[center] Kodular Eagle [/center]
As you know, Kodular has recently faced with its biggest problem so far. But we were able to overcome it, and thanks to your patiente we have prepared one of our biggest releases so far.
It not only includes new advertising components, which have native commission systems, but also adds a property to the other ones which allow you to pick which ad network would you like us to use for the commission. So, you can pick the one you prefer to display, as some kind of mediation.
And if that is not enough, we added several new features to already existing components, like polyline for Google Maps, Google Play Games component and much much more!
This release has been named as Kodular Eagle
Even though Eagle is not a constellation, it is the modern name for the Aquila constellation
Creator Version : 1.4.0
Kodular Eagle
Release Notes
We have added a to the most important changes
Major Changes
-
New Ads Commission system
No more fixed commissions; you will now pay for what you use: few components means lower commission -
Web View can now upload files
You will now be able to upload files within a web viewer -
Export and import blocks via PNG files
You can now right-click on any block and pick “Download Blocks as PNG”. And you can just drop that PNG file into the workspace, and the blocks will appear -
Added Android Support Libraries for SDK 28
It provides optimized compiled apps for Android 9 -
Now Projects can be renamed
Just click on the projects name at the top left corner, type the new name and hit Enter -
Loading projects now use a new JIT (just-in-time) system, removing the old AOT (ahead-of-time)
This makes loading projects from 5 to 10 times faster -
Deleting screens/projects now involves a secondary confirmation
You have to type the project/screen name before deleting it -
Bumped Minimum SDK from 16 to 19
We needed to add more features, and it could only be possible increasing the Min SDK to Android 4.4 -
New default app icon when none is set for new projects
We replaced our logo icon with a fancier one -
You can now copy/cut and paste components in the same screen, and from one screen to another, and even between projects!
Check the UI Changes, Point 3, for more information -
Added two new languages: Greek and Japanese
Their translation progress were enough to be implemented
UI Changes
-
Kodular Creator has been fully redesigned
Now the platform sports a brand new design, adapted for the modern times. It is based on Material Design 2- You can now collapse panels to provide a better experience
You can now display only the Viewer and the Components Tree in demos, for example - Selected theme will now be saved across sessions
- Added My Account button at Account dropdown
- Moved Language dropdown and Theme switcher to new Settings button in Account dropdown
It will open a new Creator Settings dialog -
Palette now supports nested categories to better organize components
Check below where components have been moved - Added fancy illustrations to dialogs
-
Visibility of components can now be toggled from a button in the Viewer header
It depreactes the display hidden components button at the bottom - Added new phone’s and tablet’s mocks to Viewer
It deprecates the tablet preview button at the bottom -
Components Tree and Properties have been splitted
We took back the App Inventor interface, with the ability to hide any of those -
Removed Non-Visible Components panel below phone’s mock
This has been deprecated in favour of the next feature - You can now click on All Components to switch to Visible Components or to Non-Visible Components
-
New Colour Picker
It has a bunch of default colors plus a HSV color selector -
Added Project Colours
These are the colours which are being used in your project, so that you can easily select them across properties and screens -
Height and Width selectors now sport a new layout
The dialog has been removed in favour of a textbox where you type a number and “px” or “%”, plus two buttons to easily switch between Automatic and Fill Parent -
Assets selectors now support previewing files
You can now preview the selected file in your Property -
Redesigned all dialogs
Brand new “Create Project”, “Baking your app” dialogs, and many more -
File uploader now accepts only legal types
You won’t be able to upload/select a not-supported format - Added more properties preview to designer
You will be able to preview more properties like Checked Switches, Sliders or so in the mock; and current ones have been updated
- You can now collapse panels to provide a better experience
-
You can now use shortcuts to work on the Creator
Check a complete list in the dialog available at the “Help” dropdown -
Added new right-click context menu in Designer
You can now copy, cut and paste components in your project, just by right-clicking on them; and much more like Paste Properties…
This feature will be migrated into MIT App Inventor soon -
Added new Settings Dialog under My Account dropdown
It will trigger themes, switch to compact layout, display experimental properties, change preferences, show keystore hashes…
Companion
-
Companion will show a dialog when an update is available
It makes usage of the In-App Updates component, and it will prevent errors for having an outdated version -
