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<\/a>stores the numeric value 6 in to the variable TOTALBUTTONS<\/em>.<\/p>\nTo illustrate by example, here is a global variable named SpecialButton<\/em>. We can initialize it to anything we want at this point.<\/p>\n Since SpecialButton<\/em> is a variable and not an actual button, we cannot directly use a SpecialButton.Click <\/em>handler but we can use a feature of App Inventor to do the same thing in a different way. We will see how to do this in this a bit later.<\/p>\n You can store any App Inventor components – a Clock<\/em>, a Bluetooth<\/em> device – any component, in a variable.<\/p>\n Why would you want to do that? We will see in the example in this lesson<\/em>.<\/p>\n This tutorial is in both written form and as an online video.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To those who may have programmed in other languages, you may have seen this idea elsewhere. This idea is common in “object oriented programming” (or OOP). In OOP, nearly everything is an “object”. A number, a string, a variable, a list, user interface components, code blocks – everything becomes an “object”. App Inventor “components” are basically the same idea – each is an “object” or a “something” that exists. If it exists, you can store it in a variable!<\/em><\/p>\n This is Part 1 of a 2-part tutorial. This tutorial continues in Part 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n Watch here or directly on Youtube<\/a> – be sure to click on the Subscribe<\/span> <\/strong>button on Youtube! More videos coming!<\/p>\n<\/a>Next, inside our app, our blocks code assigns Button1<\/em> to the variable SpecialButton<\/em>. SpecialButton<\/em> now holds a reference to the actual user interface control Button1<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nTopics Mentioned<\/h2>\n
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Online Video or this Tutorial<\/h2>\n