Starting out with App Inventor for Android

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Brief Contents......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 14
Acknowledgements......Page 20
About the Authors......Page 22
Video Notes......Page 24
 1.1 Introduction......Page 26
 1.2 What Is a Computer Program?......Page 29
 Tutorial 1-1: Starting App Inventor and Creating a New Project......Page 33
 1.4 Getting Hands-On with App Inventor......Page 47
 Tutorial 1-2: Creating the Screen for the Hello World App......Page 62
 Tutorial 1-3: Completing the Hello World App......Page 76
 Tutorial 1-4: Creating the Good Morning Translator App......Page 80
 Review Questions......Page 89
 2.1 Displaying Images......Page 98
 Tutorial 2-1: Changing the Screen’s Background Image......Page 101
 Tutorial 2-2: Switching the Screen’s Background Image in Code......Page 105
 Tutorial 2-3: Using the Image Component......Page 110
 Tutorial 2-4: Creating the Flags App......Page 115
 2.2 Duplicating Blocks and Using Dropdowns......Page 121
 2.3 Sounds......Page 124
 Tutorial 2-5: Creating the Guitar App......Page 127
 Tutorial 2-6: Making the Phone Vibrate......Page 131
 2.4 Color Blocks......Page 134
 2.5 Layout Components......Page 137
 Tutorial 2-7: Using Layout Components and Color Blocks......Page 141
 2.6 Commenting Blocks......Page 144
 Tutorial 2-8: Adding Comments......Page 145
 Review Questions......Page 146
 3.1 The TextBox Component......Page 154
 3.2 Performing Calculations......Page 160
 Tutorial 3-1: Calculating Fuel Economy......Page 163
 Tutorial 3-2: Creating the Restaurant Tip Calculator App......Page 169
 3.3 Storing Data with Variables......Page 174
 Tutorial 3-3: Creating the Kilometer Converter App......Page 183
 Tutorial 3-4: Creating the Change Counter App......Page 194
 3.4 Creating Blocks with Typeblocking......Page 199
 3.5 The Slider Component......Page 201
 3.6 Math Functions......Page 205
 Review Questions......Page 207
 4.1 Introduction to Decision Blocks......Page 212
 4.2 Relational Operators and the if Block......Page 217
 Tutorial 4-1: The Test Average App......Page 219
 4.3 The if then else Block......Page 227
 Tutorial 4-2: Modifying the Test Average App......Page 228
 Tutorial 4-3: Creating the Wages App......Page 230
 4.4 A First Look At Comparing Strings......Page 237
 4.5 Logical Operators......Page 238
 Tutorial 4-4: Creating the Range Checker App......Page 241
 4.6 Nested Decision Blocks......Page 243
 Tutorial 4-5: Creating the Grader App......Page 244
 4.7 The if then else if Block......Page 246
 4.8 Working with Random Numbers......Page 249
 Tutorial 4-6: Simulating Coin Tosses......Page 251
 4.9 The Screen’s Initialize Event......Page 254
 4.10 The ListPicker Component......Page 255
 Tutorial 4-7: Creating the Time Zone App......Page 257
 4.11 The CheckBox Component......Page 260
 Review Questions......Page 266
 5.1 The Notifier Component......Page 272
 5.2 The while Loop......Page 280
 Tutorial 5-1: The Ending Balance App......Page 283
 5.3 The for each Loop......Page 288
 Tutorial 5-2: Calculating a Sum of Consecutive Numbers......Page 292
 5.4 The Clock Component......Page 295
 Tutorial 5-3: Creating a Clock App......Page 298
 5.5 The DatePicker Component......Page 304
 Review Questions......Page 307
 6.1 Modularizing Your Code With Procedures......Page 312
 6.2 Procedures......Page 313
 Tutorial 6-1: Creating the Lights App......Page 317
 6.3 Passing Arguments to Procedures......Page 323
 Tutorial 6-2: Creating the AreaCircle App......Page 328
 6.4 Returning Values From Procedures......Page 332
 Tutorial 6-3: The Cups To Ounces App......Page 335
 Review Questions......Page 339
 7.1 Creating a List......Page 344
 Tutorial 7-1: Creating a List......Page 346
 7.2 Iterating Over a List with the for each Loop......Page 351
 Tutorial 7-2: Iterating Over a List with the for each Loop......Page 354
 Tutorial 7-3: Selecting an Item in a List......Page 357
 Tutorial 7-4: Using the length of list Function......Page 362
 7.4 Inserting and Appending Items......Page 366
 Tutorial 7-5: Add Items to a List......Page 368
 7.5 Removing Items......Page 373
