Rapid Application Development

Chapter 7: Development RAD with CASE tool: App Inventor

And Cloud computing Technology

Dr.Orawit Thinnukool

College of Arts, Media and Technology, Chiang Mai University

Cr: appinventor.org

Contents

- Introduction to App Inventor

- Characteristics Cloud computing

- App Inventor Process

- Preparing App Inventor environment

- Learning App Inventor tools

MIT App Inventor is the fastest way to build apps for

Android phones and tablets. Even with no prior experience,

you can learn to build apps within hours. You'll learn from

USF Professor David Wolber, who has been teaching

beginners programming with App Inventor since its inception

in 2009.

Introduction to App Inventor

Professor David Wolber

- Cloud computing is a recently evolved computing terminology

or metaphor based on utility and consumption of computing

resources.

-Cloud computing involves deploying groups of remote servers

and software networks that allow centralized data storage and

online access to computer services or resources. Clouds can be

classified as public, private or hybrid.

- App Inventor also used Cloud computing technology to

contribute android application.

Introduction to App Inventor

If you do not have an Android phone or

tablet, you can still build apps with App

Inventor.

App Inventor provides an Android emulator,

which works just like an Android but

appears on your computer screen. So you

can test your apps on an emulator and still

distribute the app to others, even through

the Play Store. Some schools and after-

school programs develop primarily on

emulators and provide a few Androids for

final testing.

Introduction to App Inventor

Characteristics Cloud computing

Cloud computing exhibits the following key characteristics:

Agility improves with users' ability to re-provision technological

infrastructure resources.

Source: thumbsup.in.th

Service models of Cloud computing

Cloud computing providers offer their services according to

several fundamental models

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

IaaS clouds often offer additional resources such as a virtual-

machine disk image library, raw block storage, and file or

object storage.

There is type of facility service such as storage which they

supports the virtualization for software and application .

-Support to fix the problem of Down Time

- High Cost

Service models of Cloud computing

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

-Cloud providers services of Software and Application

manage via internet system.

-SaaS is sometimes referred to as "on-demand software"

and is usually priced on a pay-per-use basis or using a

subscription fee (rent). Cost of rent depends on number of

users and rent-time .

- Low cost maintenance

Platform as a service (PaaS)

- In the PaaS models, cloud providers deliver a computing

platform, typically including operating system, programming

language execution environment, database, and web server.

1.Application programming interface (API) accessibility to

software that enables machines to interact with cloud software in

the same way that a traditional user interface (e.g., a computer

desktop) facilitates interaction between humans and computers.

2.Cost reductions claimed by cloud providers. A public-cloud

delivery model converts capital expenditure to operational

expenditure.

3.Device and location independence enable users to access

systems using a web browser regardless of their location or what

device they use (e.g., PC, mobile phone). As infrastructure is off-

site (typically provided by a third-party) and accessed via the

Internet, users can connect from anywhere.

Advantage Cloud computing

Characteristics Cloud computing

4.Maintenance of cloud computing applications is easier,

because they do not need to be installed on each user's

computer and can be accessed from different places.

5.Performance is monitored, and consistent and loosely

coupled architectures are constructed using web services as the

system interface.

6.Productivity may be increased when multiple users can work

on the same data simultaneously, rather than waiting for it to be

saved and emailed. Time may be saved as information does not

need to be re-entered when fields are matched, nor do users

need to install application software upgrades to their computer.

Characteristics Cloud computing

7.Reliability improves with the use of multiple redundant sites,

which makes well-designed cloud computing suitable

for business continuity and disaster recovery.

8. Scalability and elasticity via dynamic ("on

demand") provisioning of resources on a fine-grained, self-

service basis in near real-time. For example, App inventor calls

program function via web browser.

Setting up phone or emulator Before you

can start working with App Inventor, a few

things need to happen. Depending on what

brand of phone you have, you need to

download the drivers for your phone so that

the computer and the phone can

communicate.

Google and put phone model and

manufacturer into a search and you should

find the correct drivers. If you can't find them

right away, be sure to ask a counselor for

help. If you don’t have a phone then you

should be all set, as App Inventor has a built

in emulator that will simulate what you would

see on a phone if one was connected to the

computer

Preparing App Inventor environment

Installing the App Inventor Setup software package.

This step is the same for all Android devices, and the same

for Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

If you choose to use the USB cable to connect to a device,

then you'll need to install Windows drivers for your Android

phone.

Download: http://appinv.us/aisetup_windows

Preparing App Inventor environment

4

>> Install and run to setup JAVA RUNTIME

Preparing App Inventor environment

Click 5

Preparing App Inventor environment

Click 6

Preparing App Inventor environment

Click 7

Preparing App Inventor environment

Click to download and Install

8

Preparing App Inventor environment

Click to start App inventor

Click to create new project

9

10

Starting to project Go to

http://beta.appinventor.

mit.edu/ for download

an application

Starting to App Inventor

Username of developer

Learning App Inventor tools

Click to start a new project. 12