Added new Dark Theme mode to Companion
Code during nights in both Creator and Companion without harming your eyes; just press the button in the top bar
Â
New Components
-
Added new JSON component to Utilities category
Useful to work with Web APIs, for example
-
Added new Keyguard Manager component to Utilities category
Require the app to be unlocked using phone’s security lock
-
Added new Dynamic Card View component to Dynamic Components category
Generate dynamically beautiful cards to place more dynamic components
-
Added new Dynamic Image component to Dynamic Components category
Create more images in your apps execution
-
Added new Dynamic Space component to Dynamic Components category
Use this component to increase the separation between components
-
Added new Google Play Games component to Google category
One of the most requested components will allow you to create awesome games integrated with Play
-
Added new Kodular Donations component to Monetization>General category
A new way to donate to Kodular: this component will make commission go to 100%, so all ads will be rewarded to our account
-
Added new AdColony Interstitial component to Monetization>Advertising category
Insert AdColony ads in your apps
-
Added new AppLovin component to Monetization>Advertising category
Display AppLovin interstitials in your app
-
Added new Facebook Rewarded Video component to Monetization>Advertising category
The missing Facebook Ads component allows you to reward your users by watching ads
-
Added new StartApp Interstitial component to Monetization>Advertising category
Improving StartApp integration, this component allows you to display StartApp interstitial
-
Added new In-App Update component to Experimental category
Requires Android 5.0 or higher
Most people will find this component really useful, as it will automatically prompt users with a dialog when an update is available on Play Store
Moved Components
-
Moved Push Notifications component to Social category
We think it was time to move it away from Experimental -
Moved Shell component to Utilities category
This component has been working properly for months, so we placed it in its appropiate category -
Moved List View component to new Layout>Listviews category
-
Moved List View Image and Text component to new Layout>Listviews category
-
Moved Bottom Sheet component to new Layout>Views category
-
Moved Chat View component to new Layout>Views category
-
Moved View Flipper component to new Layout>Views category
-
Moved Surface View component to new Layout>Views category
-
Moved Web Viewer component to new Layout>Views category
-
Moved Bottom Navigation component to new Layout>Navigation category
-
Moved Side Menu Layout component to new Layout>Navigation category
-
Moved Tab Layout component to new Layout>Navigation category
-
Moved View Pager component to new Layout>Navigation category
-
Splitted Lego Mindstorms category into Lego Mindstorms>Lego EV3 and Lego Mindstorms>Levo NXT
-
Splitted Monetization category into Monetization>General and Monetization>Advertising
New Events
Screen
-
Got Received Shared
: triggered when shared content is received
User Interface
-
Checkbox component
-
Click
: triggered only when an user interacts with a checkbox
-
-
Slider component
-
Touch Down
: triggered when an user touches the slider
 -
Touch Up
: triggered when an user releases the slider
-
Media
-
ExoPlayer component
-
Completed
: triggered when the track finishes reaches the end
-
Social
-
Push Notifications component
-
Send Message Done
: triggered when the message has been successfully sent
-
Connectivity
-
Download component
-
On Download Progress Changed
: triggered when the progress of a download changes
-
-
Firebase Authentication component
-
Got Id Token
: triggered when Firebase gets the ID Token
 -
Reset Password Email Done
: raised once the email to reset password has been sent
-
-
YouTube Player component
-
Initialized
: triggered when the component has been loaded and it’s ready
-
New Methods
User Interface
-
Snackbar component
-
Is Shown
: returns true when the snackbar is on the Screen
-
Layout>Navigation
-
View Pager component
-
Remove All Tabs
: deletes all created tabs
-
Social
-
Push Notifications component
-
Send Message
: sends a push notification to the subscribed users
-
Utilities
-
Device Tools component
-
Is Adb Debugging Enabled
: returns true when the ADB debugging mode is active
Thanks to @cian for this block
 -
Is Emulator
: returns true when the app is running in an emulator
Thanks to @cian for this block
 -
Is Installed From Play Store
: returns true when the app was installed from Google Play Store
Thanks to @cian for this block
 -
Has Dangerous Apk Installed
: returns true when the user has apps like Lucky Pather or Xposed Installer
Thanks to @cian for this block
-
Dynamic Components
-
Dynamic Button component
-
Delete Button
: deletes the given generated button
-
-
Dynamic Label component
-
Delete Label
: deletes the given generated label
-
-
Dynamic Textbox component
-
Delete Textbox
: deletes the given generated textbox
-
-
Firebase Authentication component
-
Get Id Token
: retreives from Firebase the id for the current user
 -
Phone Number Sign In
: authenticates the user using the given phone number sending an OTP code
