appdesign – Heather Braum: EDTECH Learning Log

App Design Week 15: Debugging Annoyances

This week really had me frustrated with the designer interface. I designed this app with some general computer use understandings that just aren’t present in this interface and that has caused sheer frustration because of its complexity and scale. I’m used to being able to select multiple objects and put formatting on them all at once, not having to select each object one by one. As a result, I’m running into time issues because there’s so much to do.

With that said, I can’t complain too much about this interface because it truly has taught me a lot about programming. Outside of class, I have seen my skillsets with Excel and Access and SQL skyrocket — necessary things this fall with work. There’s not a direct correlation between the interface and these software programs, but the logic we’ve been learning in class is the same when applied to these software packages.

I still have a lot of work to complete on my final app before it is completed on Friday. Here’s the home stretch!

Week 13: Final Project…Blocks Editor Week

This week we continued work on our final project, using the blocks editor. For me, this was the realization that my app is extremely complicated — more complicated than I’d realized. I’m simulating LOTS of different screens switching in and out, and programming the navigation buttons alone took several hours because of all the components involved. I am striving forward, though, and will have this app done in its originally planned design.

I did get excited when I was able to complete one part of the app, using my textbook and the web to figure out how to use the list picker and urls and the activity starter. Here’s an image of that section so far:

I am running into even more frustrations with the app inventor interface — especially the blocks editor. It’s too small, and it’s clunkily formatted for scrolling and moving blocks components around. I also wish it had copy and paste or duplicate functions. That would make some of the coding easier.

With that said, I am excited to see the work of this semester coming together in all the different components of my app design. I understand so much more about logic and programming than I did before, and even if I never program another app after this semester, I’ll be able to use what I’ve learned here in web design and SQL statement writing, and maybe even tackle new programming endeavors, including Stanford’s free iOS 5 course.

Week 12: Final Project Reflection Two

This week I began designing the app for the final project that was proposed last week. I am designing an app that will allow librarians to learn about the CREW weeding method through a brief lesson, take a quiz on the lesson, quickly access the weeding criteria for various sections of the library that are in the method, and access further resources on the web about weeding in the library. It sounds like a very complicated application, but I have every confidence that all these components will be successfully added and accessible. This could be a very powerful tool in the hands of many librarians.

Because this is a complicated app, the current display of the app is quite messy (as you can see at the right). I haven’t started using the blocks editor to “hide” various content to simulate different screens, so the app current looks like this. Also, much of the content will be called from lists within the blocks editor, so there isn’t much displaying at this time in the components editor.

I am pleased, however, at the progress it has made. The fun — and complicated — part begins this next week with the blocks editor components.

One component that I would like to add to this app, but I think is too complicated for this first design (and probably not available in the app inventor interface, anyway) is the addition of a barcode scanner AND a way to connect to a local library’s catalog to search for materials. I’ve seen this done in other library-related applications that have been released lately. That would be a nice addition to this app. Definitely would like to add this feature in the future!

Week 10 – Presidents quiz

This week several lightbulbs went off for me. The biggest one was when I realized that while multiple screens weren’t “available” in the app inventor interface, you could simulate different screens by making different components visible and invisible at different times. I heavily used this feature in this week’s app design.

I also discovered the wonders of calling lists. I’d been wondering how these worked since working with a very basic one several weeks ago, and last week wondered if you could call image files from it. This week showed you can! The logic behind this design interface continues to amaze me at its simplicity. I always thought programming was complicated and difficult, but in this one, at least, I’m finding it very intuitive and easy to understand. I probably have reflected on that statement before, but as someone who has done some HTML work, a bit of PHP hacking, and a bit of SQL report writing, the app inventor interface is simply the easiest “language” I’ve used yet.

I’m excited about figuring out my personal project for the rest of the semester. The possibilities are truly limitless with app designing — well as much as can be done with the app inventor interface. I discovered the hard way this week that it has uploaded file size and total app file size limitations, which limits a lot of multimedia-rich ideas.

Week 7: Ladybug Chase

Reflection

I discovered the importance of not fully trusting the Blocks Editor interface testing through the phone on this app. There was a problem with the image file name I was calling during the GameOver step. It turns out that the Blocks Editor device connection testing is not case-sensitive, but when a app is downloaded to your phone, it is case-sensitive. I’d been trying to call dead_ladybug.png, but had uploaded dead_ladybug.PNG to the app. When the app tried to call dead_ladybug.png, it couldn’t find the image and the app crashed! It took some troubleshooting and some backtracking, as I’d built the entire app up until this point, but I finally isolated the problem and fixed it. I didn’t customize the app’s idea like some classmates, but I did have fun figuring out all the additional places I had to add code, to add the game status, and make the buttons cooperate during their function time.

Download the App by scanning this QR Code:

Mole Mash App Reflection

Reflection

I continue to be frustrated by the limitations of the App Designer interface. I’m not a professional coder by any measure, but I do now how to get code to what I want it to do in most other interfaces. With that said, I had fun learning how simple it was, once you learned the logic, to get an object to move on the screen with this app design experience. I also added some simple customizations to the app that are listed below. Even with my frustrations, I continue to be amazed at the simplicity of this coding experience. I wonder if kids could be using this program, to learn programming skill and logic skills. I know there’s the Scratch project and the Alice project that have similar goals, but this would have immediate results. Definitely would be interested to hear if any schools are using this platform in the elementary, middle school, or high school levels.