App Inventor 2: Databases and Files – available shortly

Volume 3 – focusing on TinyDB, TinyWebDB, Fusion Tables and text files – is now Available.

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App Inventor 2: Databases and Files is a step-by-step guide to writing apps that use TinyDB, TinyWebDB, Fusion Tables and data files for information storage and retrieval. Includes detailed explanations, examples, and a link to download sample code. This is the first tutorial to cover all of these App Inventor database and file features.

If your apps need to work with data or files – you need this book!

TinyDB stores data on your smart phone or tablet and is a primary way for App Inventor apps to save data, even when the app is no longer running or if the device is turned off.

TinyWebDB is similar to TinyDB, but stores your data on a remote server in the network cloud.

Multiple apps can share a TinyWebDB database, plus you can update the content of your TinyWebDB using just a web browser. This means you can distribute an app whose content can change over time – just by changing the values in TinyWebDB.

A big challenge is the need to set up a TinyWebDB server – this book shows how to do that through free services offered by Google.

Fusion Tables provide a powerful, cloud-based database system for App Inventor apps. Creating, retrieving, updating and deleting data is done using the industry standard Structured Query Language or SQL. Fusion Tables reside in the Google network cloud – this book shows you how to set up and configure Fusion Tables for you own apps using free services of Google. As your app requirements grow, Google’s cloud can provide low cost servers and bandwidth for your needs.

Underneath the Android OS user interface, there is a file system, similar to the file system found on Windows or Mac OS X. With App Inventor your apps can write and read data from files, and if using the special “CSV” format, App Inventor data can be shared with many spreadsheet programs. This book shows you how to create, use and access data files, and how to convert data to and from the CSV format.

Over 28,000 words. Amazon’s page count is 322 pages. Over 250 screen shots and illustrations. Numerous sample programs and code.

App Inventor 2: Databases and Files – Table of Contents
1 – Introduction
2 – Using the TinyDB database
3 – Implementing Records Using Lists in TinyDB
4 – Simulating Multiple TinyDB Databases
5 – How to Use Multiple Tags in TinyDB
6 – Introduction and Setup: TinyWebDB
7 – Managing TinyWebDB in the Cloud
8 – Programming for TinyWebDB – Demo 1
9 – Adding a Tags List to TinyWebDB – Demo 2
10 – Handling Multiple Users with TinyWebDB – Demo 3
11 – Implementing a Student Quiz Application using TinyWebDB
12 – Introduction to Fusion Tables
13 – Developing Your Fusion Table App
14 – Using Text Files in App Inventor

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

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!

 

Pre-Announcing: App Inventor 2: Databases and Files-new e-book

Available now: App Inventor 2: Databases and Files

I have finished writing App Inventor 2: Databases and Files, a new e-book providing step-by-step guides to using TinyDB, TinyWebDB, Fusion Tables and Data Files in Android App Inventor programs, including sharing data with spreadsheets.

Continue reading Pre-Announcing: App Inventor 2: Databases and Files-new e-book

Example of the new App Inventor “Responsive Design” Feature

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

App Inventor to add “Responsive Design” features next week

MIT App Inventor upgrade coming next Monday – the upgrade will support apps running on devices with different size screens, such as a smart phone versus a tablet.

There’s one important rule when using App Inventor to create apps with responsive design:

Specify widths and heights of components as percentages of the screen width and height, rather than as fixed numbers of pixels.

For example, to make a button whose width is half the screen width, set the button’s width to be 50 percent rather than setting it to a specific number of pixels.

See Responsive Design in App Inventor

Please see the link for details on this upcoming change.

Apps written in Java and the Android SDK have access to additional methods of creating flexible design layouts, or even multiple layouts, for different screen sizes.

MIT begins testing “App Inventor Extension Components”

MIT has begun testing a new App Inventor feature that will enable developers to create their own “extension components”. Extension components are written in Java. Once created and tested, these new components may be shared with other App Inventor developers for use in programs.

What this means: if App Inventor lacks a feature or capability, then a Java developer familiar with App Inventor and its components software development kit will be able to add new features to App Inventor. Over time, the capabilities and power of App Inventor are likely to grow enormously – and rapidly. The ability to extend App Inventor’s features/components is an exciting and tremendously important development for the future of App Inventor!

For now, this feature is in “test mode”.

Source: App Inventor Extension Components available for testing | Explore MIT App Inventor

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