Category Archives: Programming Method

Android Development, App Inventor News, Products, Programming Method, Software

New Linux OS version designed for Android & App Inventor app development

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The Appril release of Quirky Linux includes the Android SDK (Software Development Kit), Android Studio, App Inventor, Oracle JDK (Java Development Kit), and LiveCode tools, as well as all of their dependencies, together with the JWM (Joe’s Window Manager) and ROX, providing one of the lightest environments for Android app developers.

“The intention is to have out-of-the-box, just-click-and-get-going Android app development, catering for total non-programmers with App Inventor, through intermediate with LiveCode, to hard-core coders with Android Studio,” says Barry Kauler, Puppy Linux creator.

Source: Puppy Linux’s Sister Quirky 7.1 Distro Arrives with Tools for Android App Developers

It actually runs the App Inventor system on the computer – does not require access to appinventor.mit.edu.

Download here (its free, of course). I have not tried this yet but would be interested to hear reports from users!

 

Components, Programming Method

Example of the new App Inventor “Responsive Design” Feature

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MIT App Inventor introduced today their new “responsive design” features so that apps can work “better” on different sized screens. Using these new features, you can create a single app that should run on both a smart phone and a tablet, yet still display proportional user interface controls. Prior to this, your nicely designed smart phone app could end up having very small buttons or text boxes when run on a tablet; now, these components will resize as needed.

The name “responsive” comes from the ability of the app to “respond” to the size of the device and to change the size of controls so they maintain a similar size on each device. The terminology “responsive web design” also refers to web sites that are designed to work with different sized mobile device screens – here is a link to a great article about responsive web site design, passed to us by reader David – thanks!

Continue reading Example of the new App Inventor “Responsive Design” Feature →

Products, Programming Method, Software, STEM Education

“Visual Development” system for Arduino

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As you know, MIT App Inventor is a graphical-based programming system, or a “visual development” system where programs are constructed by dragging and dropping “blocks” onto a Blocks editor.

Arduino, which we mentioned in conjunction with our Bluetooth interface code, is a microcontroller system that is normally programmed in a language similar to the C++ programming language – which is text-based.

Mitov Softwware has introduced a new visual programming system for Arduino. I have not yet had a chance to try this out – the software is in “Beta” test phase and is not yet generally available.

The simplicity of an App Inventor type programming environment might then be available for Arduino applications. This is very exciting. It may be helpful for enabling more kinds of people, with different types of backgrounds than software developers(!) to write code for Arduino boards.

Program Arduino boards visually, fast and easy with Visuino #Visuino #Arduino

Source: Visuino – Visual Development for Arduino by Mitov Software

I have used this screen shot from their web site to illustrate the general idea – really looking forward to trying this out!

screenshot-03

Components, Programming Method, Tips

Can you make a video player in App Inventor? Not really, unfortunately.

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A question from a reader: Can we make a video player in App Inventor?

The short answer is, unfortunately, not really.

In the App Inventor Designer, in the Palette’s Media section, you can drag a Video Player into the viewer. But this Video Player only plays video files (WMV, MP4) that are stored inside your app (not on the web) and these files are limited to just 1 megabyte in size. Therefore, the Video Player feature in App Inventor is so limited as to not be very useful for most applications.

 

Programming Method, Software

“Siri” for Android, written in App Inventor

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Eric Payne has created an Apple Siri – like interface in App Inventor.

You can download his App Inventor source code here from Google Drive. Note that Google Drive displays the content of the .aia file (it is just a .zip file). Click on the “download arrow” icon at top center to download the .aia file to your computer, and then import the .aia file into your App Inventor account.

(This is posted here with Eric’s permission. Thanks Eric!)

Also check out the APP INVENTOR STUDY GROUP on Facebook!

 

Programming Method

How to connect App Inventor apps to Arduino using Bluetooth wireless

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How to Connect App Inventor apps to Arduino Using Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a low power, short range wireless technology built in to many phones, tablets and other devices.

MIT App Inventor 2 supports a set of Bluetooth communication functions that may be used to send data between smart phones and tablets (see previous tutorials: Part 1, Part 2)

This capability may be extended so that App Inventor apps can communicate with Arduino-based devices and other embedded systems.

This tutorial describes how to interface App Inventor apps running on Android to Arduino devices, via the Bluetooth wireless link.

What is Bluetooth?

Bluetooth is an industry standard for low power, short range wireless communications between devices such as personal computers, printers, smart phones, tablets, wireless headphones, wireless stereo speakers, sensor systems (like in security alarms) and other applications.

To learn more about Bluetooth technology (and why it has a funny name!), please read our first tutorial on Bluetooth.

What is Arduino?

Arduino is an open hardware, open software platform for building small electronic devices. The Arduino board is a “microcontroller” – that is, a complete – albeit small, inexpensive and with limited function – computer. Arduino is a popular choice for do-it-yourself projects and is well established in the “Maker” community of DIY project builders. (Side note: I will be at the San Francisco Maker Faire on Saturday, May 16th, 2015).

This is not a tutorial about Arduino boards, software or electronics and presumes the reader is familiar with Arduino development. To learn more about Arduino (and you should learn more about it!) start at the Arduino web site.

This tutorial assumes you have the Arduino software development environment installed on your computer and are familiar with Arduino development.

HARDWARE: Setting Up Arduino for Bluetooth Wireless Communications

There are several versions of the Arduino board; I used the Uno version but others should work just fine.

The Arduino board does not contain Bluetooth hardware – to implement Bluetooth requires using a third-party Bluetooth module. I use the JY-MCU Bluetooth module . IMPORTANT – not all Bluetooth modules will work with App Inventor!  While new versions of Android support all versions of Bluetooth, App Inventor (at the time of this writing) supports “classic” Bluetooth only. In particular, App Inventor does not support the newer Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) version, at least it does not support the Bluetooth LE module that I have.

I can confirm that the JY-MCU Bluetooth module works but the Bluetooth LE modules I have do not work with App Inventor.  My phone can see the Bluetooth LE device but the App Inventor source code cannot communicate with the LE devices.

Where to buy the JY-MCU Module online: Amazon (Prime), Amazon (non-Prime)

The module is also available from other vendors.

Photo shows my Arduino UNO board, at left, a prototyping breadboard with a status LED set up, and the JY-MCU Bluetooth module, just above the breadboard.

DSC_1266Click through to  see how the Arduino and Bluetooth module are setup, and get the Arduino source code and the App Inventor source code!

Continue reading How to connect App Inventor apps to Arduino using Bluetooth wireless →