April (Citizen) Developer Challenge – SAP Build Apps: Task 0

[Dan_Wroblewski]

The challenge is now over. See our wrap-up blog.

Welcome to the SAP Build Apps Community Challenge, a set of small challenges to help you get to know SAP Build Apps a little better, whether you’re a beginner or experienced user.

The challenges so far:

• Task 0: Set Up SAP Build Apps (this post)
• Task 1: OData 
• Task 2: Formulas
• Task 3: Theming, Styling and Layout Design
• Task 4: Mobile device capabilities

If you do all the challenges – each taking the time of your lunch hour (but don’t skip eating lunch 🍜) – you will learn a lot:

• How to set up SAP Build Apps on your trial account
• How to import projects
• How to manage the layout of your app
• How to create a custom menu, and position it anywhere on the screen
• How to play sounds in your app
• How to determine if your app is running on the web or on a device
• How to call APIs
• How to filter, sort, and paginate your OData calls to SAP backends
• How to open an external browser
• How to embed web pages inside your app
• How to create a full-page background
• How to open the phone’s camera from your app (and select back or front camera)
• How to take pictures with your phone and use them in your app
• How to store pictures in your app
• How to create transparency, rounded corners and other visual effects
• … and a lot more.

For every one of the challenges, you will be asked to provide:

• A hashed GUID from the correct answer
• (Optional) A screenshot of your app, showing modifications we’ll ask you to make.

For these challenges, we will use the hashing service introduced by @qmacro (DJ Adams) for his API challenge back in August. The service lets you take a text string, hash it to a GUID so that we can tell if you were correct but prevent others from seeing the correct answer.

GOOD NEWS: In the skeleton app we will give you, we have taken care of the connection to the service, providing an easy way for you to provide your answer.

Let’s get started.

👉Your Task

Part I – Set Up SAP Build Apps

• Create a SAP BTP trial account on the US EAST (VA) – AWS region, if you haven’t already. For instructions on setting up an account, see Get a Free Account on SAP BTP Trial.
• Set up SAP Build Apps on your trial account. Follow this simple 2-minute video:

At the end, make sure you can open the SAP Build lobby.

• Install the SAP Build Apps preview app on your mobile phone/device.
  • iOS App
  • Android App

Installing the app is simple – just search for SAP Build Apps Preview. But for more help watch this 2-minute video:

Make sure to give this app permission to use your device's camera.

REMINDER: With the trial, you will be on the US10 landscape and must log in on the preview app using Other login options.

 

Part II

Next, you will have some fun and make sure everything is connected, and get a little preview of some of the capabilities of SAP Build Apps.

If you want to review the basics of building apps with SAP Build Apps works, feel free to watch the SAP Build Apps playlist (new videos all the time).

• Download our fun little app. You will use this app for the next 3 challenges. 

Upload the project to SAP Build Apps and open it (you can import projects in the lobby).

• Inside the project, go to the app variables and set the initial value for the CommunityID to your community ID. This ID enables you to hash your text answers so the GUID you submit is unique to you, and allows us to check that you got it right.

• Go to the Launch tab:
  • If you have an iOS device, run the app in the SAP Build Apps Preview App on your device – not on your laptop.
  • If you have an Android device, run the the app on the web preview.

• Using the app, take a picture (iOS) or upload a picture (Android). Either way, click Add My Picture.
• Take a screenshot (showing your picture and community ID).
• Find on the app a place to tap so that a hidden message is revealed. Use the force to find it. This is the secret message you will need to hash and will automatically be saved for you once you find it.
• Go to the Submit page by clicking the hash icon.

Here, the secret phrase and your community ID were already entered (though you can always enter them manually).

• Click Hash.
• Reply to this discussion thread and post the hash you received, followed by the screenshot. To make things simpler, we've provided a button to open this post in the app (though you can make the reply via a browser).

The post with a screenshot should look something like this:

 

Bonus Tasks

If you're looking for more to do and learn:

• Bonus #1: We have embedded a secret piece of music on the home page. You do not have to post anything about it – just enjoy. (Tap again to stop the music.) Open the project to see how we did this.
• Bonus #2: Make any improvement you want to the app, for example:
  • You could add a toggle which will change whether the app opens the front or back camera (for this, check the properties for the flow function that opens the camera).
  • Notice how when you stop the music, and then restart it, the music starts from the beginning. You could instead pause the music and make it start exactly where it left off, but how? [HINT: Read about the audio flow functions.]

Share your innovation.

Feel free to look inside the app to see how we put it all together – how we made it so it will store your community ID, how you could have entered your community ID in the app instead of hard-coding it, how we created a circle with your image, how we played music, how we ran the hashing function – all without coding.

[kubilayelkenci]

01f673576aa23eda85506510fe21a1f99d8207bf127f5a04f12b8e7bb99b996d

[Mani123]

5949a5f4a4366f00b0db88d3e704cad327d4f215db33dd866c61c07c8abe56db

[eshrinivasan]

Hi, unfortunately the hash doesn't look right. Could you please recheck the instructions and try again?

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Also, can you post a screenshot of your app, with the picture you took and your community ID showing?

[ruchaf]

Hash

3e1243197615afe44eb13dae021f087707ab2bf00d72de95edb6ab94aa1bb911

[eshrinivasan]

Hi, Unfortunately the hash seems incorrect, probably because of your community id (as seen from the screenshot).

