Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Suitable for: Advanced

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Apps are the programs that run on smartphones and tablets. App builder software lets you build new apps using your computer. You will need the right app builder for your phone’s operating system.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced App builder programs work rather like software for building web sites. You can add text, buttons, images and other ‘objects’ to your app’s screen. To make your app work, you also need to add instructions on how each part of your app will behave.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Think about what you want your app to do. Sketch what you want your app to look like on screen. Label each part of your app, like buttons, lists or images. Describe each feature. That is, what you want to be able to do with your app, and how you will control it using buttons and other actions.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Download and install the app builder software. Even if you use an online tool, you may still need to install an ‘emulator’. This is a software version of a phone, on which you can test your app.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Click to start a new project in your app builder. Give your app a name. Choose a name that describes what it does.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Each app builder looks and works a little differently, but they all include the same features. There should be: a layout panel to design each screen for your app a menu with the objects you can add to your screen a toolbar or properties bar that lets you edit how each object looks an object editor that lets you design how each object behaves (this may launch in a separate window).

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Using your sketch notes, drag objects onto your screen. Use the properties tool to edit each object, for example to add and format the text on your buttons. Your layout might not look exactly how it will when running. You will need to test your app to see this.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Use the object editor screen to design how each object behaves. That is, what the app will do when you tap or drag on an object, press a button or type. Many object editors work by letting you drag ‘building blocks’ together.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Make your app work by creating rules for each object. These rules must cover: the ‘events’ that affect each object, like being tapped or dragged the ‘actions’ that will happen as a result of each event the ‘variables’ that the action will change.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Events work as ‘when – do’: ‘When’ describes what happens to the object (e.g. it is clicked). ‘Do’ describes what the object will make happen as a result. Choose the right event for each object.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Each event must have one or more actions. Without an action, the event will not be able to ‘do’ anything. There are different types of action. These include: ‘Set’: this changes the value of a variable ‘Call’: this makes something happen Your app builder’s object editor will list the actions that you can use for your chosen event.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Variables are the different values that each object can have. A variable might be: the colour of a background or other item a number that the app will use in a calculation the position of where the screen was tapped. Again, your object editor will show the variables that you can attach to each action.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Each object can have more than one event. A button might have events for: when it is pressed when it is let go again.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced And each event can have more than one action. Pressing a button might: change the screen colour and/or make a noise.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Some actions can control more than one variable. Making a noise might control: the noise that is made (eg the audio file that the app plays) the volume of the noise.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Logic lets you control objects and their events in more complex ways. A logic function consists of a test and a result. Each result can then control an action for the event.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced ‘If’ describes the test you want to add. This might be to see if a variable has a certain value. For example, ‘If’ the screen is blue when a button is tapped. If the screen really is blue, the result will be ‘True’. If it is red, the result will be ‘False’. You can then assign an action for the ‘true’ result of your logic test, such as displaying a message saying ‘It’s blue!’

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced ‘If – else’ logic tests let you assign an action for both ‘true’ and ‘false’ results. For example: ‘If’ the screen is blue, the action might be to display an ‘It’s blue!’ message ‘Else’ the action might be to display ‘It’s not blue!’

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced You can combine more than one logic test using ‘and’ and other logic functions. For example: ‘If’ the screen is blue ‘and’ a ‘Choose blue’ button is tapped, the action could be to display an ‘It’s already blue!’ message ‘Else’ the action might be to change the screen colour to blue and display ‘Now it’s blue!’ Explore your object editor to see what logic you can add to events.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Building your first app might very difficult at first. Try some simple events and actions. Use these to get to know how to add and edit objects, to control variables. Start with one button. What can you make it do?

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Many app builders come with lots of tutorials or lessons. These give step-by-step instructions on what to do. They show what your screen should look like at each stage. This is a great way to learn. Start with the basics. Then choose lessons that help you build the app you want.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Test your app on your computer or on a connected phone. Follow the instructions. These will help you start your emulator or connect your phone with the right settings. The emulator is a software version of a phone that runs on your computer.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced ‘Package’ or ‘publish’ your app so you can install it on your phone. This turns your app into software that the phone can run.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced You can share your app with others. To do this you may need to register as a developer for your phone’s operating system (eg Android). This is usually free.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced You may need to install the SDK (Software Development Kit) for your phone’s operating system onto your computer. The SDK is a more advanced way to program apps. Again, SDKs are usually free or very cheap. The installation file may be very large.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced The SDK will test your app and let you upload it to the app Marketplace for your phone. Other people will be able to download your app from the Marketplace.

Copyright ©: SAMSUNG & Samsung Hope for Youth. All rights reserved Tutorials Software: Building apps Advanced Well done You’ve completed the tutorial! Visit the ‘Tutorials’ section of the website for information on using other equipment and software. Or you can visit the ‘Case studies’ section and be inspired to use your new knowledge in creative ways!