Assignment: 2.7 I Have a Dream Projects

AP CSP
2016-09-15T19:48:22Z

Due: Sep 22, 2016 by 12:59am

2.7 I Have a Dream Projects

Be Creative! In this lesson you will complete several small programming projects that add enhancements to the I Have a Dream app. Hints and suggestions are provided.

Objectives: In this lesson you will:

continue learning to navigate the App Inventor programming platform;

deepen your understanding of event-driven programming.

Programming Projects

1. Give the app its own custom icon that will appear in the device's app launcher when the app is packaged (built). (Hint: Look in theScreen's properties);

2. Use App Inventor's Text-to-Speech component (Media drawer) to get the app to speak some words instead of playing a speech when the Malcolm X button is pressed.

3. Have the app vibrate the phone as well as play a speech when the MLK button is pressed (Hint: the Sound component has a Vibrate block. NOTE: Not all Android devices have a vibrate mode, which is usually a Sound setting. For example, Nexus 7 tablets can not vibrate.

4. Use App Inventor's Accelerometer Sensor (Sensor drawer) to trigger Malcolm X's Text-to-Speech when the device is shaken.

Enhancing the I Have a Dream App

To get started, open App Inventor in a separate tab and open your I Have a Dream app from the previous lesson. Then complete the programming exercises described above and in the preview video.

Resizing Images and Sound Files

App Inventor apps have a 5 Mb size limit. Therefore not all images and sounds you upload will work in your app. Here are some tools that can be used to resize images and sounds:

On MacOS, the Preview application can be used to resize images. Just open the image in Preview and use the Tools menu to resize it.

On Windows machines, the Paint application can be used to resize images. Just open the image and use the Resize tool.

For editing sound files, Audacity is a free and open source sound file editor for all platforms.

You can also downsize sound files using the free online web app CutMp3.net

Another online web app you can use to cut your sound files is mp3cut.net

Copyright

Many sounds and images online are copyrighted and it is a violation of copyright to include such images in your app. So, you should be careful about the images and sounds you put into your apps. If you want to use a copyrighted image or sound in your app, you will have to get permission from the holder of the copyright. It might be easier just to search for free media.

There are sites that offer free audio and image files, including the following:

Wikimedia commons is a great source of free and open source media. Any files found on its sites can be used in apps without violating copyright.

Free Sfx Dot Com.

Free Sound Dot Org

Free Sfx Dot co Dot uk

Solutions

It is important to explore with App Inventor and become accustomed to programming without explicit instructions. So try out the challenges listed above and see how far you can get.

If you get stuck, -- or, after you've finished, to compare your solutions to ours -- check out this video which demonstrates how to make the changes:

A Sound Board Project

1. Create your own Soundboard app with at least three pictures and three sound files that are played when you click the pictures. Make sure that your app doesn't allow the sounds to overlap each other. That is, when you click a button to play a sound, the app should pause any sound that is already playing. This will require the use of an if/else block.

2. Create a one minute narrated video in .mp4, .wmv, .avi, or .mov format that demonstrates and explains your app. The video must not exceed 1 minute in length and must not exceed 30MB in size. See How To: Create an App Video for help with creating a video.

3. Post your video on your portfolio.

Not optional: Create your own icons, images, and sound files for your app using programs such as Paint and Audacity.

See the Mobile CSP link above

2.7 I Have a Dream Projects

Be Creative! In this lesson you will complete several small programming projects that add enhancements to the I Have a Dream app. Hints and suggestions are provided.

Objectives: In this lesson you will:

continue learning to navigate the App Inventor programming platform;

deepen your understanding of event-driven programming.

Programming Projects

1. Give the app its own custom icon that will appear in the device's app launcher when the app is packaged (built). (Hint: Look in theScreen's properties);

2. Use App Inventor's Text-to-Speech component (Media drawer) to get the app to speak some words instead of playing a speech when the Malcolm X button is pressed.

3. Have the app vibrate the phone as well as play a speech when the MLK button is pressed (Hint: the Sound component has a Vibrate block. NOTE: Not all Android devices have a vibrate mode, which is usually a Sound setting. For example, Nexus 7 tablets can not vibrate.

4. Use App Inventor's Accelerometer Sensor (Sensor drawer) to trigger Malcolm X's Text-to-Speech when the device is shaken.

Enhancing the I Have a Dream App

To get started, open App Inventor in a separate tab and open your I Have a Dream app from the previous lesson. Then complete the programming exercises described above and in the preview video.

Resizing Images and Sound Files

App Inventor apps have a 5 Mb size limit. Therefore not all images and sounds you upload will work in your app. Here are some tools that can be used to resize images and sounds:

On MacOS, the Preview application can be used to resize images. Just open the image in Preview and use the Tools menu to resize it.

On Windows machines, the Paint application can be used to resize images. Just open the image and use the Resize tool.

For editing sound files, Audacity is a free and open source sound file editor for all platforms.

You can also downsize sound files using the free online web app CutMp3.net

Another online web app you can use to cut your sound files is mp3cut.net

Copyright

Many sounds and images online are copyrighted and it is a violation of copyright to include such images in your app. So, you should be careful about the images and sounds you put into your apps. If you want to use a copyrighted image or sound in your app, you will have to get permission from the holder of the copyright. It might be easier just to search for free media.

There are sites that offer free audio and image files, including the following:

Wikimedia commons is a great source of free and open source media. Any files found on its sites can be used in apps without violating copyright.

Free Sfx Dot Com.

Free Sound Dot Org

Free Sfx Dot co Dot uk

Solutions

It is important to explore with App Inventor and become accustomed to programming without explicit instructions. So try out the challenges listed above and see how far you can get.

If you get stuck, -- or, after you've finished, to compare your solutions to ours -- check out this video which demonstrates how to make the changes:

A Sound Board Project

1. Create your own Soundboard app with at least three pictures and three sound files that are played when you click the pictures. Make sure that your app doesn't allow the sounds to overlap each other. That is, when you click a button to play a sound, the app should pause any sound that is already playing. This will require the use of an if/else block.

2. Create a one minute narrated video in .mp4, .wmv, .avi, or .mov format that demonstrates and explains your app. The video must not exceed 1 minute in length and must not exceed 30MB in size. See How To: Create an App Video for help with creating a video.

3. Post your video on your portfolio.

Not optional: Create your own icons, images, and sound files for your app using programs such as Paint and Audacity.

See the Mobile CSP link above