Release Notes
Last updated
Last updated
This page lists AppyBuilder Release dates / notes in reverse chronological order. Join Community here: http://Community.AppyBuilder.com
July 1st, 2018 - Requires Companion version 5.01
March 15, 2019 - Requires Companion v5.06 (side-load HERE) or v5.07 from PlayStore HERE. NOTE: If you use v5.07, during live-testing, you'll receive a pop-up that you should upgrade. Please ignore this because we didn't want to have another Buildserver release
OneSignalPush - Added PlayerID property
Texting - Google now limits some permissions in the Google Play Store. Component updated to adhere to Google policy
PhoneCall - Google now limits some permissions in the Google Play Store. Component updated to adhere to Google policy
Map component - Bug Fix: Resolves an issue with using Map tiles (Thanks to Peter)
PushNotification - Bug fix: Resolves issue that PushNotification was throwing error messages on some devices (Thanks to Ken)
Facebook - Updated to latest Facebook SDK
Non-component release. Only UI/UX updates to make blocks-editor use Scratch 3.0 color scheme
Bug fix - Fixed issues with OneSignalPush notification. Now it even works with Android +8 version - (Github issue #8)
New Component - Added new Facebook Interstatial monetization component (Github issue #17)
Bug fix - Fixed the Circle component issue for the Maps (Github issue # 28)
Feature - upgraded AppyBuilder to support building larger apps. The limit is no almost 20MB
Enhancement - Added Volume block to Player component for setting / retrieving Player Volume
Bug fix - Fixed issue with Switch component (Github issue #23)
Enhancement - FirebaseDB - added block to set FirebaseURL dynamically (Github issue #25)
Enhancement - Added DrawPolygon block to Canvas component. Using this block, provides ability to draw polygon shape with +3 sides (Github issue # 29)
Enhancement - Updated AdMob banner component to remove the black background (Github issue #27)
UI/UX updates - minor UI/UX updates
Enhancement - Added Screen1 MinAPI. This is a configurable drop-down property that allows choosing minimum API version from 14 (Ice Cream Sandwich 4.02) through 21 (Lollipop 5.0); thus allowing installation of apps on lower API devices. Default will be 14
Enhancement - Added Screen1 MaxAPI. This is a configurable drown-down property that allows choosing maximum API version from 22 ( Lollipop 5.1) through 26 ( Oreo 8.0). If you intend to publish your apps to Google Play Store, you should use API 26. However, if you distribute apps internally (e.g. side-loading) and do not need to have user grant permissions, then you can use API 22
New component - Added new GravitySensor component. This is a Non-visible component that provides a three dimensional vector indicating the direction and magnitude of gravity. Typically, this sensor is used to determine the device relative orientation in space
Feature: In Blocks editor, added bitwise AND, XOR, IOR to Math built-in blocks
Bug fix: Fixed a previous regression in FusiontablesControl component
UI / UX: In Designer editor, removed the left component panel swing effect
UI / UX: In Blocks editor, added context menu items to enable and disable all blocks
Companion: Now can run on devices 4.x and above
Companion: Devices with lower API (e.g. 4.x) can also scan QR code download AppyBuilder .apk directly onto device
Enhancement: Added backward compatibility to Android version 4.02
Bug fixes: This release is to fix the Permissions issues such as Sharing, Camera
Bug fix: Fixed issues related to AdMob clicks
Bug fix: Fixed issue for Texting messages. If received messages were > 160 characters, only 25 chars were received
Bug fix: Companion was not able to scan QR code to download apk directly to device
Bug fix: fixed variables / procedure color-blocks. Previously there were swapped
Companion and building apps (apk). The min sdk is now moved to API 21. We will try lower this API in future releases
NOTE: Screen1.RequestAppPermission block - Depreciated (obsolete). If you are using this block, please remove from your app
Feature: Updates for target SDK 26
Feature: Per European GDPR requirement, AdMob components now have blocks to get user consent
Feature: For AdMob components, now includes ability to set personalized ads using SetConsent block
Feature: Runtime permissions. Starting Aug 1st, Google requires that app-users have to specifically grant permission for sensitive PERMISSIONS. Sensitive permissions are like Camera, ContactPicker, Texting, PhoneCall, SoundRecorder, Reading / Writing to external storage (File, Image). AppyBuilder now checks to see if app uses these permissions (e.g. Texting). If yes, then it will automatically pop-up a dialog, asking user to grant permission.
Feature: Ability to request app-user to grant all permissions use Screen1.RequestAppPermissions block. This will be useful for extension developers.
