Creating my first Android app, Part 3

Go here to read Part 1 and Part 2. (Note: I have slightly edited the previous posts, changing the name of one textbox to TextBoxMessage instead of TextBoxNote.)

Blogger is being a jerk, so I had to d/l Google Chrome to compose this. What's that? You don't care? You just came here to eat my brains and gain my app knowledge? Okay, on with the meager meal.

We will be doing something very complicated today: storing notes in a database which can then be retrieved using the ListPicker component. We will be building the functionality behind the [Save Note] button and the [Load Note] "button". The latter is an air quote "button" because it is actually a listpicker element that looks like a button.

One of the components we put into our app was a TinyDB (which we named DatabaseNotes). This database works by storing stuff under a tag. For example, you could store your age ("39" in my case) under the tag "age". The nice part about TinyDB is that it stores stuff even after you turn your app off.

We will store our notes, which consist of a title and a message, to the database using the title as the tag. That way, we can search the database for the title and reload our note.

Let's start with the [Save Note] button. When we press it, we need to save the note in the database (using the title as the tag). But we need to think further ahead. How are we going to get the note back out? There is no easy way to pull out all the tags from the database, so we need to keep a list of all the tags we put in. The way to do this is with a list.

A list is an 1-dimensional array. If that description made things more unclear, then a list is a list of things. So a list can be a list of numbers or a list of names or a list of titles. We will create a list of note titles and store it in the database, so we can pull it out, choose a title of a note, and then load the note.

I think I've talked too much. Let's do some programming. I'm assuming you've opened up your app in App Inventor and opened up the Blocks Editor. First, define our list of note titles:

1. Click [Built-In]. This is where all the build-in blocks are.
2. Click [Definitions].
3. Click [def variable as] and drag it to the editor.
4. Click on the "variable" and type "ListNoteTitles".
5. Click on [Built-In], click on [Lists], click on [call make a list], and drag it to [def ListNoteTitles as] and plug it in. This will define a list called "ListNoteTitles" which we can later store our list of note titles in.

Next, the [Save Note] button.

1. Click [My Blocks], click [ButtonNoteSave], click [when ButtonNoteSave.Click] and drag it to the editor. This will allow us to define what happens when the [Save Note] button is pressed.
2. Click [My Blocks], click [DatabaseNotes], click [call DatabaseNotes.StoreValue] and drag it to the editor. There is a notch at the top of it. Fit this into the spike on the [when ButtonNoteSave.Click] block.
3. Click [My Blocks], click [TextBoxTitle], click [TextBoxTitle.Text], and drag it and plug it into the "tag" slot.
4. Click [My Blocks], click [TextBoxMessage], click [TextBoxMessage.Text], and drag it and plug it into the "valueToStore" slot.

This will save the note to the database, but we also need to save the note title to the list of titles, and then save that list of titles to the database.

1. Click [Built-In], click [Lists], click [call add items to list], drag it, and put it below the [call DatabaseNotes.StoreValue].
2. Click [My Blocks], click [My Definitions], click+drag [global ListNoteTitles] to the "list" slot.
3. Click [My Blocks], click [TextBoxTitle], click+drag [TextBoxTitle.Text]to the "item" slot.

Unfortunately, there is really no way to test this to see if it is working. We need to build the [Load Note] button first. There are two parts: before picking from the list and after. Before we pick from the list, we need to define what the list is.

1. Click [My Blocks], click [ListNoteLoad], click+drag [when ListNoteLoad.BeforePicking] to the editor.
2. Click [My Blocks], click [ListNoteLoad], click+drag [set ListNoteLoad.Element to] and attach it to the notch in [when ListNoteLoad.BeforePicking].
3. Click [My Blocks], click [My Definitions], click+drag [global ListNoteTitles] to the "to" slot.

This populates the list with all our note titles. After we choose which note we want to load, we need to copy the note from the database to the text boxes.

1. Click [My Blocks], click [ListNoteLoad], click+drag [when ListNoteLoad.AfterPicking] to the editor.
2. Click [My Blocks], click [TextBoxTitle], click+drag [set TextBoxTitle.Text to] and attach it to the notch in [when ListNoteLoad.AfterPicking].
3. Click [My Blocks], click [ListNoteLoad], click+drag [ListNoteLoad.Selection] to the "to" slot.
4. Click [My Blocks], click [TextBoxMessage], click+drag [set TextBoxMessage.Text to] and attach it below [set TextBoxTitle.Text to].
5. Click [My Blocks], click [DatabaseNotes], click+drag [call DatabaseNotes.GetValue] to the "to" slot.
6. I'm going to show you a short cut. Click on the [ListNoteLoad.Selection] block, press CTRL+C, and press CTRL+V. This created a duplicate! Click and drag the duplicate to the "tag" slot below.

