Book Image

Google App Inventor

By : Ralph Roberts
Book Image

Google App Inventor

By: Ralph Roberts

Overview of this book

<center><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UgRhYG_bvW8" width="500" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></center> <p>The number of mobile apps has grown exponentially in the last two years. If you want to join the crowd, Google’s App Inventor is the easiest and best tool for you to get started with. It is a tool to create Android phone apps and uses a graphical user interface, and drag and drop methods to create apps. It’s so simple that anyone can build an app.<br /><br />Learn how Google App Inventor eliminates the mystery around programming. It is a visual language, where we simply drag and drop blocks (graphic elements representing blocks of code) in various combinations to give us applications that run on our phones or other Android-based devices. No programming background is required. Playing with blocks has never been more fun!<br /><br />The emphasis is on creating apps that work and that you understand fully. The first part of the book gives you a sound foundation in the basics, and lots of tips on how to use App Inventor. The second part is all about creating complete apps ready for real world use. The book includes apps that communicate, use databases to remember, surf the Web and other networks, use GPS and various sensors on your phone, and let you write or play games.</p>
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Google App Inventor
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface

Applications e-mailing stuff


The big three, the trifecta of smartphones, communications-wise are phone calls, texting, and e-mailing. As in the two just covered, the apps that come with your phone or tablet will do the basics of these better than an App Inventor app.

But, of course, we have the flexibility, as we did above, to add our own magic touch, and we'll do that here.

First, here's how simple it is to send e-mail from an App Inventor app. In Design, you need a button and drop the ActivityStarter in as a non-visual component. In the Properties column for it, type the same information as we use to call a web page, android.action.intent.VIEW. Leave everything else blank.

In Blocks Editor, use the button click frame block for whichever button you want to use for sending the e-mail. With only one in my example, that would be Button1.Click, but it could be Button26.Click or, if you renamed them as you should with that many buttons, perhaps Send_Email.Click.

Fill your button as shown in...