[ruchaf]

What is wrong with the community ID? I re-tried this and get the below hash. 

3e1243197615afe44eb13dae021f087707ab2bf00d72de95edb6ab94aa1bb911

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Your community ID is what appears in the top left of every reply you post: ruchaf

[ruchaf]

Thanks Dan for that.

Hash: 17e7f6dba87b4db1b131a5590a4350040b5dedd91ef556b4a8428be0e411d2e5

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Whose feet are those. 

Unfortunately, the hash is not correct. I see that you entered something different than your community ID, which is what appears when you post a reply: ruchaf

Can you try again?

[RohanShukla]

c0d0b69995adcb6840f4aa14aa80d0f1cc4b07e6cebb7ce3da8bf1b91a86464a

 

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Meow!!!  😸

Unfortunately, the hash is not correct. I see that you entered a space in the middle of the community ID. The ID should be exactly as it appears in your post. Can you retry?

[RohanShukla]

Meow Dan, thanks for your reply! I have updated user id without the space and updated hash is 79fb47fb7dfa144997e493d590f08c6abcbd5ec4f485346e5bae57aaa47130f6.

Please let me know if its good now! Thanks.

 

I tried to add another button to add my own audio but could’t get a mp3 url without an account so I put same as app’s motivational music. It’s great to learn how audio can be preloaded and then used! 

[Dilan]

9b786b3af0c3d3a122856623648c501e3be2ddc4ee59e59a4bc71431facbc696

[eshrinivasan]

Unfortunately, the hash seems incorrect. At this point, it seems it is due to the Community ID. The screenshot shows a name that is different from the Community ID.

[Dilan]

1f325214f513eef8e6dfc9917e91bc9589f486e6dae9bb532af5858e5f9eff94

thanks, is it working now? 🙂

[eshrinivasan]

Sorry, Not really. The screenshot shows "Dilan Ballikaya" whereas your community ID is Dilan.

[jawahar_bosch]

95b37bbfb78cfe8359129bada7e2668b625984bec104a8cbfc372d79b7289163

[Joy_Ragavie]

f977e44fc8df09a6614d3e39c295be5535992c8200e1b4a9426669dbe7abdde2

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Nice screenshot 🙂

Unfortunately, the hash is incorrect. You must use your community ID, which is what shows at the top left of your post: Joy_Ragavie

Use that as your community ID and repost your hash.

[SantoshC]

Hi @Dan_Wroblewski ,

Please find below Hash generated , Screen shot and Video refers to

Event Name : SAP Build Jam

adc7a66206bb9253d5f8c08676fd327884ba1545049f1a49298a79727ddd110f

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Still not correct ... I assume the string you hashed is not quite right. You need to click the home button and therefore find the secret phrase. 

Feel free to post what you are hashing here just to confirm.

[SantoshC]

Hi @Dan_Wroblewski 

Understood I was giving some free text now corrected.

b24b5151260f8d0a0d2e741c2a75428fbdae52430f6788fdcb42cd27a0db39f0

[sureshmusham]

a30eeb23cf845a8689441009e7213b8fcd793589d0acee151eb88d3c8644754a

 

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Nice pic!

Unfortunately, the hash does not look correct. Did you find the secret phrase (by tapping somewhere in the app)?

[sureshmusham]

e40cd27310e940e79d2bd018c91cde998b9f4d2e0dc4ecc1d26d64e8f3b70d98

this hash should work. I have generated this with the secret phrase.

[rajukammella]

e14f5e58e609c056de02b32e3aa89aaffe54d4f2e98589889e88fef2e65ed95a

[cosarcaner]

a92e79c5ae3261e78dd321ece23c7ff20323dfb7810cbbca4a63b4a3882fe3bd

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Nice selfie!

Unfortunately, the hash does not look correct. Did you find the secret phrase (by tapping somewhere in the app)?

[cosarcaner]

I think it's right this time;

942c1f5ab69cafe96c4a25cd52e510a9c652f8e6fde6deb56e0ddf48a6d59cb0

[KP9]

Here's the #Hash - 5c60342460524f5e02464db27c4858c330d188876f78c2632a177fcf8c4d67e4

I am able to take a photo but the Screenshot is a black screen so posting only the Hash.

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Unfortunately, the hash does not look correct. Did you find the secret phrase (by tapping somewhere in the app) and did you enter your community ID, KP9?

Try to upload an image of the screen, or use the web preview and take a screenshot from that. That will also let us know if you entered your community ID properly.

[narendran_nv]

Here's my hash: 5b84781705ecaaaf42caeed2bc23541c31cad8c97347b31bdb938451ef939d64

[sabaameer13]

751222d6d178f561555bbdcaac00764806df6ccc13ca03415e39c132b8257f1f

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Love the picture!!!

Unfortunately, the hash is not quite right. Did you find the secret phrase by clicking on one of the buttons?

[sabaameer13]

I was typing my own phrase.

Please check it now My new hash # 1d280a00ecc9cdb22f71372ccd6aa7fd50a920b53ef1842ebb731b3fcf3e47b0

[Dan_Wroblewski]

Sorry ... can you show the hashing page where you are getting the hash?

[sabaameer13]

[Dan_Wroblewski]

The string to hash is a hidden string you find by clicking/tapping on something in the app. Related to Star Wars.

[sabaameer13]

Got It know. Apologizes for all the inconvenience

41f5f44f7f4044e84b866d37f6c99f5a742863551272ad822198a640649b2ccb