Building an Android App

DAY ONE (2/12/2025)

Purportedly, building and publishing an Android app is relatively painless.

We're about to find out just how much pain is involved in this process.

Just so you know a little bit about me, I come to this with an extensive background in web design, computer repair, and plenty of computer programming. I've also self-published books and music. So, I should be well equipped to learn this in shortest amount of time.

First, we'll use Google Search to find the MIT App Inventor website...

Click Get Started in the subheading of these results.

Next, click Beginner Tutorials.

Scroll down and click on Chromebook (if you are doing this on a Chromebook, as I am).

My Chromebook already came with the Play Store fully integrated into the system, so I skipped this part.

However, I did go into my Chromebook's Settings (click at the bottom-right corner of the screen, in the vicinity of the clock, and, next, click the gear icon), scrolled down and clicked About ChromeOS, and then, finally, clicked on Check for updates.

A restart of your Chromebook will be required after this.

To get back to where we left off, click on this Chromebook link.

Now, you'll need the MIT AI2 Companion app. Go into the Play Store app on your Chromebook. Search, find, and install this app.

In your Chrome browser, open a new tab and paste in this link: https://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu/

Or just click the hyperlink above that I have provided.

From the MIT App Inventor web page, click Projects, which will reveal a drop-down menu. Choose Start new project.

I named my app File_Downloader, as this is the desired result of my app. I left all other settings alone, as their defaults. Then I clicked OK.

A new page will load, a blank slate of an app-development environment, named File_Downloader.

In the second column near the top of the screen, beside Projects, find Connect and click this. In the drop-down menu, find and click Chromebook. With this action taken, you should be prompted in a pop-up window to connect to MIT AI2 Companion. Agree to this.

Back on the MIT App Inventor web page, on the left side of the screen, under User Interface, drag and drop a WebViewer onto your "pretend smartphone screen" under where it says Screen1.

In the third column, under Screen1, select WebViewer1. In the fourth column, where it says HomeURL, paste in the web page where you want the app user to go.

DAY TWO (2/16/2025)

Something of a reboot has occurred in my approach:

I have decided to follow along with this tutorial on YouTube, which is to teach me how to make a Flash Card app.