 7.6 Replacing Items......Page 375
 Tutorial 7-6: Replacing and Removing List Items......Page 377
 7.7 Searching for an Item......Page 385
 Tutorial 7-7: Creating a Number-Guessing Game......Page 386
 7.8 Other List Functions......Page 391
 Review Questions......Page 392
 8.1 App Inventor Storage Components......Page 396
 8.3 File Component......Page 397
 Tutorial 8-1: Creating a File......Page 400
 Tutorial 8-2: Retrieving a File......Page 403
 Tutorial 8-3: Appending a File......Page 406
 8.5 TinyDB......Page 408
 8.6 Tag-Value Pairs......Page 409
 Tutorial 8-4: Storing Names and Phone Numbers......Page 410
 8.8 Retrieving a Value......Page 411
 Tutorial 8-5: Storing and Retrieving Values......Page 412
 8.9 Tag-Value Pairs when the Value is a List......Page 414
 Tutorial 8-6: Storing a List as a Value in a Tag-Value Pair......Page 415
 8.10 TinyDB Across Multiple Screens......Page 422
 Tutorial 8-7: TinyDB across Multiple Screens......Page 424
 Review Questions......Page 434
 9.1 The Canvas Component......Page 440
 Tutorial 9-1: Drawing on the Canvas......Page 443
 9.2 The Ball and ImageSprite Component......Page 449
 Tutorial 9-2: Bouncing Ball......Page 453
 Tutorial 9-3: Fishbowl - Using the ImageSprite Component......Page 457
 Tutorial 9-4: Crack the Egg......Page 459
 Tutorial 9-5: Drag Ball sprite Example......Page 464
 Tutorial 9-6: Drag the Ball into the Box......Page 465
 9.5 Detecting Collisions......Page 470
 Tutorial 9-7: Popping Balloons......Page 472
 Review Questions......Page 480
 10.1 Concatenating Strings......Page 486
 10.2 Comparing Strings......Page 492
 Tutorial 10-1: Comparing Strings......Page 495
 10.3 T rimming a String......Page 500
 10.4 Converting Case......Page 501
 Tutorial 10-2: Trim and Convert to Format Tags......Page 502
 10.5 Finding a Substring......Page 506
 Tutorial 10-3: Validate an Email Address......Page 508
 10.7 Extracting a Substring......Page 514
 10.8 Splitting a Substring......Page 516
 Tutorial 10-4: Validating Email – Valid Name and Top-Level Domain......Page 520
 Review Questions......Page 530
 11.1 The TextToSpeech Component......Page 534
 Tutorial 11-1: Text to Speech......Page 537
 11.2 The Texting Component......Page 541
 11.3 Receiving Text Messages......Page 544
 Tutorial 11-2: Creating the Speak Messages from Family App......Page 545
 11.4 Sending Text Messages......Page 548
 Tutorial 11-3: Reply to Family......Page 549
 Review Questions......Page 551
 12.1 The LocationSensor......Page 556
 Tutorial 12-1: Display Location......Page 560
 12.2 The OrientationSensor......Page 567
 Tutorial 12-2: Cat and Mouse......Page 570
 12.3 The Accelerometer......Page 575
 Tutorial 12-3: Shake to Clear Canvas......Page 577
 12.4 Using the ActivityStarter Component to launch Google Maps......Page 579
 Tutorial 12-4: Open Google Maps......Page 581
 Review Questions......Page 582
 13.1 Recording Audio......Page 586
 Tutorial 13-1: Record and PlayBack Audio......Page 588
 13.2 Taking a Photo with the Phone’s Camera......Page 592
 13.3 The Camcorder Component......Page 593
 Tutorial 13-2: Using the ImagePicker......Page 594
 13.5 Playing Video......Page 597
 Tutorial 13-3: Playing Video......Page 598
 13.6 Selecting Contacts from the Contact List and Placing Phone Calls......Page 601
 Tutorial 13-4: Using the Contact and Phone Number Pickers......Page 602
 Tutorial 13-5: Using the PhoneCall component......Page 605
 13.7 Scanning a Barcode......Page 609
 Tutorial 13-6: Speak a Text Message......Page 610
 13.9 Connecting to a Twitter Account......Page 614
 Tutorial 13-7: Building a Twitter Application......Page 615
 13.10 TinyWebDB......Page 617
 Review Questions......Page 618
Appendix A Setting Up App Inventor......Page 622
Appendix B Connecting an Android Device to App Inventor......Page 628
Appendix C Uploading Your Application to App Inventor Gallery and Google Play Store......Page 638
Appendix D Component Reference......Page 644
Appendix E Answers to Checkpoints......Page 674
 A......Page 686
 C......Page 687
 E......Page 689
 G......Page 690
 L......Page 691
 M......Page 692
 P......Page 693
 S......Page 694
 T......Page 695
 Z......Page 696