Test out the app on your phone. Press the [Record] button on your phone and say "test". Press the [Copy to Title] and [Copy to Message]. The text "test" should show up in both text boxes. Now press the [Save Note] button. Nothing should happen: SUCCESS! Next press the [Load Note] button. The screen should go black and you should see the word "test". Click on it and you should go back to your app and everything will look the same. Again, SUCCESS! Okay, to really test if things are working, repeat all those steps except say "best". Now when you press [Load Note], you'll see "test" and "best". Pressing "best" will load that into both text boxes.

My eyes are going blurry looking at all this code. I'll show you how to email a note to someone next time.

Go here for Part 4.

Creating my first Android app, Part 2

Go here to read Part 1.

Now that all the components have been created in App Inventor, it is time to open the Blocks Editor and make the App actually work. Remember, the first part of App Inventor is like the clock-face, creating the look of the app. The second part is the Blocks Editor which creates the clock-mechanism, or how the app functions.

Before you do that, you can clean up the look of the apps by using Screen Arrangements to group buttons together. I grouped mine together like this:
[Record] [Play]
[Copy To Title] [Copy To Message]
[New Note] [Save Note] [Load Note]
[Email Note] [Play Note]

Now, click the [Open the Blocks Editor] button. This will download and run a Java program. You can connect to your phone by clicking the [Connect to Device...] button and selecting your phone. This will allow you to demo your app in real time and make sure it is working.

The blocks editor is like a sand box where you can create blocks of code which do different things. If you are familiar with coding with programs like Pascal or Visual Basic, this is going to look weird. There is no where to type out the code! Not very powerful but very user friendly.

Let's start with a simple one. What happens when we push the [Record] button in our app? We want to open up the SpeechRecognizer app, record some text, and then put that text into a text box. Here are the steps:

1. Click on [My Blocks]. This is where all the components you defined in App Inventor are. Now it should be clear why I named everything the way I did: because all your blocks are in alphabetical order. So all the buttons are grouped together, all the text boxes are grouped together, etc.
2. Click on [ButtonRecord]. For component [ButtonRecord] there is a bunch of stuff you can do to interact with it. These different things are called "blocks". They are colored green, purple, dark blue, and grey. Green blocks allow you to do stuff when the component is interacted with (e.g., press a button). Purple blocks call other programs. Dark blue blocks set the properties of components (and have a puzzle piece shape on the right). Grey blocks are variables which represent the current properties of components (and have a puzzle piece on the left).
3. Click on [when ButtonRecord.Click]. This is one of the green blocks. When the [Record] button is pressed in our app, this block tells the app what to do. Click the block and drag it to the editor.
4. Click on [AppSpeechRecognizer]. Click on the purple block named [call AppSpeechRecognizer.GetText] and drag it to the editor. Notice there is a notch at the top of it. That should fit into the spike on the [when ButtonRecord.Click] block. They should click together. Now when the [Record] button is pressed, the Android built in app which translates speech-to-text should run. Try it now on your phone.

What happened? It should have worked. Except where did the text go? We have to do a few more things before the text goes somewhere. Go back to the block editor:

1. Click on [My Blocks]. Click on [AppSpeechRecognizer]. Click on [when AppSpeechRecognizer.AfterGettingText] and drag it to the editor. Notice that there is something called "result" on the right which has a value of "result". The text that the voice-to-text created is stored in a variable called "result".
2. Click on [TextBoxVoice]. Click on [set TextBoxVoice.Text to] and drag it to the editor. Attach it to [when AppSpeechRecognizer.AfterGettingText].
3. Click on [My Definitions]. The value "result" is here. This is where stuff that isn't specifically associated with any one component is stored, like global variables. Drag [value result] and plug it into [set TextBoxVoice.Text to]. Try the [Record] button on your phone again.

Now what you say should appear in the Voice Textbox.

For the end of Part 2, create the functionality of the [Play], [Copy to Title], and [Copy to Message] buttons. Below is what the blocks editor should look like.

Go here for Part 3.

Creating my first Android app, Part 1

I have an android phone (Samsung Galaxy S - model SGH-I896). I love all the app's that can be downloaded, for practically anything purpose you can think of. Google recently came out with an app creator called App Inventor. I created an app for my phone which I find really useful. I was thinking about uploading it to the Android Market, but that would cost me $25. Instead, I'll write some blog post that will be very very boring to any normal person, but maybe some budding programers will enjoy it.

First, you must install App Inventor. This requires a google email address. (These first few steps are going to be pretty sketchy, because since I have now installed everything, I can't remember what to do.) App Inventor is a two-part program. First, it is a web-based app creator which allows you up create the look of your app (images, buttons, text boxes, etc.) Second, it calls a Java program which downloads and runs. This program allows you to program the logic behind your app. Think of them as the clock face and the clock mechanics.