UI / UX: Updated user interface - Thanks to Turbo_Programming for his country-flag and UI style contribution
Feature - Added new Snackbar component. This component is available in Effects category
Feature - Added new Sidebar component. This component is available in Effects category
Feature - Added new Decoration component. This component is available in Effects category. It will allow you to change features such as component Margins, Padding
Bug fix - Fixed Switch font size issue
Feature - Switch component. Added updated properties / blocks such as Switch track color
Feature - GoogleSpreadsheet. Added new Google Spreadsheet component. This component uses Cloudstich and is available in Storage category
Bug fix - Fixed orientation issue with FloatingButtonAction. Thanks to Ken Nichols for his contribution and effort to fix the orientation issue
Feature - Updated BarcodeScanner to include ability to scan a variety of barcodes (e.g. UPC_A, UPC_E, EAN_13, EAN_8, RSS_14, RSS_EXPANDED, DATA_MATRIX). For detail barcode types, please visit page HERE. Thanks to Ken Nichols for his contribution to add this feature
Feature - Added DrawShape & DrawArc into Canvas component. Thanks to ColinTree for his contribution and efforts
Feature - Copy Screen. You now have ability to create a copy of any screen. Thanks to Punya for their contribution
Feature - Export Screen. You now have ability to export a specific Screen so that it can be imported into another project. This option is available from 'Projects' menu. Thanks to Punya for their contribution.
Feature - Import Screen. You now have ability to import a screen that was exported using "Export Screen) Screen so that it can be imported into another project. This option is available from 'Projects' menu
UI / UX - Updated user interface
UI / UX - Updated AppyBuilder.com website
Bug fix - Spacer - Updated component to remove background color. Color is light gray
Bug fix - ObfuscatedText - was causing build issue.
Feature - Spinner: Added selection index to list of arguments in the AfterSelection block
Enhancement - Notifier.ShowChooseDialog. Added a block called TitleImage that can point to an asset image (size of up to 150x150). If used, then ShowChooseDialog will display the image next to tile. If image is invalid (or blank), then no image
Enhancement - Notifier.ShowMessageDialog. Added a block called TitleImage that can point to an asset image (size of up to 150x150). If used, then ShowMessageDialog will display the image next to tile. If image is invalid (or blank), then no image
Enhancement - Notifier - ShowProgressDialog - Updated for Material Design look & feel
Enhancement - Notifier - Now includes a socket for progressStyle; 0=Spinner style (default), 1=Horizontal bar
Enhancement - Notifier - ShowTextDialog - Updated for Material Design look & feel
March 07, 2018 - Requires Companion v4.06
Release fixes the the bugs we have been experiencing with below release v4.05 below
March 05, 2018 - Requires Companion v4.05
Feature: Added Spacer Visible component. Can be used to add Space (filler / gap) between components
Feature: Added Break
block. This block can be used to break out of a loop. Available in the Control-drawer of Blocks-Editor
(Thanks Professor Hal Abelson)
Feature: Designer drag and drop - useful when using mobile
Feature: Web - Added UriDecode block
Enhancement: Notifier - Updated so that title background to be white - applies to ShowChooseDialog and ShowMessageDialog
Bug fix: Companion - Updates so that companion would run on Android 4.x
Feature: Button - Added PerformClick to dynamically simulate clicking the Button
Feature: Image - Added ImageEffect block. Allows for applying effects such as invert, binary, blue, brown, bw, green, pink, red, sepia
Feature: Image - Added ApplyShape block. Allows for applying shapes such as circle, octagon, star, triangle
Feature: Screen
: Added block: SetTitleBarCustomFont for changing titlebar font
Bug fix: Fixed the broken Donate link at top of AppyBuilder page
Updated Terms of Service HERE
Feb 14, 2018 - Requires Companion v4.04
Feature: Toggler Component, added TextColor and FontSize
Feature: Web component: Added UriDecode block
Feature:Added WallpaperManager component (Media) allowing to:
SetWallpaper - triggers AfterAction
From assets - use //YourImage.png,
From SD card - e.g. /SDfolder/YourImage.png
From Internet - user http://example.com/some_image.png
From ImagePicker - use ImagePicker.Selection
GetWallpaper - triggers AfterAction. You can use AfterAction message parameter to get current path to wallpaper and set into Canvas or Image
Feature: Canvas: New properties / blocks for FontSize, FontBold, FontItalic, FontTypeface, FontTypefaceCustom.
