Feedback for GSoC '22 proposal on "Implementing auto attach aia file in App Inventor Community"

[yusufcihan]

It is just a mock-up

[pavi2410]

@Devarsh_Mavani

While developing apps using MIT App Inventor, students often need help. For this there is this community where students can reach out for help. While the community is very helpful and makes development easier, it would be even more convenient and time-saving to have a user interface in the app inventor website itself from which users can directly ask questions in the community

Glitch.com used to have a feature that allowed anyone to ask for help on a piece of code. From my memory, as far I could remember, it worked by queuing up the "help request" to a public help queue where other users can choose to help them. This worked kind of like Google Doc's commenting system.

With regard to App Inventor, it could be implemented similarly, where the help requests go to the community instead. This would however require giving a view-only access to the project to the user helping them.

The following is a rough flow of how it could work:

1. A user gets stuck with the implementation or usage of a component (blocks, for now; should it cover designer too? how?)
2. The user selects the relevant blocks.
3. The user right-clicks and selects "Get Help with Blocks"
4. The user is presented a modal where he writes the description of the issue and other contextual information.
5. Upon submitting, the user is redirect to the community with pre-filled post.
6. The user confirms everything and finally post it.
7. A community user (helper) opens the post.
8. They decide to help them.
9. They click on the "Help" button (a link to an API exposed by the AI backend)
10. The aforementioned API gives the community user view-only access to the project.
11. They work together to resolve the issues.
12. The user, helper or a mod can close the help request thereafter, or it can be closed automatically after a few days like a week or so.

*Requires no hard integration with Discourse API nor does it require account linkage.

[preetvadaliya]

@pavi2410 if i don't forget then I read similar kind of thesis on MIT site, I forget the name of thesis but it has same functionality and core concepts which you are pointing in post.

[Devarsh_Mavani]

Sorry for late reply.
I like this idea. but it would require a separate portal and won't have lot's of questions that are already asked by other users. I used glitch for a while but could not find option of help. I want to see it in action on glitch.

[pavi2410]

@Devarsh_Mavani

I want to see it in action on glitch.

I guess they removed it. It was there when it was new.