App Inventor: Create apps for Android in a simple-visual way

App Inventor is a development environment that allows you to create apps in a simple and visual way and without being a mobile developer. You don’t have to know java to start using this tool because you can design an intuitive app from different modules that allow you to predict the behaviour of your application.

To start using it you just need a web browser and a phone with Android operating system connected to your computer to view your application. Even if you do not have the latter, you will see your progress on an emulator. You will work with two basic tools: App Inventor Designer, with which you will create the user interface, that is you will define how the interaction with your client in the app will be, and App Inventor Blocks Editor, which will define the behaviour of the components of your application .

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How does App Inventor work?

First, you must enter a web browser, enter the URL of App Inventor and create apps as new projects. Then the web browser opens Designer (App Inventor Designer) which is the tool where you can choose the components for your application. The components are “parts” that form your application, its functionality and features. Each of the components has its properties that you can also modify to adapt to the results you want. For example, there is a component called “button” that after incorporating it into your application, when clicked it will develop a specific action that you previously configured by changing the properties of the used component.

The second key tool is Blocks Editor (App Inventor Blocks Editor). To display this tool, you need to connect your phone to your computer using a USB cable. Next, you need to click on “Open the Blocks Editor”. Automatically it will be downloaded and you will see a file called AppInventorForAndroidCodeblocks.jnlp that you must also open. Then the application that you are editing should appear on the screen of your phone android. With Blocks Editor we will define how the components you previously selected in the Designer will behave. You will tell the components what to do and when. For example, when the user presses a certain button, a sound will be played and a given action will be performed.

Finally, to make your application run without being connected to the App Inventor, you must perform one last step: pack your application. To do this, you must click Application Package and create an Apk. File. Then the Designer will offer you three options: download your app on the connected phone, download it to your computer as a. Apk file for its later distribution or generate a bar code that allows you to download the app for your phone later.

Congratulations! Now you can create a mobile application with these simple steps. App Inventor is a powerful tool that helps you in the way to create apps without being an expert. Anyway, if your application is too complicated to be created with this tool or you need it to be developed for other operating systems, we invite you to post your project at Yeeply platform where more than 2600 developers are waiting for you.

How does App Inventor work?

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