Is it possible to use the app inventor software on a touch device? I would like to be able to manipulate items, but it seems all I can do is drag (scroll) the screen. Any help?
What device are you using and what browser?
You can certainly develop the apps on a touch screen device. One of my go-to demos is developing an app using an iPad with Safari and the companion app split-screen. If you're only able to scroll, there might be some other factor that needs to be accounted for.
I'm using a ClearTouch panel (75" display) that is running Windows 10. I'm using chrome for app inventor and I have android tablets for the companion app.
That's an interesting use case that I haven't seen before. It's not clear how the screen's touch events are being translated for the browser--whether it's receiving mouse or touch events--but you may want to temporarily try another browser, e.g., Firefox, to see if it exhibits the same issues. I've used Chrome on a touchscreen Chromebook without issue before, so I'm a bit surprised that Chrome on a Windows touchscreen would be problematic. If necessary, I can also test on a Microsoft Surface (needs to be charged first).
I can confirm that the drag-and-drop symptom mentioned by @A_Anderson is also evident on across multiple Windows touch devices (including a Surface Pro and a machine connected to a Smartboard...)
Common denom is: drag and drop doesn't work in Chrome on these devices. Drag and drop does seem to work as expected in Firefox.
FWIW, drag and drop works as expected in Scratch and Snap!, in Chrome, on touch-screen Windows machine...
Mike
Are we discussing the designer, blocks editor, or both in this scenario? The former is specific to App Inventor and has its own logic whereas the latter is implemented by Google's Blockly library (which we are out of date with). Newer versions of Blockly have better touch support and that is likely why you're observing the difference.