Done is Done

I turned in the last version of the Alpine Nature Center app in for a grade today. It no longer includes the reverse image look up, as Judy is working on a database that allows users to look up flowers by color and when they bloom. When that database is done, we will be able to add that to the app.

I can't say enough regarding how proud I am of my sister. She and her husband moved to Utah a year ago after Ed retired. I spoke to Judy then about what she was going to do. I specifically asked her about volunteer work. She told me she couldn't volunteer as she wanted to travel and spend time with her grandchildren. She also told me that if she did volunteer she couldn't do it half-heartedly. She believes that if you volunteer you must be passionate.

Over the course of a year I have seen Judy's passion grow for the Alpine Nature Center. She and Ed have not just helped with the website. They have organized hikes and led volunteers in planting and watering. I am so thankful she has allowed me to join in the fun by combining my school work with her awesome volunteer work.

Here is the link to the final version of the app:

Leaving Well Enough Alone

I got my work done early this week so I could read my niece's new book. It just dropped this week and it is the final book in the series. I started reading it and it is soooo good, but I can never leave well enough alone :(

So even though I've worked really hard and I totally deserve to read for pleasure, I keep revisiting my app. Here is the QR code to what I thought was my final draft.

Scroll lower for the QR Code for the new BETA version

Unfortunately, a different, but just as lovely niece on this side of the pond said she wished the app could help with plant identification, and my instructor had given me a tip on how to do this. I also wanted a drawing app for said niece's kids. So here is another beta version. There are a couple things I don't like about this version. Try it out and let me know... leave the new features in or take them out.

QR Code for the New BETA version

PS things I don't like: 

1) Coloring app. Needs original pictures so the Alpine Nature Center can freely distribute

2) Coloring app. I want it to save the drawings. It can save now, but if you restart the app and save again, the pictures will save over the old pictures. I could just remove the save feature.

3) The identify app has to launch Chrome for the necessary website to work. Most reverse image look up sites only work from a desktop. This works from a mobile device. Problem? In opening up Chrome, you leave the AlpineNatureCenter app and the only way back in is to open it from the icon.

** I'm looking for some feedback, Judy

The light at the end of the tunnel

My app for the Alpine Nature Center is nearing completion. I have a list of things I still need to do or debug

• Add a scoring element to the flower and bird quizzes
• Fix the game icon so it is a little cleaner and more attractive
• The first bird slide moves to fast. It shouldn't even change without someone clicking an answer
• Maybe add a photo submission feature. Android users can use Google Lens to identify a flower or plant from their phone. Once identified, the plant and identification could be uploaded to the Alpine Nature Center through an online form hosted on the website... This idea might not be added on this first iteration of the app, but could be added later.

If you would like to see where I am at on this app here is a qr code to download the app.

I like the new look of the quizzes so much I went into the AI2 program to grab a screenshot of the new quizzes. As you can see, they do not look the same in the designer view, so now I know how to fix the bird from "flying" by so fast. Thanks for helping problem solve that! You guys are the best :)

The Rise of Frustration

I had the app kinda ready to go, but I was unhappy with a few things. In trying to fix a few items, I have broken some features. I am hoping to fix them to be better, if not I will have to revert to my original process. This is annoying because I did not make a copy of my original set up. So I am kicking myself in the butt for not backing up (such a noob mistake)

Here is my first draft:

This is still a work in progress. I was given some good tips about fixing my quizzes. My other fixes include:

• Adding a link to MapMyWalk maps
• Getting GPS for certain trailheads
• Fixing up the look and feel of the app 
• Getting my caterpillar to look like it is moving

A lot of work remains but I am still hopeful I'll get it done :)

beginnings of a new app

I hope I am not biting off more than I can chew, but I have this idea for the Alpine Nature Center app.  The interface will look something like this (without the black guidelines):

I am planning to have static map of Lambert Park, an mini app that allows users to mark where they parked their car, a mini app to choose a trail head - complete with directions of how to get there from their current location, mini quiz on flowers and birds, a link back to alpinenaturecenter.com, and a pedometer. Phew. I need to get coding!!!

My sister Judy should be on her way back from the Holy Land, just in time to give me feedback and fetch me GPS coordinates. Stay tuned, this should be awesome :)

Back From Spring Break and thinking about music

Got back from Spring Break this week. And it looks like I will need another vacation from all of the travel I've put in over the last several weeks. I feel like my work and my school work have piled on me so high, it will take me an eternity to feel like I am no longer behind in everything. I was wishing I was back to just studying music while I made my app this week. My app shows that music was on my mind. I made a game for identifying music and composers. I named it Famous Composers.

