Now that you have created a new project and set up connectivity, you are ready to begin learning how to make mobile apps! This chapter will provide a step-by-step guide to navigate the App Inventor web application through the process of building a game app called Fling. You will be using:
- The Projects View
- The Designer (a graphical user interface)
- Palette
- Viewer
- Components
- Properties
- The Blocks Editor (a visual programming language)
- The Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
In Chapter 2, Setting Up MIT App Inventor 2, you logged into App Inventor for the first time, created a new project, and named it, so at the moment, you only have one App Inventor project. Once you start building more apps, all of the projects associated with your Google Account will be listed under My Projects. Every time you log into App Inventor, the platform will automatically open the most recent project that you worked on. To pick a different project, click on My Projects in the top menu bar, or to start a new project, click on Start new project in the upper left corner.
We're going to build a game in this chapter. It will be similar to Pong, but instead of a paddle, you will use your finger to fling the ball. Let's create a new project called Fling. Note that project names containing no spaces must start with a letter. Use only letters, underscores, and numbers. Click on Start new project in the upper-left corner of the screen. A pop-up window will appear, as shown in the following screenshot. Type in the word Fling. Once you click on OK, you will be taken into the Designer.
If you happen to have a previous project open in the Designer, you can still start a new project in this view by clicking on Start new project listed under Projects in the top menu bar, as shown in the following screenshot:
