It is tool for developing Android applications , all you need is browser (and internet connection).
To use the tool you need to register with Google.
There are mainly three parts to the App Inventor
1. Designer Part - This is the main application which will open in the browser window.
Here we can drag and drop different components (e.g.- buttons, images, media etc) to design our own application.
2. Blocks Editor - This window can be opened from the Designer window. Here we will be mentioning what are the expected functionality of the different components we added in the designer part. For example - what should happen when the button is clicked.
If the intention is to play a music file when the button is clicked , then we will be dragging and connecting different blocks like button.onClick mediaFile.play
3. Simulator - what fun it is if we can not see our world class application in action. Simulator is for that. It can be opened through the blocks editor. What ever changes we are making in the Designer and Blocks editor will be visible in the simulator.
There are couple of tutorials in Google to get started with App Inventor.
I had developed a paint program with out writing a single line of code :)
But do not get all excited, AppInventor is still in Beta state. There are many functionalities missing. I was really surprised at the long list of missing things. For example - there is no way to add menu items. How can Google miss out such basic features? (even if it is Beta version).
Important Links
Note that instead of using simulator you can also connect your mobile. But I would recommend to use the simulator and once the basic application is ready install it in the phone.
The different steps to install application (apk file) in the phone are
1. From the AppInventor, package the application in the computer.
2. In phone go to settings and enable installation from unknown source.
3. Connect the phone to computer as USB Mass storage.
4. Copy the apk file to phone.
5. Phone should have a file manager application. If you are not having one, download a file manager application from Android market (for example - Astro).
6. After this click on the copied apk file in the phone and select the option Open with TaskManager, this will install the application.
