How to create an Android App using Google’s App Inventor

Java 6 JDK

App Inventors Extras Software

A Google App Inventor Beta Account – request one here

We are building a simple GUI with a Textbox and a button

A click on the button starts an event that queries the acceleration sensor for coordinates

If the sensor is active and enabled then the coordinates are displayed in the text box

Log into the App Inventor homepage and create a new project – I named this one “testproject“

We want the textbox and the button to be arranged side-by-side so we’re using a Horizontal Arrangement – click on Screen Arrangement and drag Horizonzal Arrangement to the Android screen

Now click on Basic and drag a TextBox and a Button onto the Horizontal Arrangement

We’re going to need the acceleration sensor so click on Sensors and drag a Accelerometer Sensor onto the screen

That is all we need for now in our GUI so save your project – we are going to add some logic now ..

That’s what my screen looks like

The Android Blocks editor is started via Java Web Start – simply click on “Open the Blocks Editor” and run the application

In the first step we want to handle a click event on the button so click on My Blocks, click on YourButtonName and select the “when Button.Click do” Element

Before we do anything with the accelerometer sensor we want to test if the sensor is available, so click on Built-In > Controls and drag the “if test then-do” Element to the first element we have created

Now to add the if-condition goto My Blocks > AccelerometerSensorName and drag the AccelerometerSensor.Available Element to the preceding test node

Now we’re going to define the action that takes place if the button is clicked and the sensor is available – to get some coordinates and display them in the text box – at first drag the My Blocks > TextBoxName > TextBox.Text element onto the if-then element

We want to create a string that displays the coordinates like this example: “x: 134.44 y: -44.54 z: 22.36” so we’re going to need string functions which can be found under Build-In > Text – select the “make text” element here and drag it onto the preceding element

Select from the text functions a text element, click on its label, change it to “x: ” and drag the element to the first position of the make text element

Go to My Blocks > AccelerometerSensorName and drag the AccelerometerSensor.XAccel element to the second position of the make text element

Repeat the last two steps for the y and z-coordinates and return to the App Inventor Website – do not close the block editor yet because the next step requires a running instance..

Here is a screenshot of my result

There are three possibilities to deploy your application: To generate a QR code to download the app in your smartphone, to download the generated apk-file in your browser or to directly install the application via USB.

If your usb connection works with the App Inventor you’ll probably want to use this possibility

Now run your application and enjoy :D

App Inventor Homepage

Beta test account request form

App Inventor Information Site

Getting started with the App Inventor

2018-06-01: Embedded YouTube video removed (GDPR/DSGVO).

2015-03-03: Table of contents and image captions added.