These can be used for drawing text on Canvas
Enhancement: Map: Use GeometryUtil for interpreting Map BoundingBox
Bug fix: Updated Notifier so that calls for oneButtonAlert (e.g. from FirebaseDB), is now executed using the new style
Bug fix: LinedTextEdit: Fixed underline issue (sorry, custom font still does not align properly)
Bug fix: Previously building apps with FirebaseDB and Texting was caused build issue
Feb 02, 2018 Requires Companion v4.03
This release is to address updates for Notifier components. In addition, the Notifier ShowChooseDialog and ShowMessageDialog blocks can take animationTypes of 1 to 4 for four different types of animation (see below). Any number greater than 4 means No-Animation:
Animate from Top (demo here: http://AppyBuilder.com/tutorials/Notifier.gif)
Animate from Left (great for display Help screens)
Animate from Right (great for display Help screens)
Animate from Bottom
The Notifier now:
Resizes (shrink / grow) automatically based on amount of text
Resize automatically based on screen-orientation
Creates automatic vertical scrolling
Jan 31, 2018 Requires Companion v4.02
Updates to Notifier component. It now includes updated design and features:
Ability to include html tags
Ability to include hyperlinks
Ability to contain large amount of text with scrolling feature
Animation from top, side, bottom (animationStyle 1 to 3)
Jan 28, 2018 - Requires Companion v4.01
Feature: Notifier - Updated ShowAlert to use fancy material design interface with images
(ref 24 HERE).
Block also includes slot for showAtBottom. If true, displays at bottom or at center
Block also includes alertType (1 through 6) for different alert types
Feature: Notifier - Updated ShowChooseDialog to use fancy material design interface.
Block also includes a slot for animationType (1 through 3) that allows you to animate the pop-up from Top, Side or Bottom
Feature: Notifier - Updated ShowMessageDialog to use fancy material design interface.
Block also includes a slot for animationType (1 through 3) that allows you to animate the pop-up from Top, Side or Bottom
Feature: Now includes block and designer property for adding TitleColor (ref 22 HERE) (Sync with MIT AI)
Bug Fix: Map FeatureCollection icon was not displaying during drag
Feature: ListViewCuston - Now includes ability to load images from SD Card (ref 18 HERE)
Feature: WebViewer Added designer and block for opening a WebViewer in external browser (ref 10 HERE)
Feature: Added color palette wheel to designer color property
(ref 25 HERE)
Feature: Accelerometer: Implements a workaround for an Android issue that would cause the Accelerometer to switch X and Y directions on some landscape mode devices (sync with MIT AI)
Feature: Blocks editor Text drawer: Added an “is-text?” block to test whether a value is a string (ref 26 HERE)
Jan 16, 2018 - Requires Companion v3.26
CloudDB Component: New. EXPERIMENTAL - Integrated CloudDB, allowing you to store / retrieve data from cloud server
Slider: Fixed bug. When ThumbEnabled was set to false, Slider Thumb was disappearing
LinedTextBox: Moved from Experimental to User Interface category
UI/UX: Logo update - (_Thanks to Peter Mathijssen for his work)
Extension: Bug fix. UsesPermissions annotation with empty string was resulting in invalid manifest
Label - feature: Added ReadMore property / block. If set TRUE, it will make automatically make the Label expandable and collapsable (Thanks to Andres Cotes for his input)
AppyBuilder needs your support:
http://AppyBuilder.com/appybuildersupport.html
Dec 31, 2017
Map Component: New Integrated MIT latest Openstreet Map component. For more information, see HERE.
Simple Map .aia that was developed by Evan from MIT can be found HERE (NOTE: GPS location services needs to be turned on
MemoryInfo: Non-visible sensor component to get information about device memory and SD Card
Dec 11, 2017
-
AppyBuilder needs your support:
http://AppyBuilder.com/appybuildersupport.html
HorizontalArrangement: Updated IsCard [1]so that it now setups margins all around the border
VerticalArrangement: Updated IsCard [1]so that it now setups margins all around the border
HorizonalArrangement: For above, updated Card border background to match the Material Card color
VerticalArrangement: For above, updated Card border background to match the Material Card color
Feature:
Arrangements now include UseRoundCorners block. If set to false, the Material Design card will use Rectangle corners, else Round Corners:
FTPManager:
Added
DeleteFolder
block.
Can delete non-empty remote or local folders
. For remote, use /public
_
html/folder1/folder2/... and for local use /folder1/folder2/...
