Hmm.. still having this issue. I have not been able to connect all day now. I have tried my desktop and my laptop both, even my cell phone but its the same. Since different computers have the same issue I do not believe this to be a hardware issue. I have tried Chrome, Firefox, and even that Microsoft Edge browser (I know I know) and they all act the same. So I do not believe it is a software issue. The only thing I see in common at this point is possible my App Inventor acct/data? Is there any way this can be checked?
--
There's also Maxthon, if you need a completely fresh browser.
--
The project is about 3.3 megs.. is not graphic intensive (in my humble opinion) but there are a lot of blocks. I recently converted the app from 5 screens down to 2 but it was acting up a little before I did that. Once I do get it to load everything works fine.
I did reload from a saved AIA file and that fixed one problem I had but does not fix the time out issue..
I have tried different browsers and seem to have the best luck with Chrome, although this morning I cannot get it to load at all. I have been trying for an hour now but keep getting the time out message. I have not tried Maxthon but will, maybe it will be lucky for me.
--
Uh-oh ... but there are a lot of blocks ..
You are aware that the Google server MIT uses 'times out' after 60 seconds. This is a limitation imposed by Google. This means that if your Project takes more than 60 seconds to load, it will time out. Other things can cause this...I have a project that contains many html files, total size perhaps 1 MB. The Projectt uses relatively few blocks. It loads or does not load apparently randomly depending probably on Internet traffic levels. This behavior probably happens because loading numerous files is probably time intensive just as resolving a large number of blocks causes time outs. Once in a while the Internet connection is good enough to just barely load before timing out I suspect.
MIT has recently made some changes that make loading large numbers of blocks more rapidly but it does not appear to be helping you significantly. We do know that busy screens (with lots of buttons and layouts etc), loading many html files or even huge text files and large numbers of blocks will time out. I do not think anyone has done research concerning how many blocks is too many or how many layouts will elicit a time out With holiday shopping clogging the Internet, be aware that the Internet itself is frequently slow over the past few days. You might get a positive result with one of the third party versions of AI2 that reside on your PC. Unfortunately, these clones work but have their own issues...you might try a stand alone clone as a solution and let us know what happens.
Yes, time outs are frustrating and might be ameliorated using a stand alone version of AI2, but then again might not.
--
Third party AI2 programs? I am not aware of any of these and yes, I would like to try one out. Can anyone point me in any direction for one of these?
I tried optimizing everything to one page, thus giving me a lot of buttons and things going on just like you guys said. I suspect this is the cause of my issue now. I do have some older AIA files that I could load, taking me back a few versions and that should help but that will be more of a last resort for me. Combining the code to the one page fixed a lot of other issues I had going on and would prefer to keep it that way.
I am convinced that my issue is size, or too many blocks in particular. Since App Inventor was designed to be a teaching platform I think it may be time for me to figure out how to convert what I have in to the native JavaScript and move to Android Studio. I have seen articles on the net about converting APK files to Java by jumping through a lot of hoops, is this the easiest way to go or does anyone know a better way for me to try?
--
the offline verisons you can find here
Overview: Different App Inventor Distributions and Versions
see the following general tips and in your case especially #2 and #3
1. Use different screens wisely
3. App Inventor works best if you use images whose size matches the size you want them to appear on your screen. If you import larger images into your app, your app may run out of system memory. Using Images with App Inventor
4. Avoid redundancy
--
I tried the 4 different App Inventor distributions listed in the above post, and seem to having some luck with Thunkable. The others are giving me errors that I assume have something to do with compatibility but of course I have no way of knowing.
I did get Thunkable to load one of my older AIA files and am now trying my newest to see if I can get anything at all.
If this doesn't work for me then I will try the local version (which seems like a good idea to me)
And if that doesnt work I guess I just need to learn Java scripting and go head first in to Android Studio or Eclipse.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions, one way or another I am going to beat this issue.
--
Minimizing all your blocks helps reduce load on the Blocks Editor.
--
Ugh.. more frustration. None of the third party online apps seem to be a good solution. Most offer different commands (not a bad thing) but do not seem to be compatible with my blocks and code. So I am trying the offline route. I managed to get AI LIVE to come up to the Developer screen but it does not want to load my version either. The blocks do not show at all. I am trying to get the regular App Inventor Offline June 22 2016 version to work but can't. I seem to get the same Time Out issue as the online version.
I don't know what I can do now. I have sections of my code that I know I can strip out to streamline and make it smaller, but if the app won't even load I can't get to my blocks. I fear I have programmed my way completely out of App Inventor for this project.
--
the suggestion was to use one of the offline AppInventor versions...
see also the note in red below and try AI2U
There are the following offline AppInventor personal server available (1:1 copy of the MIT online version):
• App Inventor Offline by Hossein (latest version as of June 22, 2016, which is identical with MIT App Inventor Version nb149 as of June 15, 2016),
• AI2 Ultimate by krupong (latest version AI2U 3.9 as of Sept. 13, 2016).
in case of questions, please ask in the Ai2U forum
Both are 1:1 copy of the MIT version without additional features. The main advantage is, that you do not need internet connection and you can build larger projects (> 5 MB). The disadvantage is, it takes time for the authors to build a new version, so the offline version is not always identical with the current MITversion. Therefore if you use one of these personal server, make sure, you use the most recent one, this will be the version most similar to the current MITversion.
--
You are also welcome to try one of our more experimental servers at code.appinventor.mit.edu.
This is a version of MIT App Inventor not hosted in Google's App Engine, so the limitations imposed by Google are not present.
-Jeff
P.S. Note: We will be changing out the hardware that code.appinventor.mit.edu runs on this week, so there may be brief outages
--
I was able to load my 120 button, 120 label dog into the new server (all blocks collapsed.)
It's a fast server (so far.)
--
