Technovation Challenge Spring 2013 (12 weeks)

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Task Navigation 

App Inventor Help Forum


Post general questions (not specific to a tutorial) about App Inventor here.

Use this forum as a space to ask and answer general questions about App Inventor.

For example:

  • if you are having trouble setting up App Inventor
  • if you can't get your Blocks Editor to open
  • if you need to use a feature of App Inventor in your app that hasn't been covered in one of our tutorials
     

For questions about specific tutorials, you can post them on the corresponding thread. This forum is for general questions about App Inventor that do not pertain to specific tutorials. Please help the community by answering some questions, too!

Additional Resources

www.appinventor.org

APP INVENTOR FEEDBACK:

The App Inventor team at MIT is dedicated to improving App Inventor to best suit your needs. So if you ran into any problems while using App Inventor, let us know by sending us an email. Try to be as specific as possible, include screen shots, when the problem would occur, and if your app crashed, please attach the source code.

You can also send an email if you have any suggestions on how to make a feature better, any components you would like to be added to App Inventor, how to make using it more ntuitive etc.

Send all emails to TechnovationChallenge@iridescentlearning.org with the subject line: "App Inventor Feedback" and we will make sure they get it!

MERGER TOOL:

Would you like to merge two projects together in App Inventor? Kate Feeney created this Merger tool as part of her master's thesis last year at Mills College. It's a wonderful way for a team to develop their app collaboratively, because you can have one student developing a screen in one project, and another student developing a different screen in another project, simultaneously. As long as these two projects (screens) are created within the same App Inventor account, you can merge them together with this tool.

Here are the instructions. Please email annalise@iridescentlearning.org if you would like us to send you the Merger .jar file so that you can use this tool. We aren't able to post it online but we can email it to you. 

Task Discussion


  • Elaine Mistretta said:

    The decision of Apple is unfortunate. I am using mostly Apple machines, though I do have some PC's available it will not be easy to make the room change on the day that we hold our meeting as the lab with PCs is used by another group at that time. Any thoughts, maybe as of Feb 5 there will be a fix from the App Inventor team.

    on Feb. 2, 2013, 10:10 a.m.

    Elaine Mistretta said:

    The solution for the Apples might be

    http://www.java.com/en/download/mac_download.jsp?locale=en&returnPage=http://www.java.com/en/download/testjava.jsp

     

    for now. I am not sure about Java7 with App Inventor, I guess we will know more on Feb 5.

    on Feb. 2, 2013, 12:59 p.m. in reply to Elaine Mistretta

    Sara Spiegel said:

    HI Elaine, 

    I am not sure what you mean. Is there a possibility that app inventor won't run on Macs now???

    It has taken me quite a few attempts just to find a working lab that sets up easily to a variety of andriod devices.

    Thanks,

    Sara

    on Feb. 6, 2013, 7:18 a.m. in reply to Elaine Mistretta

  • Jacqualyn Blizzard said:

    Hello there!

    So we have been running into some different problems using App Inventor. We are having issues getting Blocks Editor to open. I know the software and Java are installed. We even reinstalled them to see if that helped. Could this be a security setting from the schools computers or is this an issue anyone else is having? I've been in touch with our school IT person to try to fix it. This is just setting us behind.

    Other than technical issues our girls are picking up the tutorials really quickly!

     

    Thanks!

    -Jackie

    on Jan. 29, 2013, 7:55 p.m.

    Ms. B. said:

    We also had major problems with AppInventor in our computer labs.  We never were able to get it to work.  We finally gave up.  The girls are using their personal laptops for the Technovation Challenge where they all have admin privileges.

    Even so, there were some issues with AppInventor and the latest version of Java.  One of my girls had to uninstall Java version 7 and install version 6 before it started working.  The documentation for AppInventor states Java 6 so that's what I would recommend.

        Elaine--

    on Jan. 29, 2013, 9:13 p.m. in reply to Jacqualyn Blizzard

    Elaine Mistretta said:

    Hi Elaine You may have issues on networked computers where you are not free to download. I could not proceed with App Inventor on networked computers at the high school after a certain point, when we switched to laptops where we have admin rights we were fine. You may want IT there to input admin permissions and advise for use on networked school computers. elaine mistretta Haverhill, MA On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 9:13 PM, elaine_blomeyer <
    on Jan. 30, 2013, 6:10 p.m. in reply to Ms. B.