UX: When deleting component, now displays GWT pop-up window
Feature: Added Click event-block to all layout arrangements
Feature: Added LongClick event-block to all layout arrangements
Feature: Added StatusBarColor block
to Screen. NOTE: Designer won't show color-change.
Bug fix: Updated ListView TextSize so that it now can dynamically change text size
Bug fix: Updated ListViewCustom TextSize so that it now can dynamically change text size
Memory issues: Performs memory management for loading images and reduces the Out Of Memory issues
[1]
Nov 27, 2017
-
AppyBuilder needs your support:
http://AppyBuilder.com/appybuildersupport.html
Screen: Added padding to Screen for top, left, bottom, right. Padding can be specified as single number (e.g. 5), or 4 numbers (e.g. 6,7,8,9 for top, left, bottom, right)
Layout Arrangements: Material Card representation. New property / block (IsCard) in Horizontal / Vertical Arrangement. If set to true, arrangement will be converted to Material Card
OneSignalPush: Added blocks for SubscriptionEnabled, VibrateEnabled, SoundEnabled
Fix messages in some non-English translations (e.g. Chinese)
Display an extension’s version in the help widget
Perofmance improvement: Prevent error checking on block during drag
GalleryViewer: added Thumbnail width, height in designer with default values
Make TitleVisible property to toggle title bar's visibility (Credits to Ben - @moliata on GitHub)
NetworkManager: New component to get network information, such as below. See doc HERE for details
if connected through WiFi, mobile, ...
If GPS is on
Start GPS options
Connection speed; slow, medium, fast
Oct 28, 2017
- AppyBuilder Gold Support / Contribution?
:o
)
Browser bug fixes
Chrome browser performance update
Now FREE to everyone - no membership required. Just log into http://Gold.AppyBuilder.com
For forum community please sign into here: http://Community.AppyBuilder.com
Oct. 11, 2017
- AppyBuilder Gold -
Bugfix - Chrome latest update (61) introduced issue with drop-down position of pop-up menus. This was observed when in Design Editor. Issue resolved
Feature - KitchenSink: Now includes block IsKeyboardOpen
**
Feature - VideoPlayer: Added ControlsEnabled peroperty / block. Allows you to show/hide the controls. By default, its set to enabled
Feature - UI - Added ability to preview media - (Thanks to Aaron Suarez for his contribution HERE)
Feature - UI: Added ability to drag & drop media files for upload into assets (Thanks to Aaron Suarez for his contribution HERE)
Feature - Switch component - Click event: Now includes 'isChecked' paramter that indicates if Switch is Checked or Unchecked
Feature - Checkbox component - Changed event: Now includes 'isChecked' parameter that indicates if Switch is Checked or Unchecked
Bugfix - Fixed scrolling issue, in both Designer and Blocks-editor: http://community.appybuilder.com/t/please-fix-that-scroll-does-not-go-back-to-top/1246/3
Feature - Added EXPERIMENTAL LinedTextBox component. This is same as TextBox component, however, it includes notepad like lines and is always multiline
Bugfix - OneSignalPush - some devices were experiencing issues at certain times when push message was received. Issue is now fixed
Sept. 28, 2017
- AppyBuilder Gold
Feature - Label: now has Click events can be used to simulate tabs
Feature - Label: now has LongClick events
Feature - ListViewCustom: now can accept SIMPLE html text
Feature - New OneSignalPush notification component (Advanced category) -- See component tutorial HERE
Feature - Label: Designer now provides draggable text-entry for entering text. This will be useful when entering long text in designer
Feature - TextBox: Designer now provides draggable text-entry for entering text. This will be useful when entering long text in designer
Feature - CheckBox: Added CheckboxColor property & block (default Dark Gray)
Enhancement - Spinner: Made spacing between drop-down items wider (when ShowRadioButton is false)
Feature - Added
Windows USB Live Testing
ability. Download the installer zip file from
and unzip and run the .msi instller app, which will install AppyBuilder-installer-app into "
C:
\Program Files
(
x86
)
\AppyBuilder Starter
" folder. It will also create a shortcut on your Desktop:
Follow setup direction
BugFix - WebViewer geolocation was not working properly
BugFix: ListViewCustom AfterDeleting was returning a zero-based position of deleted-item. Its been updated so that it is now starts from 1. See HERE for details
Documentation: GalleryViewer AfterPicking block. Fixed block tooltip
BugFix: Fixes a bug where the block position in older projects was sometimes forgotten. See HERE for details
Aug 29, 2017 -
