instructions from https://joners-inventor.appspot.com/learn/tutorials/paintpot/paintpot-part1.html, and my PaintPop was ready! Here, I got introduced to Canvas component for drawing, controlling screen layout with Arrangement components, event handlers that take arguments, and variables. This took me about 35 minutes and it was totally worth the time!

Introduction to Paint Pop

The PaintPot tutorial introduces the Canvas component for creating simple two-dimensional graphics. It will let you build an app that lets you draw on the phone screen in different colors!

With the PaintPot app, you can:

-Dip your finger into a virtual paint pot to draw in that color

-Drag your finger along the screen to draw a line

-Poke the screen to make dots.

-Use the button at the bottom to wipe the screen clean.

-Include an image as a drawing background.  

Sources:

-http://mmcelhaney-my-gadgets.blogspot.ca/2010/12/paint-pot-part-1-app-inventor-for.html

-https://joners-inventor.appspot.com/learn/tutorials/paintpot/paintpot-part1.html

Assignment #2 : My First App

HelloPur App:



Functions/Commands:

In the HelloPur app, I used Button, Label, and Sound components. I used a Button component that had the image property set to the kitty.png file I downloaded earlier. A Label component that reads “Per the Kitty” was used. A Sound component that plays the meow.mp3 file was also used.

In the Blocks Editor, an event handler was created that tells the Sound component to play when the user taps the button. Then, My Blocks tab was clicked and Button1 was chosen. The when Button1.Click do block was dragged and dropped onto the editor. After that, Sound1 was clicked. The call Sound1.Play block was dragged onto the editor and it was dropped into the when Button1.Click do block. Finally, when the kitty picture on the device was clicked, the kitty meow sound was heard.

Blog Editor Commands

Easy or Hard?

This assignment was reasonably easy; in fact it was way easier than I expected it to be. The steps Mr. Kee provided us at tiny.cc/wgvez were simple and straightforward. The tutorial steps at https://joners-inventor.appspot.com/learn/setup/hellopurr/hellopurrpart2.html were systematic and detailed. Also, the instructions of the HelloPur tutorial had diagrams and pictures which made it easier to follow.

Difficulties:

I faced few difficulties with downloading, installing, and setting my computer ready to build the HelloPur app. At first, I had difficulties installing the App Inventor. Once I dealt with that problem and installed the App Inventor successfully, another conflict occurred. The emulator was not showing up on the Block Editor after I pressed “New Emulator.” That’s why, I had to perform the whole creating app procedure at home and it worked successfully.

Time Scale:

         It took me an hour and half to build the HelloPur application, and it took me about 2 hours in total to complete both of the blogs.  The reason it took me so long to build the HelloPur application is because I had difficulties downloading the meow sound to my PC, and I had difficulty installing the App Inventor and the Emulator. If I didn’t have to deal with these conflicts, it would have taken me only 30-40 minutes to build the app.

What Have I Learned?

  

While doing this App Inventor assignment, I have learned many things such as how to build simple and creative applications, how to use the Block Editor, how to connect to the Emulator, how to design texts in the Designer, and how to follow online tutorial instructions.

Personal Comments:

            I really enjoyed doing this assignment. It was a different type of learning experience and an unique assignment. Now, I know how to create my own app which is something I never thought I’d be able to do on my own. The best part of this assignment was when I clicked “Pet the Kitty” on the HelloPur app, the kitty made the meow sound. I was overjoyed to see that my app was working successfully.

 

Assignment #1: First Impressions

My very first impression to App Inventor was something like, “Holly Molly! What awesomeness did Mr. Kee introduce us into?” Before I knew about the App Inventor, I have never thought that I would be able to create my own app all by myself. After finding out about the App Inventor, I was overjoyed and truly excited to create my first app!

The App Inventor!!!

App Inventor is a program that lets you develop applications for Android phones. Creating an App Inventor app begins in your browser, where you design how the app will look. Then, you can set your app's behavior which is like fitting together puzzle pieces. All you need is a live connection between your computer and your phone, and then you can have your app appears on your phone. There are many different types of App Inventor that you can build with your App Inventor. To start with the basics and to simplify things for yourself, you can start off by designing games like MoleMash or games that will let you draw funny pictures on your friend's faces. Also, there are more creative and fun things you can do such as, you can even make use of the phone's sensors to move a ball through a maze based on tilting the phone. App Inventor not only allows you to build simple games, but you can also build apps that are complex and educational.

One of the best features of App Inventor is that it allows you to create a quiz app to help you and your classmates study for a test. With Android's text-to-speech capabilities, you can even have the phone ask the questions aloud. Moreover, to use App Inventor, you do not need to be a professional developer or a computer genius. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app's behavior.

You can build apps by working with:

1)        The App Inventor Designer-here you select the components for your app.

2)        The App Inventor Blocks Editor-here you assemble program blocks that specify how the components should behave. You assemble programs visually, fitting pieces together like pieces of a puzzle.

3)        Your creative app appears on the phone step-by-step as you add pieces to it, so you can test your work as you build. Once you're done creating your app, you can package it and produce a stand-alone application to install.

*The following are some useful links you can access to learn MORE about App Inventor:

Information:

·        http://www.appinventor.org/

·        http://www.appinventor.mit.edu/

·        http://appinventoredu.mit.edu/what-is-app-inventor

Videos/Images:

·        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ADwPLSFeY8

·        https://joners-inventor.appspot.com/learn/whatis/index.html

·        http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E9Zm56Od1pw