  • BSC_teach said:

    Anyone else getting the MIT main page when trying to use App inventor?

    on Jan. 22, 2013, 3:27 p.m.

    Katie Corner said:

    Hi there, I start with the link: http://appinventor.mit.edu/

    Then, click the "Invent" button, which should load the browser in your application (if you haven't already signed into a Google account, it will prompt you to do so before the app loads!). Hope this helps!

    on Jan. 22, 2013, 3:39 p.m. in reply to BSC_teach

    annalise said:

    Apparently the MIT site was hacked earlier today, which could have been the reason for this redirect. The link is working fine now, fortunately.

    AnnaLise

    on Jan. 22, 2013, 5:11 p.m. in reply to Katie Corner

    BSC_teach said:

    Was trying to teach my year 10's haha Sent from my iPhone
    on Jan. 22, 2013, 5:16 p.m. in reply to annalise

  • tnjiti said:

    Hello,

    Where can I find the answers to the tutorial questions?

    on Jan. 21, 2013, 10:49 p.m.

    annalise said:

    We'll send all teachers and mentors an email with this doc. 

    AnnaLise

    on Jan. 22, 2013, 5:10 p.m. in reply to tnjiti

  • Gigi Torres said:

    We just packaged the Ladybug Chase Hack and are having some problems (from Jessica Talabera ICA Team 6):

     

    1)  Is the ladybug supposed be at 300 pixels??  It doesn't seem to make sense for the ladybug to be that large.

    2)  Is the aphid supposed to be that small?

    3)  Our ladybug is not moving.

    on Jan. 18, 2013, 4:21 p.m.

    JennaB said:

    Hi Gigi!

    You may need to go back and troubleshoot. The ladybug image size shouldn't be changed. The canvas should be set to 300 pixels not the ladybug.

    From tutorial: 

     

    "Add the Canvas and Ladybug
    • Add a Canvas and rename it to “FieldCanvas”.  Set its Width to the whole screen and 
    the Height to 300 pixels.
    • Add an ImageSprite and rename it LadybugSprite.  Set its Picture to be the ladybug 
    image you downloaded. 
    • Set the Interval property to 10 milliseconds.  This indicates that the sprite will move 
    itself every 10 milliseconds.  Leave the Heading and Speed properties.  You will set 
    those in the Blocks Editor."
     
    Hope this helps!
     
    Jenna
    on Jan. 18, 2013, 4:36 p.m. in reply to Gigi Torres

    Gigi Torres said:

    Thanks, Jenna.

    We decided to use the youtube videos under the resources.  No, his instructions are a little different (e.g., he adds a horizontal screen arangment at the bottom of the canvas with the up, down, left, and right buttons).  Could we just follow his instructions?  

    on Jan. 18, 2013, 8:05 p.m. in reply to JennaB

    Gigi Torres said:

    After reading through, it seems that his instructions are to create a program that utilizes the up, down, etc. keys to move the frog, and not by tilting the phone. 

    No worries.  I will continue to chug along with your instructions and see if I have any further questions.

    on Jan. 18, 2013, 8:14 p.m. in reply to JennaB

  • Gigi Torres said:

    Where do we find any and all images and sound bites to download or do we just google search them?

    on Jan. 17, 2013, 11:35 p.m.

    annalise said:

    Gigi,

    All the images you need to download should be listed right in the tutorial (usually at the top). If you find one that is missing please let me know and I'll fix it!

    AnnaLise

    on Jan. 17, 2013, 11:37 p.m. in reply to Gigi Torres

    Gigi Torres said:

    Thanks, AnnaLise,

    I will check that and get back to you.

    on Jan. 17, 2013, 11:39 p.m. in reply to annalise

    Gigi Torres said:

    Maybe I'm missing it, but I don't see it.  I opened up the LadybugChase pdf, but nothing there ;(

    on Jan. 17, 2013, 11:40 p.m. in reply to annalise

    annalise said:

    Gigi,

    Thanks for catching that! I just updated the tutorial instructions doc with a link to all the assets, and posted it in the course materials section. Let us know if you find any other missing links!

    AnnaLise

    on Jan. 18, 2013, 2:04 p.m. in reply to Gigi Torres

  • Columbia Area Career Center "G33kyGirls" said:

    App inventor does not load to phone.  I keep getting message that the server is not available try later.

    on Jan. 15, 2013, 2:30 p.m.