MIT App Inventor

Mentors: Student: Zikun (Zayden) Zhu

Teachers cannot assign, collect, or grade App Inventor projects through their LMS. They share project links manually, collect screenshots, and enter grades by hand. This project builds a Google Classroom integration so teachers can create assignments linked to template projects, students can submit completed projects to Classroom, and teachers can return grades without leaving their normal workflow. The backend introduces an LmsService interface so that adding Canvas or Moodle support later requires only a new provider class. Deliverables are tiered: minimum (OAuth2 plus course listing plus assignment creation), target (full create-distribute-submit lifecycle with error handling), and stretch (GWT UI plus grade passback plus integration tests).

Mentors: Student: Akash Gite

This project aims to introduce a scalable and maintainable internationalization (i18n) system for applications built using MIT App Inventor. Currently, App Inventor does not provide a structured approach for handling multi-language support, making it difficult for developers to create globally accessible apps. The proposed solution introduces a key-based translation system that decouples user-visible text from UI components. The system integrates across multiple layers of App Inventor, including the Designer, Blockly, runtime, and build system, enabling automatic translation handling in generated applications. Key features include: - Automatic detection of user-visible text from component properties and Blockly blocks - A centralized translation editor for managing multi-language content - Context-based key generation to ensure stability and avoid ambiguity - Runtime translation using JSON for flexibility during development (Companion) - Build-time generation of native Android/iOS resources for efficient production builds The system is designed to be fully backward compatible and supports progressive adoption, allowing existing projects to continue working while enabling developers to gradually migrate to the new translation model. Deliverables include: - A working runtime translation system for App Inventor apps - Integration with Blockly for key-based text handling - Designer-level synchronization and key management - Build-time resource generation for native localization - End-to-end tested implementation with documentation

Mentors: Student: Mekala Jaya Nanda Prabhas

This project focuses on redesigning the ListView component in MIT App Inventor to address key architectural, performance, and cross-platform consistency issues. Currently, the component suffers from inefficient full adapter rebuilds, lack of a structured data model, and inconsistencies between Android and iOS implementations. These issues lead to performance overhead, unreliable behavior, and poor developer experience, especially for beginners. To solve this, the project introduces a structured, phased approach: Core Refactor (Reliability): Introduce a dedicated ListDataModel to manage items, selection state, and filtering. This eliminates full adapter reconstruction and enables efficient incremental updates. Cross-Platform Consistency (Continuity): Establish a behavioral contract and parity tracking system to systematically align Android and iOS implementations, fixing missing features, type mismatches, and runtime inconsistencies. API Expansion (Extensibility): Add block-level operations such as AddElement, RemoveElement, UpdateElement, ScrollToElement, and SelectionElements, along with full multi-select support. User Experience Improvements: Enhance the Designer with a UIBinder-based list editor, keyboard navigation, and introduce a swipeable (carousel-style) layout for modern UI interaction. Deliverables Modular ListDataModel architecture with incremental update support Eliminated full adapter rebuilds and improved performance Android–iOS feature parity with validated behavior New block-level APIs and multi-select functionality Redesigned Designer editor with improved usability Swipeable ListView layout implementation Comprehensive testing, documentation, and backward compatibility assurance This project aims to make ListView more scalable, consistent, and beginner-friendly, while establishing a maintainable foundation for future enhancements.

Mentors: Student: Lakshya Shishir

This GSoC proposal aims to create an Assets Library for MIT App Inventor, addressing the challenge of managing assets (images and sounds) across multiple projects. The solution involves developing a responsive Designer panel, distinct from the AssetListBox, to upload, organize, and import assets. I’ll leverage the UserFileData structure for user-specific storage, integrate with Google Cloud Storage (GCS), and refactor existing UploadServlet logic for robust validation. Deliverables include a drag-and-drop UI, folder-based organization, batch import functionality, and UX enhancements like search and error handling. This 175-hour project, spanning June 2 to August 25, 2025, will enhance workflow efficiency for educators, students, and developers, aligning with App Inventor’s mission to simplify app creation.

Mentors: Student: d1vyanshu-kumar

App Inventor is becoming increasingly popular among users accessing the platform through mobile phones and handheld devices. In response to this trend, this project aims to implement an enhanced user interface tailored for smaller screens. By leveraging GWT's UiBinder framework, we will introduce flexible interface layouts that adapt to both device type and user preferences, ensuring a seamless and practical experience for mobile users. Deliverables will include optimized interface designs and usability improvements for small-screen devices, aligning with the growing accessibility of handheld technology globally.