- AppyBuilder Gold
Bug fix - Camera component update. Flash was not working on some devices. Now fixed
Bug fix - ListViewCustom - text now shows left-aliged instead of centered
Bug fix - ListViewCustom - Now can change FontSize
Feature - ListViewCustom - New block for changing image size
Feature - Spinner - now you can set background color
Feature - Spinner - now you ShowRadioButtons for it
Feature - UI - Minor UI/UX updates
Feature - New Switch component
Feature - New RatingBar component
Feature - New 3D shadow effect BLOCK (SetShadow) for Label
Feature - New 3D shadow effect BLOCK (SetShadow) for TexBox
Feature - New 3D shadow effect BLOCK (SetShadow) for CheckBox
Feature - New 3D shadow effect BLOCK (SetShadow) for Button
Feature - New 3D shadow effect BLOCK (SetShadow) for ListPicker
Aug 29, 2017 -
- AppyBuilder Gold -
Same as before, No need to re-install
Just a non-component release that included enhancement to Design Editor. It now includes Android phone background frame for the phone viewer
Aug 21, 2017 -
- AppyBuilder Gold
New component - Added AdMob Rewards Video - This component can be found under Monetize category
New Component - Millenium Media Interstitial Ad - This component can be found under Montetize category
July 26, 2017 -
- AppyBuilder Gold
Bug fix - Creating new projects or even opening old projects, could’ve loaded some default extensions. This issue is now resolved.
July 24, 2017 -
- AppyBuilder Gold
Sound component - Added PlayRate
ListView component - AfterDeleting block now includes position (of the deleted item - index)
Notifier component - Now includes Linkify for enabling the hyperlinks
New ListViewCustom component -. Same as ListView, but now can include image and list item
New ListPickerCustom component - Same as ListPicker, but now can include image and list item
June 29, 2017 -
- AppyBuilder Gold
Bug fix: Fixed crash for GoogleMap
Fixed issue with companion crashing on some devices
June 26, 2017 -
- AppyBuilder Gold
Added ability to include PackageName as a Screen1 property. Can be used even for apps with multiple screens
Includes latest MIT AI updates below:
MIT AI Changes between nb155 and nb156 (May 25, 2017)
This is a non-component release, however it is a significant release because of a major upgrade to the Blocks Editor.
Added the ability to zoom the workspace in/out. Zooming gestures include:
Click the +/- buttons in the lower left corner above the trashcan.
Ctrl+Mouse wheel on a mouse.
Multi-touch trackpad users with Chrome, zooming can also be done with the pinch/expand gesture.
Added the ability to pan the workspace. Panning gestures include:
Mouse wheel up/down will pan the view vertical.
Wheels with 2-dimensional scrolling can also pan left/right.
Multi-touch trackpad users can pan in two dimensions using two-finger scrolling.
Added Reset to center button will set the zoom back to 1:1 and move to the center of the blocks workspace.
Added workspace grid. Right-clicking (Ctrl+Click on Mac) on the workspace brings up a context menu with "Enable Workspace Grid" option. This option is a user setting and will persist across workspaces and across App Inventor sessions.
Added workspace snapping. If the grid is enabled, another menu option "Enable Snap to Grid" will be available. Enabling this option will make the top-left corner of blocks snap to the nearest grid point. This option is a user setting and will persist across workspaces and across App Inventor sessions.
April 07, 2017 -
- AppyBuilder Gold
Sync with MIT AI nb154a and nb155
Make the Backpack persistent – If you leave AppyBuilder with blocks left in your backpack, they will be there the next time you login
Updates to better support newer versions of Android
Webviewer - Added new blockLoadHtmlblockwhich will allow you to useTextblock to type in any valid HTML string
Webviewer now includes ability to upload files from local device
Webviewer now includes ability to take picture for directly uploading to server. From Designer, just set AllowCamera to true (NOTE: You will need to drag-n-drop a Camera component for this to work)
PasswordTextBox - Fixed Bug
Oct 15, 2018 - Same companion (V 5.05) - no update required
Oct 13, 2018 - Requires Companion Version 5.05
Sept 18, 2018 - Requires Companion Version 5.04
New Component - Added new Airtable spreadsheet component (thanks to Jerin Jacob). This is non-visible Storage component that provides access to Airtable.com spreadsheets; allowing to use as alternative for storing and manipulating data in cloud. Sign up HERE
August 9, 2018 - Requires Companion Version 5.03
July 31st, 2018 Requires Companion version 5.02
March 20, 2018 - Requires Companion v4.07
