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

Chapter 5. Apps That Communicate

Android phones and other devices are all about communicating with the world. This chapter covers apps that call, text, e-mail, and even tweet. In general, we'll build practical apps that communicate in some form or the other, using the basics learned in previous chapters.

In this chapter, we'll learn:

  • Building apps that look up phone numbers and make calls for us, and do other neat things related to phone calls

  • How to use texting and keep in touch with our friends

  • Constructing apps that send e-mails

  • Apps for social communication

Good, we're getting into it. Now that we can drag together blocks that do things (quite literally the way in which we program using Google App Inventor), let's explore communications capability in our apps.

App—phone home

Tablet computers may be growing in popularity, but the majority of Android devices right now are phones. Phones make calls. So, let's look first at doing a phone app.

Making a call with App Inventor is incredibly easy...