Google - App Inventor for Android

Hi Readers,

Last Saturday 30th OCT 2010, I got the opportunity to attend the meet up for Google's App Inventor by the Code Android Malaysia Group. The meetup is great, learned new stuff & explore few Android devices (WITS A81E, Haipad G10, Zenithink ZT-180 ePad, Dell Streak, Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Dream/G1, & Nexus One).

App Inventor - App Inventor is a web based tool from Google that makes it easy for anyone (programmer & non-programmer) to create mobile applications for Android-powered devices. It provides us visual blocks which help us to create mobile applications by drag-and-drop functionality. Some of the few features of App-Inventor are listed as below:-

1. No syntax : No need to remember the coding syntax of programming languages.
2. Visual Blocks : The components and functions are organized into blocks. Need to find relevant block & used that function by drag-&-drop feature.
3. Functionality based on Events : "When this event happens, the application does this" is the correct conceptual model. Support this feature with event listeners!
4. Support & Simplicity : App Inventor supports a great library of visual components with simplicity of use by end user to develop mobile applications.

To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app's behavior. App Inventor is simple to use, but also very powerful. It provide the functionality to store data, use GPS-Location & Accelerometer Sensor and many more features. To storing data in application it use TinyDB & stored data will be available each time the app runs. TinyDB is a non-visible component. The blocks editor uses the Open Blocks Java library for creating visual blocks programming languages.

Android App Inventor

Few facts about App Inventor:-

• For multiple screen application App Inventor have each .apk file; you need to invoke relevant file on the calling event of multiple screen application.
• App Inventor is not integrated with Android Market yet.
• App Inventor does not generate the Java source code to export to Eclipse or any other IDE.
• You can integrate the App Inventor with your real device and also with Android SDK.

Android App Inventor Tutorial:-

You can find basic & advanced tutorial for App Inventor over here.