Basic4Android

[Guest mistermentality]

Is anyone using Basic4Android to write their android apps?

I have downloaded the trial version and it seems a great idea (I tried going from appinventor to Eclipse and the Android SDK, however I know nothing about Java and it was over complicated for a newb).

The language seems similar to old school BASIC which I used to use and seems easy to pick up with a bit of study but some features are disabled in the trial and I was wondering what some one who has used it thinks.

It seems very affordable but not well known, I found it by accident in a google search, so if anyone is using this for apps would you care to post on whether it's worth buying?

I like app inventor but I want to do more than it allows, like running an app as a background service and working with files stored on external storage, is Basic4Android a good way to go for someone who finds Java awkward to get into?

Dave

[Guest Erel]

I'm the owner of Basic4android.

The idea behind Basic4android is to provide a simple environment for developers, but without losing performance or features.

Most users will find it much easier than developing with Eclipse + Java.

It also includes a real WYSIWYG visual designer so there is no need to write any XML.

Basic4android

[Guest mistermentality]

I'm the owner of Basic4android.

The idea behind Basic4android is to provide a simple environment for developers, but without losing performance or features.

Most users will find it much easier than developing with Eclipse + Java.

It also includes a real WYSIWYG visual designer so there is no need to write any XML.

Basic4android

I just came on here to post what I thought for others who might be interested and saw your reply, you answered my rather newbie questions earlier on the B4A forums so thank you for that, and B4A :huh:

For anyone else reading this I have to say I downloaded the trial and as Erel says it is soooooo much easier than Eclipse. I have gone from using app inventor for single screen basic apps to being able to do multi tabbed apps with more advanced features and if you have any knowledge of visual basic or, in my case the old school basic from the days of the Spectrums and Commodores, you will find this pretty straight forward.

It is very easy to pick up and even with some features not available in the trial you can do complex and advanced apps and I'm looking forward to using the locked features when I purchase it, I am surprised no one posted about it before though as it's exactly what I and probably a lot of others have been looking for with its ease of use (I did try Eclipse and Java but that was a no go for me as even basic apps were quite tricky for a newb like myself).

I read somewhere (may have been on the B4A site) that you can have apps up and running in five or ten minutes, and whoever said it was correct you can.

Despite the fact it can create very complex apps what attracted me at first was that I can use it to do apps that will run as background services and, whereas with app inventor my pre stored data was stored in a database I set up on googles site, with this I can save all my data into a file and have it included with the apk so for me it means I can have bigger databases and the end user doesn't require internet access because I can have all the data stored on an sd card.

Put simply I think it's brilliant and am already looking to rewrite some apps I have on the market that were created with app inventor so I can add more features and improve them.

You do need the Java and Android development software installed to use B4A, all free, but if like me you have any apps on the market you will already have these installed and if not they are free.

Well worth a look.

Dave

[Guest Erel]

Thank you Dave for this great feedback.

Next week we plan to release v1.3. The new version will allow you to connect the IDE to physical devices over the wifi network (relevant for devices that do not support the native adb tool).