David Wolber, Hal Abelson, Ellen Spertus, Liz Looney - App Inventor 2, 2nd Edition [2014, PDF, ENG]

AI2 Tutorials

Chapter 1. HelloPurr
What You’ll Learn
The App Inventor Environment
Designing the Components
Live Testing
Adding Behaviors to the Components
Downloading the App to Your Android Device
Sharing the App
Variations
Summary

Chapter 2. PaintPot
What You’ll Learn
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Adding Behaviors to the Components
The Complete App: PaintPot
Variations
Summary

Chapter 3. MoleMash
What You’ll Build
What You’ll Learn
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Adding Behaviors to the Components
The Complete App: MoleMash
Variations
Summary

Chapter 4. No Texting While Driving
What You’ll Learn
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Adding Behaviors to the Components
The Complete App: No Texting While Driving
Variations
Summary

Chapter 5. Ladybug Chase
What You’ll Build
What You’ll Learn
Designing the Components
Adding Behaviors to the Components
The Return of the Ladybug
Adding Sound Effects
The Complete App: Ladybug Chase
Variations
Summary

Chapter 6. Paris Map Tour
What You’ll Learn
Designing the Components
Setting the Properties of ActivityStarter
Adding Behaviors to the Components
The Complete App: Map Tour with Activity Starter
The Complete App: Map Tour (Web Viewer)
Variations
Summary

Chapter 7. Android, Where’s My Car?
What You’ll Learn
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Adding Behaviors to the Components
The Complete App: Android, Where’s My Car?
Variations
Summary

Chapter 8. Presidents Quiz
What You’ll Learn
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Adding Behaviors to the Components
The Complete App: The Presidents Quiz
Variations
Summary

Chapter 9. Xylophone
What You’ll Build
What You’ll Learn
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Creating the Keyboard
Recording and Playing Back Notes
The Complete App: Xylophone
Variations
Summary

Chapter 10. MakeQuiz and TakeQuiz
What You’ll Learn
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Adding Behaviors to the Components
The Complete App: MakeQuiz
TakeQuiz: An App for Taking the Quiz in the Database
The Complete App: TakeQuiz
Variations
Summary

Chapter 11. Broadcast Hub
What You’ll Learn
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Adding Behaviors to the Components
The Complete App: Broadcast Hub
Variations
Summary

Chapter 12. Robot Remote
What You’ll Learn
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Adding Behaviors to the Components
Driving the NXT
Using the Ultrasonic Sensor to Detect Obstacles
Variations
Summary

Chapter 13. Amazon at the Bookstore
What You’ll Learn
What is an API?
Getting Started
Designing the Components
Programming the App’s Behavior
The Complete App: Amazon at the Bookstore
Customizing the API
Variations
Summary

Inventor’s Manual

Chapter 14. Understanding an App’s Architecture
Components
Behavior
An App as a Recipe
An App as a Set of Event Handlers
Event Types
Event Handlers Can Ask Questions
Event Handlers Can Repeat Blocks
Event Handlers Can Remember Things
Event Handlers Can Interact with the Web
Summary

Chapter 15. Engineering and Debugging an App
Software Engineering Principles
Solve Real Problems
Build a Prototype and Show Users
Incremental Development
Design Before Coding
Comment Your Code
Divide, Layer, and Conquer
Understand Your Language: Tracking with Pen and Paper
Debugging an App
Watching Variables
Testing Individual Blocks
Incremental Development with Do It
Disabling Blocks
Summary

Chapter 16. Programming Your App’s Memory
Named Memory Slots
Properties
Defining Variables
Setting and Getting a Variable
Setting a Variable to an Expression
Incrementing a Variable
Building Complex Expressions
Displaying Variables
Local Variables
Summary

Chapter 17. Creating Animated Apps
Adding a Canvas Component to Your App
The Canvas Coordinate System
Animating Objects with Timer Events
Creating Movement
Speed
Collision Detection
EdgeReached
CollidingWith and NoLongerCollidingWith
Interactive Animation
Specifying Sprite Animation Without a Clock Timer
Summary

Chapter 18. Programming Your App to Make Decisions: Conditional Blocks
Testing Conditions with if and else if Blocks
Programming an Either/Or Decision
Programming Conditions Within Conditions
Programming Complex Conditions
Summary

Chapter 19. Programming Lists of Data
Creating a List Variable
Selecting an Item in a List
Using an Index to Traverse a List
Example: Traversing a List of Paint Colors
Creating Input Forms and Dynamic Data
Defining a Dynamic List
Adding an Item
Displaying a List
Removing an Item from a List
Lists of Lists
Summary

Chapter 20. Repeating Blocks
Controlling an App’s Execution: Branching and Looping
Iterating Functions on a List with for each
A Closer Look at Looping
Writing Maintainable Code
Using for each to Display a List
The while-do Block
Using while-do to Compute a Formula
Summary

Chapter 21. Defining Procedures and Reusing Blocks
Eliminating Redundancy
Defining a Procedure
Calling a Procedure
The Program Counter
Adding Parameters to Your Procedure
Returning Values from a Procedure
Reusing Blocks Among Apps
The distanceBetweenPoints Procedure
Summary

Chapter 22. Working with Databases
Storing Persistent Data in TinyDB
Retrieving Data from TinyDB
Shared Data and TinyWebDB
Requesting Data with Various Tags
Setting Up a Web Database
Summary

Chapter 23. Reading and Responding to Sensors
Creating Location-Aware Apps
Using the Orientation Sensor
Using the Accelerometer
Summary

Chapter 24. Communicating with the Web
The WebViewer Component
The Web Component
TinyWebDB and TinyWebDB-Compliant APIs
Summary