ewpatton
commented
3 years ago Note that if the URL is hosted on a server that will send the appropriate CORS headers, you can drag and drop a link into the project list to import it. For example, AIAs posted to the community site or via GitHub pages. I feel like the extensions import mechanism works under the same constraint. Now in theory we could move the retrieval of the project to a server-side operation to bypass CORS, but we'd have to think about whether that is the best approach. Certainly it should be possible to add the proposed affordance.
Describe the desired feature
I would like to be able to import an aia via an url.
Give an example of how this feature would be used
With extensions it looks like this.
I would like the same for aia files. When teachers or tutorial developers make aia files available on their website, the user would just need to copy and paste an url into the textbox.
Why doesn't the current App Inventor system address this use case?
With the current version you can use the import option and drag and drop an aia. There is no option to specify an url. The only options for using an url is for extensions and librabry templates.
Why is this feature beneficial to App Inventor's educational mission?
Users who use a shared computer, like in schools, could overwrite each others aia by downloading the aia or could import the wrong aia when looking for it on that shared computer. Being able to use an url would make certain that the right aia is loaded into App Inventor.