So you've downloaded Sketchware and you arent sure where to start. This article will explain how to create a new project in Sketchware. After you have logged in, the first screen will look like the one below. This might vary depending on the screensize but I'm sure you get the idea.
The above picture shows the Sketchware home screen. Here you will find a list of your new projects. If you are a new user, then it might be blank... so just click where the arrow is pointing and create a new project. If the picture above isn't clear, click on it... I'm sure it will be clearer.
Give your app an identity
The new Project screen is where you can name your project and upload an icon. This will be the publicly displayed name of your app. This can be changed at any time.
You can also change the app icon on this screen. If you want to change your app icon click where it says tap to change icon. This can also be changed at any time.
Advanced settings
You can customize your app even more by adding your own color palette. Click the blue circle with a question mark if you are not sure which part each color applies to.
Package name
You can also change your package name. Package names usually come in this format:
com.my.appname
You can also customize your app name in the following way.
com.mycompanyname.appname
or
com.firstname.appname
Project Name
This is the name of your project. You can change this to your app name. It does not allow any spaces so you can capitalize the first letter of your word. This will help you identify your projects. You can leave it unchanged if you want.
Once you're done naming and giving your app an image, you can now Click the Create app button.
That will create a new project and take you to the screen below.
The Sketchware project screen
I have highlighted the 5 key sections of the Sketchware project screen. These are:
1. Views
On your view screen there are 2 sections.
a. Layouts
b. Widgets
2. Events
3. Components
Understanding the Sketchware project screen elements
There are 3 items on the top menu. View, Event and Component.
VIEW
The *view* is how your app will look. This is what your user will see. So you can drag components such as a textview and position them on that screen on the right. Then simply click *RUN* at the bottom of the screen. It will create and install an app on your phone. You have created a simple app with whatever you dragged onto the screen.
EVENT
These are the various points at which the user interacts with your app. For example onStart is what happens when that specific activity starts. onButtonClick is what happens when the user clicks so on. So this is where we will be doing the programming of our app. We will be writing code the same way someone would do it on Android studio but the difference is we will be using blocks.
COMPONENTS
These add additional functionality to your app. For example if you want to move to the next screen or to open another app, you create an intent component Don't worry about memorizing what each of these does. For now just get an appreciation of the app. You will grasp most of the stuff as you do it.
LAYOUTS
In this image you will notice that there are Layouts and Widgets. Layouts will determine how items will look on your screen.
• Linear H (Horizontal) Layout
this will allow you to put things side by side.
• Linear V (Vertical) Layout
this will allow you to put things on top of each other.
• Scroll H (Horizontal)
will allow you to place things side by side.
• Scroll V (Vertical)
will allow you to scroll up and down if the stuff does not fit on your screen.
WIDGETS
These allow you to add key features to your app.
• Textview
this will display words or a sentence
• Edittext
this allows a user to enter words e.g. when entering a username or a password
• Button
if you want to add a button to your app
• Imageview
this can be used to display images on the screen
• Listview
this helps display items in a list and it is a key component of chat apps. For now we will stop there
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