 -
Send Reset Password Email
: sends an email to the user to change the password
 -
Update Phone Number
: changes the user’s phone number
 -
Verify Email
: sends a confirmation email to verify user’s email address
 -
Verify Phone Code
: checks if the given OTP code is valid
-
-
Firebase Remote Config component
-
Get Boolean
: returns a boolean value from Firebase
-
-
Google Maps component
-
Add Polyline
: inserts a polyline in the map and returns its id
 -
Get All Polyline Ids
: returns all available polyline ids on the map
 -
Get Points From Json
: returns an object containing all points in a JSON string, which can be used in polylines
 -
Remove Polyline
: deletes the given polyline from the map and returns true if it has been removed properly
 -
Update Polyline
: updates the given parameter (property Name
) to the given value (points
) in a polyline, such as points, width and color
-
Experimental
- Shell component
New Properties
Screen
-
Drawer Arrow Icon Color
: sets the color of the drawer’s arrow
-
Navigation Icon Color
: sets the color of the drawer’s icon
-
Options Menu Icon Color
: sets the color of the option’s menu icon
-
Receive Shared Files
: allow receiving a type of files
Enabling this feature, your app will appear in the “Share To” menu when sharing this kind of content
User Interface
-
Floating Action Button component
-
Call Fab Click Event When Label Clicked
: enables triggering the click event when clicking on the message
 -
Call Fab Click Event When Label Long Clicked
: enables triggering the click event when long-clicking on the message
 -
Hide Label When Clicked
: enables hidding the message when clicking on it
 -
Hide Label When Long Clicked
: enables hidding the message when long-clicking on it
 -
Show Label On Left Side
: shows the text message to the left of the FAB
 -
Label Background Color
: sets the background color of the text message
 -
Label Corner Radius
: sets the corner radius of the text message
 -
Label Text
: enables and sets the text of the FAB’s text message
 -
Label Text Color
: sets the text color of the text message
-
Layout>General
-
Card View component
-
Stroke Color
: changes the stroke’s color of the card
 -
Stroke Width
: changes the stroke’s width of the card
-
Utilities
-
Device Tools component
-
Get Device Id
: returns the Android ID of the device
Thanks to @cian for this block
-
Monetization
-
Admob Interstitial component
-
Interstitial Commission
: specifies which ad network will be used to take the commission
-
-
Amazon Interstitial component
-
Interstitial Commission
: specifies which ad network will be used to take the commission
-
-
Facebook Interstitial component
-
Interstitial Commission
: specifies which ad network will be used to take the commission
-
-
Leadbolt component
-
Interstitial Commission
: specifies which ad network will be used to take the commission
 -
Rewarded Video Commission
: specifies which ad network will be used to take the commission
-
Deprecated Blocks
Monetization>General
-
In App Billing component
-
Initialize
: with the new library, it is no longer needed
 -
Update Subscription
: with the new library, there is no function associated to it
-
Â
Bugs Fixed
-
Fixed security issue with extensions
Some malicious extensions were found by some users. These extensions were distributed as “remove commission from Kodular”, when they actually took 100% to the extension’s developer. Apps containing this kind of extensions will fail to build. -
Reduced by 0.2MB the APK Size
-
Only Companion should ask for write permission on start
-
Improved Crashlytics performance
Â
-
Updated Play Services libraries
-
Updated Cloudinary library
-
Updated OneSignal library
-
Updated Facebook Ads libraries
Currently using latest version (5.4.1) -
Updated StartApp library
Â
-
Fixed Navigation Bar show/hide visibility bug
-
Fixed In App Billing component; it was not working
-
Fixed Notifer component which had some Null Pointer Exceptions
-
ExoPlayer component supports now loading sources from external card
-
ExoPlayer component supports now loading sources from internal app data folder
/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME/cache/YOURFILE
-
Fixed ExoPlayer when playing something from Audio Picker selection
-
Fixed ExoPlayer component which crashed with Loop
-
Fixed ExoPlayer issue related to sound on start
-
Fixed Image component which was not asking for Read Storage permissions
-
Fixed YouTube Player issue which was not able to play videos instantly after loading them
-
Removed not needed libraries for Google Account Picker component
-
Lots of minor bugs have been fixed, improving performance
Â
As you can see, this release is bigger than Andromeda one. We added lots of new components, lots of new features and new security measures. We worked with passion in this new release, as we have migrated our headquarters from the Netherlands to the United States!
But what makes this release special is the new design. Now Kodular Creator looks more modern, brining a more intuitive design for a better usability.
More new things will come in the future, and we are not talking about new components or blocks.
Enjoy the new platform, and suggest any kind of improvement!
Happy Koding
@Kodular Staff