I used some of my favorite pieces to play and my favorite composers. I decided to use a clip of me playing one of these pieces for this blog. Then, as I previewed the clip, I cringed at the mistakes I made out of nerves, and it all came flooding back to me that studying music was super stressful! Now I am glad to be where I am.

My app needed a little tweaking as the sound component did not work on all my peers' devices. It turns out the sound component is only good for sounds up to 10 seconds long. The player component is used for longer clips. I made the switch and hope that everything is working well now. Check it out if you want to hear some awesome music. The music is all keyboards and organs except for the Mozart piece -- just because Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is favorite, and even though I love playing Mozart, I've been told I don't have "the hands" for it. It's a love/hate relationship.

On a side note, Spring Break was awesome. We toured the southeastern side of Utah. I live on the southwestern side. We hit 5 different designated nature areas. We went to Bears Ears and offered our prayers. #ProtectBearsEars It's a marvelous addition to our National Park Areas!

For anyone interested - here is a QR Code link to the FamousComposers app so you can check it out on your android device.

Where'sMyCar Spring Break Style

This week I am closer to understanding what is needed for my sister Judy's Alpine Nature Center App. We designed a tracker app where the user can drop a pin and then map the directions back to the dropped pin from another location. I can see how this could be really helpful in a hiking map. I am taking this app for a test drive, so to speak. The kids and I left today for a cross country trek to Bear Ears National Monument. We made it as far as Monument Valley tonight. Tomorrow we will hike up to several of the cliff dwellings in Bears Ears.

My hypothesis is that the tracker will not be helpful in Bears Ears. Our cellular service ended hours ago. I really feel like we are two weeks from anywhere.

It is not super accurate to say that the cell service ended. It looks like our T-Mobile family plan is piggy backing off of Cellular One right now. That pretty much means we have phone service and sms, but no data. I was able to get the app to work in the hotel room because free wifi.

I am thinking this is not going to be a problem with the parks by Alpine Utah as this is a densely populated area with very good cellular service.

Anyway, here is a link to the URL to download this latest app. Future improvement will be to have the google map app open in its own screen to maximize the size of the map.

The Problem with Jet Lag

The problem with jet lag is that it scrambles my brain. I am awake. I feel good. I think all is well, but I make poor decisions; I get disoriented; and I just can't trust my brain.

I enjoyed making the ParisMap app from App Inventor 2 this week. I tweaked it to meet my needs as I am currently in the UK on training. Unfortunately, I shut the gate after the horse got out. I feel my app could have been useful to me prior to my walking 16,000 steps through the streets of London in an attempt to find a bus stop. Had my maps been working correctly - or better yet - had my brain been able to better interpret google maps, I would have realized it was easier to walk back to the Hotel than find a bus stop.

On a side note, my sister and brother-in-law were talking with me at my niece's wedding. My sister and her husband are developing a website for the Alpine Nature Center. They have done a wonderful job uploading and organizing content. They were expressing the desire to have an Android app associated with the Nature Center to help people make better use of the hiking trails and learn to identify the flora and fauna found in Lambert Park.

This app directly relates to their needs. In addition, my sister just made travel books for her family's upcoming trip to Israel. An app such as the ParisMap app could be developed to contain the information in her book while also providing access to interactive content that could be helpful on the trip.

I look forward to discussing these solutions with her when I get back stateside.


Here is a screen shot of my app:

And as always, here is a QR code where you can download the app.

CatFish and Stress

I need to finally acknowledge that I do not handle stress well. While I did party it up quite a bit last week (including traveling 3 hours for a concert, returning early the next morning to get to work on time, leaving work early to catch Black Panther before I dashed off to catch my son's Poetry Jam, cleaning house the next day, getting my hair cut and my toes polished...) Maybe fighting off stress is just another term for "paying the piper".

I spent president's day meeting with a couple of lawyers to prep for my expert testimony on Thursday. That left me Tuesday and Wednesday to review the four extra phones they wanted me to cover as well as research an obscure app used by the defendant. Luckily I didn't have much time to research before today - because an hour after installing the app and running tests, I got an email saying the defendant took a plea deal.

Yay! I won't have to spend the day in court before I catch a flight to London (work related). Miraculously I am completing my homework on time. My stress level, I feel, has negatively impacted my creativity-- but I was still satisfied with this week's app once I completed it. My major concern is that I don't feel as if I understand all of the coding. In the past, I have been able to tweak multiple items as I understood what the coding was doing. I think there was a good chunk of this app that I would not be able to recreate independently. I did challenge myself by creating a pause button. I had to figure out how to pause each process without causing the process to stop functioning.

