(MRWD) Media Components Lesson
Media Components
Media components involve images, audio, and video. Apps are created to communicate with the recorders, speakers, and cameras on smartphones.
App Inventor provides several components to communicate with your smartphone. These are found in the media tab of the palette. Before you can create an app using media, you must load the media into the program. App inventor has three different ways to access media.
Use the Media Component, Properties Area, or Set Image to URL Block
Files are uploaded to the Media section of the Components in the Designer View. They become part of the application. Anyone that downloads and installs the application will have them.
You can also assign an image to certain components' Picture property.
Assets are very convenient but can only store a few megabytes. They are used for small images and short audio selections.
URLs and the Web
You can set an image to a URL from the web. Find an image and copy the image address. You need to be aware of the size of the image you are copying to assure it will work correctly.
Use the set Picture to and use the image address for the picture. You can do the same for audio and video. Make sure you use the link that points to the actual file.
These are different components Listed in the Media drawer of the Palette.
- Camcorder: This component allows the user to take videos. You can use it for social apps, video sharing apps, or anytime else that you would want your user to record a video
- Camera: This component allows the user to take pictures. This can be useful for apps that allow users to set profile pictures or take pictures of
- ImagePicker: This allows the user to pick an image from their photo library. It's a good idea to include this feature if you plan to use the Camcorder or Camera components. It will allow your user to pick photos that they have taken outside of using your app.
- Player: This audio component plays a sound. This works best for "long" sounds, such as songs, speeches, or poems.
- Sound: This component is very similar to the Player component, but is best for short sounds, like notification "dings".
- SoundRecorder: This allows a user to record a sound or noise.
- SpeechRecognizer: This translates the user's speech into text. This is especially useful for apps that require hands-free capabilities.
- TextToSpeech: This does the reverse of SpeechRecorder! With this feature, users can enter text and the app will read it out loud
- VideoPlayer: Allows you to embed a video into the app that the user can click on. The video must be a .wmv, .3gp or .mp4 and not bigger than 1MB.
- YandexTranslate: This allows you to translate text into another language. It requires that your app have internet access since it relies on Yandex translate service
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