Announcing App Inventor 2 Graphics, Animation and Charts book

Volume 4 of my App Inventor guide books series is now available in e-book and print format. The book also includes video-based tutorials to supplement the text.

Back Cover Description

MIT App Inventor is the fast and simple way to develop Android apps. Using a programming system that runs in your Internet browser, just drag and drop user interface components and link together program functions on screen, and then run your app directly on your Android phone or tablet.

Learn to create apps using simplified interactive image sprites and to control movement using a finger on the screen or by tilting the phone or tablet. Learn how to use the “Canvas” features for drawing, including a unique way to implement traditional animation features.

Includes numerous sample apps, detailed explanations, illustrations, app source code downloads and links to video tutorials.

Volume 4 introduces the use of graphics drawing features, including general graphics features, image sprites, animation and charting. Charting refers to the creation of line, column, scatter plot, and strip recorder charts commonly used in business and finance.

This is volume 4 of a 4 volume set. Volume 1 introduces App Inventor programming, Volume 2 introduces advanced features and Volume 3 covers databases and files.

Visit the web site at appinventor.pevest.com to learn more about App Inventor and find more tutorials, resources, links to App Inventor books and other App Inventor web sites.

Edward Mitchell is an experienced software developer, having worked in Silicon Valley, for Microsoft and other high tech firms. He has taught college and university courses in programming and information systems. He is the author or co-author of a dozen books on software development. He has a B.S. in information and computer science, an M.S. in software engineering, and an M.B.A. degree.

Target Audience

The text is an introduction to the graphics features of MIT App Inventor covering basic graphics and basic animation methods provided by MIT App Inventor, plus creating traditional animation effects using programming methods, and business/science oriented charting. This is not a text about writing games but a book about the graphics features and how to put them to use for practical applications programs.

Table of Contents

1 About this Book 6
2 Introduction to Graphics and Animated Games 12
3 Image Sprites 36
4 Orientation Sensor 48
5 The Canvas 59
6 Animation Methods 83
7 Line Charts 106
8 Column Charts 135
9 Scatter Plot Chart 154
10 Scatter Plot with Regression 168
11 Strip Chart Recorder 188
12 Strip Chart Line Recorder Using Canvas Flipping 208

Where to Buy

  • App Inventor 2 Introduction (Volume 1 e-book)
    Step-by-step guide to easy Android programming
    Buy from: Amazon, Google Books, Kobo Books, Apple iBooks
  • App Inventor 2 Advanced Concepts (Volume 2 e-book)
    Step-by-step guide to Advanced features including TinyDB
    Buy from: Amazon, Google Books, Kobo Books
  • App Inventor 2 Databases and Files (Volume 3 e-book)
    Step-by-step TinyDB, TinyWebDB, Fusion Tables and Files
    Buy from: Amazon, Google Books, Kobo Books
  • App Inventor 2 Graphics, Animation and Charts (Volume 4 e-book and printed book)
    Step-by-step guide to graphics, animation and charts
    Buy e-book from: Amazon, Google Books, Kobo Books
    Price: US$5.99, 227 pages

How to Read

While the e-books can be read on e-book reader devices[1], I recommend using the free e-reader software available from each e-book distributor for reading on your notebook or desktop computer:

Note [1] – images used in the e-books do not always display well on the e-book reader devices (e.g. Kindle). For this reason, use of the computer-based e-book reader software is recommended.

Covers

AppInventor-Vol1-RevisedCoverAppInventor-Vol2-CoverRevisedAI2Volume3CoverCoverOnly2

UPDATE: Sales of the print version of Volume 4 are being discontinued as of October 18, 2016, due to rampant copyright theft. There are more used copies for sale than the total number of printed books actually sold. Based on sales, readers prefer the e-book version – therefore I am in process of discontinuing sales of the print version. The e-book continues to be available.

11 thoughts on “Announcing App Inventor 2 Graphics, Animation and Charts book”

    1. Please find the link to the volume 3 code on the Copyrights and Other Information page, at the beginning of Volume 3 under the heading “Download Source Code”.

      Ed

  1. I am able to draw chart on canvas .Now, I want to rotate chart (canvas) with sync of orientation sensor.
    Note – I am able to rotate imagesprit with sync of orientation sensor data but not able to create chart.

    1. Vijay,

      That is an interesting idea – but I do not think there is a way to rotate the Canvas area other than to use sprites.

      I suppose, and this is thinking about this as I go, it is possible to save the Canvas drawing area to an image file on your device. Then you could also load that image file to be the image used by the image sprite. Then rotate the image sprite using the Heading and Rotate properties.

      I think this would work, but I do not know if it would be fast enough or smooth enough – it means drawing on the Canvas, saving to the device, then loading into the image sprite.

      This is just an idea, but who knows?

      Ed

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