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

Time for action uploading source code


So, time to upload source code.

Note

App Inventor source code is imported and exported as ZIP (compressed archive) files. You do not have to (and should not) unzip them; all that is handled automatically.

  1. 1. Click on More Actions and then Upload Source.

  2. 2. Choose Browse in the dialog box that pops up.

  3. 3. Find the source code ZIP file on your computer.

  4. 4. Select the compressed source file, and click on OK to upload it.

What just happened?

It was quick (source files are small). The file uploads, is saved as a project in My Projects, and immediately opens on the Design application page.

It is, as I had hoped, a simple example of how to send an e-mail from an App Inventor app; something all will probably be doing. The Designer portion of the source code, as shown in the following screenshot, is basically two buttons and two textboxes. The Send to: button brings up our e-mail contact list, and the Send button sends the e-mail. The textboxes are for entering...