The most difficult part to creating your app is actually downloading and installing all the appropriate drivers for your phone. This took me several days to do. I had to update my phone to the latest android version (2.2). After much google searching, I found all the drivers for my phone (both 32- and 64-bit) and saved them to a directory called c:\drivers\. Everything finally worked.

So you've installed App Inventor and have all the drivers for you phone. Now it's time to start creating an app. (Don't forget to set your phone to development mode in Settings->Applications->Development.)

If you've never programmed before, you may want to stop reading right now. Sorry I didn't put this earlier. Wow, you are tenacious. Next step is to do all the tutorials. These will help you understand how App Inventor works.

The app I created is called VoiceBox. The reason I created it is I haven't found a notepad app I like. Android has voice-to-text and text-to-voice features which I thought would be great for an app. Imagine creating a grocery list by talking, and then play it back to yourself. What? Why would you want to play back a grocery list when it is just as easy to look down and read the list? This is a great question. I'll save it as a note in VoiceBox and play it to myself later.

You will need these components:

• Eight (8) Buttons named ButtonRecord, ButtonCopyToTitle, ButtonCopyToMessage, ButtonPlay, ButtonNoteNew, ButtonNoteSave, ButtonEmail, ButtonPlayNote.
• One (1) ListPicker named ListNoteLoad.
• Four (4) TextBox named TextboxVoice, TextboxTitle, TextboxMessage, TextboxEmail
• One (1) TinyDB named DatabaseNotes.
• One (1) ActivityStarter named AppEmail.
• One (1) SpeechRecognizer named AppSpeechRecognizer.
• One (1) TextToSpeech named AppTextToSpeech.

Drag all these components to the viewer and name them as above. Your app inventor should look like the screen shot below. I've realized these series is going to take several blog posts, so I'm going to leave it here. Stay tuned for more "exciting" slash "incredibly boring" posts in this series!

Go here for Part 2.

College FUN'd

A recent Macleans article stated 32 per cent of Canadians said their retirement would be partially funded by a lottery win. I, of course, put that Macleans magazine in a vacuum sealed bag, where I will store it for 30 years until it becomes valuable. When I finally do remove it from storage, I'll chuckle at all those dummies waiting for their LottoMax win.

Here is a list of other items which will pay for my retirement:
- Dungeons & Dragons action figures, including a Shambling Mound(TM),
- a box of comics, including the complete run of Power Pack,
- one silver suit, one purple shiny shirt, and one purple sock tie, worn to a Grade 9 dance.

Wait. What was that? Okay, my wife has just informed me that the silver suit has been donated to Goodwill. Good job, honey! Some hobo is cruising in the Mediterranean right now!

To be perfectly frank, I'm still mad at my parents for allowing me to open my toys. I would not have to work right now if I had all my Micronauts in their original cases. Which brings me to the point of this post: my son's college fund. We keep it in a plastic container in the basement marked "Broken Glass and Poison" (to deter and confuse any would-be robbers).

The college fund contains: Two mint condition Darth Maul figures (with a commtech(TM) chip so Darth Maul can yell at you if you tease him about his tribal tattoos!); One slightly melted bar of Fight Club soap, obtained from a screening of said movie; One sealed Pokeball from a McDonald's happy meal (I hope its you, Charizard!!!); One wind-up elephant from the Disney movie Tarzan, again, from a McDonald's happy meal.

I know what you are thinking and I totally agree. I'm too heavily invested in McDonald's products. I had a Burger King cardboard crown in the collection, but it was damaged when the Fight Club soap melted. Note to investors: do not put your investments near a heating vent!

Oh, and I think I put $30 in RRSPs this year too. See you on the beach!

Broken Windows ...

When I was 11, I was playing croquet at a friends house and I put a ball right through their basement window. I was goofing around and decided to pretend to hit the ball on my backswing. "Haha, look, he can't even hit a croquet ball!" I neglected to look behind me and the ball ended up in the basement. I remember sitting in my room later that night, listening to my dad talk to my friends dad, apparently discussing how much this was going to cost.

There is no doubt that breaking that window removed wealth from the world, but not all the world. The glazier that my friend's dad later called gained some wealth, exactly the same wealth that my dad lost. However, this is not the only cost. There was an "opportunity cost" that my dad also endured, as he had to forgo something else (perhaps a delicious steak dinner at Mr. Mikes) to pay for my foolishness.

Some (thankfully very few) commentators have commented that the recent earthquake may be just what Japan needs to "stimulate" its economy. This is a classic example of the Broken Window Fallacy. They could be forgiven for this error because the typical measure of a country's economy is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The GDP is a measure of all wealth generation but not of wealth destruction. This leads to the paradox that building a house, burning it to the ground, and building it again creates a higher GDP than just building it once.