I left the main character (the cat) in motion as she was a little bit more of a complicated sprite. I also left the health bar running as I was concerned at pausing all of its processes.

Don't Text and Drive

I ran the digital forensics on this case. This is heart breaking for everyone involved: the woman who lost her husband, the children of the mother who went to jail. She was running late to work, her boss was texting her.

I ran a phone where a teenager drove off a steep embankment and died. The text she was trying to read was from her mother.

I don't want to analyze anymore texting and driving phones.

Last week I was listening to an NPR report that cell phones are conditioning us just as Pavlov did to his dogs with his bell (NPR reports that it was a buzzer and not a bell). Often the curiosity to look at our screen when the buzzer or bell sounds is too great for humans resist.

The no texting app, not only responds with a wait message for whoever is texting, it also reads the text aloud, satiating the drivers curiosity. I had some fun with the app this week. I had tickets to go see Jake Shimabukuro this week (about 3 hours away) and I ran the app on the drive up to Provo, UT. The GPS portion of the app is interesting. I expected it to give gps coordinates when an address was not near by, but it just listed location as "unknown". Still, the evil side to this type of feature would be to incorporate it into spouseware thus enabling stalking.

MoleMash

I am starting to feel more comfortable with App Inventor. It is not taking me long to find the right boxes or snap-ins anymore. I am also enjoying the time I spend in it creating. My kids are pretty supportive as I bounce ideas off of them.

I am really interested in developing some indigenous apps. One of my older sons is studying the language. Language apps could help his kids. All of my children are into their native legends. My head is spinning on how one or two could be adapted to an app platform.

I think my kids are really liking this idea, because they are starting to give me suggestions.
My youngest insisted on doing some artwork for me on this app.
He used Adobe illustrator. He had me take pictures of him in different poses and then he traced the photos to make the png. I was amazed at how adept he was at this. It took him under an hour.

I still get frustrated with the app process. I don't know if I am limited by my knowledge of the app2 program or if the app2 program is by nature more limited than designing apps in java or another computer language. I imagine it is both right now, but probably more me than the design program.

In the end I am somewhat satisfied with the result. I put a snip of music to start each screen, however, the GaryOwen them (for the Calvary) cuts itself short. I made each clip around 10 seconds long, but the GaryOwen tune cuts out after a couple of seconds. I don't see how to manage that within the software. And even more frustrating, it didn't do that during testing.













I also completed the MoleMash from the book. I added sound effects and a background.

EasterEggPaintPot

I spent way to much time on this App. I had a really hard time letting anything go. As always (circumlocution) several methods exist to accomplish the desired end. Originally I thought I would need to make six different screens in order to provide six different egg backgrounds for my colorers. I even went so far as to copy all of my bars into the backpack. The idea of six different screens annoyed me so much, I looked again at the "set drawingcanvas background bar". I had looked at it before, but couldn't find any puzzle pieces that would allow me to connect a specific image. I looking through my previous apps, I realized that the "text" field was actually for setting custom variables. I was able to simply write what I wanted as the image back ground.

My other issue was centering. Most of that was fixed by appropriately selecting automatic sizing, or fill parent.

I think I may do another custom paint pot in the future using original drawings. A powwow or Native themed paint pot sounds cool.

First App

I designed my first app this week. I spent a few days getting to know the web application, App Inventor 2 (http://ai2.appinventor.mit.edu). It is a program put out by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that allows anyone to create an app. The interface is puzzle-based and different calls and parameters snap into each other.

I am looking forward to learning more -- my first attempt was fun, but I obviously want to develop more sophisticated and slick applications. I am also hoping that I will learn some of the back end coding as well.

This first attempt was fun. Noah and Jonah both loved playing with the apps

(I did two variations). Problems showed up because my test devices were an Samsung S7 and s8 edge. With the little hands, the screen continuing over the edge caused some problems -- more on the s8 than the s7. Of course, Jonah, the 1yo was trying to double thumb the app, so it only worked when both thumbs lifted for a second.

I liked that I challenged myself with two screens and different responses to different actions (petting versus shaking and two different audio responses). I look forward to the next project. In case you want to check out my apps, here are a couple of QR codes that will help your Android Device link to their download url.

This is the link for HelloPurr

 This is the link for HelloChunk