Mardi Shakti has created an MIT App Inventor Study Group on Facebook. Check it out!
Android App Inventor app creation is world-wide!
This webblog web server tracks the country of web site visitors and draws this map showing which countries visited this web site in one day this past week.
Since this web blog was started, readers have visited from 158 countries around the world! Thank you for stopping by!
The entire world is interested in creating Android apps using App Inventor!
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What is inside a .aia project file?
As you may know, you can save your App Inventor project to your local computer using the Projects | Export selected project (.aia) to my computer menu option:
Use this feature to save a backup copy on your local computer or to share your code with others (email or transfer the file using DropBox – or similar – or merely copy to a USB thumb drive).
What is inside the .aia file?
Surprisingly, the .aia file is just a regular .zip file. You can verify by saving a copy to your local disk drive, and then rename the file to have a .zip file extension instead of .aia. Then use Windows Explorer, StuffIt Expander or other utility to open and decompress the .zip file.
PLEASE NOTE – DO NOT MODIFY THE CONTENT OF THESE FILES. THIS INFORMATION IS NOT SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO WRITE APP INVENTOR APPS AND IS PROVIDED “AS IS” “FOR YOUR INFORMATION” ONLY.
Have App Inventor questions?
If you have questions about App Inventor or App Inventor programming, try posting your questions on the Facebook page “wall” and also here in the comments (I will be working to have the comments cross linked between this web site and FB eventually).
Also check out these two online forums:
Carlos has posted a good question about a problem with Bluetooth communications. If you can help, add a comment there.
Using TimePicker and DatePicker for entering time and date information
The TimePicker and DatePicker User Interface Controls
Entering the date and time are common features of business applications. We could use a text edit box and let the user type in times (like 10:30) or dates (12 January 2015) but both methods require the user to enter the time or date in the proper format – and the app needs to test the entered data to ensure it was entered correctly.
A better solution is to use App Inventors TimePicker and DatePicker controls. Both provide a graphical method of selecting input values. For example, the TimePicker displays the following:
The time is set by pressing the + or – buttons above and below the hours and minutes. The AM/PM indicator is a toggle – when it shows PM, a press changes it to AM, and when it shows AM, a press changes it to PM. With this input system, the user can never entered an invalid time (the user could, of course, enter the wrong time, but that is a different problem!)
Continue reading Using TimePicker and DatePicker for entering time and date information
Raspberry Pi 2 (US $35) computer board features Scratch
Raspberry Pi 2 is a US$ 35 computer board to which you attach a monitor, keyboard, mouse and Ethernet connection. You can use the Pi 2 for web browsing and other functions, but it also comes with Scratch.
Scratch is a programming system that is very similar to MIT App Inventor. You can learn more about Scratch in our previous post on that topic!
But because one of Raspberry Pi’s goals is to advance computer science education, there’s a few pieces of bundled software that can help achieve that goal. This includes a drag-and-drop visual programming language called Scratch (great for beginners to create animations and games), as well as Sonic Pi (for creating electronic music) and more advanced programming languages like Python (also included).
via Surf Report: Taking a bite out of Raspberry Pi.
And speaking of STEM, here are some videos from yesterday’s Oregon City FRC FIRST Robotics Pacific Northwest District 2 (Oregon) robotics competition. 35 high school robotic teams took part, with Team #4488 “Shockwave” taking first by total points. I am biased: I am a volunteer engineering mentor with the Shockwave team, from Glencoe High School, Hillsboro, Oregon. Go Shockwave!
Continue reading Raspberry Pi 2 (US $35) computer board features Scratch