Let's go back to that cursed croquet game. Imagine that instead of breaking the window, the ball duplicated it. Sitting on the ground is the wayward ball and an exact duplicate of the window, frame and all. Since this is the exact opposite of the above situation, it is easy to see what economic results are. We can sell the free window and pocket the money (hello Mr. Mikes!) Unfortunately, the glazier will not be happy when he finds out about our magic window duplication scheme. Wealth is created in the world, but not all the world.

Which leads to my final thought ... on copyright infringement. Copying a CD, a movie, a book, or a photo will indirectly remove some wealth from the owner of the content, just like it the glazier in the second universe. But this will not remove wealth from the economy. It cannot. Just like a broken window cannot add wealth overall, a duplicate window must add wealth.

Diet and exercise ... and diet

Just in case you weren't convinced that About.com  is full of idiots, along comes Jennifer R. Scott with this "nugget" of wisdom:

Experts agree that it's easier to exercise than to cut the same number of calories that exercise shaves off. In other words, it's just plain easier for us to be a little more active than to do without more food to achieve the same calorie reduction.

I'm sorry, but W.T.F.A.Y.T.A? Not one sentence above, we get this:

For example, a 180-pound person who walks at a brisk 3 mph will burn just over 250 calories in 45 minutes.

Guess what else is 250 calories? A chocolate bar. How long does it take to eat? A few minutes. So what is more effective for losing weight? Jennifer, put your hand down. Let the adults answer.

Why is exercise associated with weight loss? The two have very little to do with one another. For example, whenever they show ads for The Biggest Loser, they show an obese person jogging on the beach and then chowing down on a sub. The only thing that jogging will do for an obese person is destroy their knees. The only reason the two are linked, that I can think of, is very active people tend to be skinny. But correlation does not equal causation.

If common sense wasn't enough, how about some studies. After a brief 24.8 second search on the Internet, I found this link which outlines several studies, all of which show that exercise "is not a major factor" in weight loss. I would look further, but I'm losing Rant Energy.

So next time you see an ad or a news story on weight loss and they show people exercising, do what I do, shake you fist at the TV. And think about how dumb Jennifer is.

P.S. I don't know Jennifer and the quality of her other post. She may or may not be an idiot*.

*Note: she is an idiot.

Monkey and who, now with more cats!

Guess who's back for another year of misadventures. That's right, it is the calendar that makes every dumber, "Monkey" & me.
I had a big list of things to blog about, and I even wrote them down. I can't find the list, so I'll have to wing it.

"You stole my idea!"
I watched The Social Network. I thought it was pretty good, but, like Monkey and Me, in contains a line that will infect peoples' brains for years to come.

"You stole my idea!" has its history in grade school. Being a "copycat" is bad. What the teacher wasn't telling the hundreds of snot-nosed kids coloring pictures of horses and spaceships, doing reports on the solar system and natives, etc. is she's seen it all before. Hundreds of times.

Nothing is new. I think it was in college that I realized how dumb I really was. Nothing can be done if you are trying to reinvent the wheel, so the only way to do anything productive is to stand on the shoulders of giants. (I promise not to combine two lame cliches in one sentence again.) You must copy. You must steal. Everything is synthesis. In Engineering, we add things called "References" at the back of technical papers. In art, we call it homage or inspiration. But any creative person knows that they never really create anything new.

I'm interested in screen (and normal) writing. Beginning writers are nervous about discussing story ideas with others. They are worried people will "steal their idea". They soon learn no one cares about ideas. They care about the concrete expression of those ideas. The actual lines of dialog, the descriptions of scenes. That is where the difficulty is. Google and Lycos are both "search engines".

Copyright law recognizes this, therefore only actual expressions are subject to copyright, not ideas. More than that, if ideas were subject to copyright, it could infringe on free speech. Copyright is a government granted monopoly given to creators to make "copies" of their work. Its purpose to encourage creators to make more work and therefore enrich society. The ultimate measure is society's benefit, not whether a given creator is making a living.

Copyright is not a property right. If I make a mix tape and give it to a friend, I'm not stealing anything. I am "infringing" on the creators right to make copies. Some people like to stretch definitions and say I'm stealing some of the creators potential revenue, because the friend may have bought the original CD.

A friend tells you a joke while at coffee. That night, you tell the same joke to a group of acquaintances. Your friend overhears and is upset with you. "That was my joke!" My reaction is to tell him to buzz off. If he didn't want people to hear the joke he should have kept it a secret.

Culture is a conversation. Copyright law must be a balance between encouraging people to speak in the conversation and allowing people to respond.