My university mates and I have to work with a sailing team for a month. The sailing team has started designing an app using the App Inventor. They do not have computer science education (probably that is why they are using this platform). But we do.
We now need to embed TCP connection with the server, so that whenever App is launched, the phone automatically connects to the main boat controller near by. The infrastructure of the server is far away to be compatible with App Inventor (though I'm not saying that's impossible). All that important for us is that the server is capable of understanding TCP protocol and would respond to connection requests.
So now my question:
Is it possible to implement such a low level communication protocol using only the click-and-drop interface of App Inventor?
If no, is it possible to take the high level app designed using App Inventor, and translate it to something lower level, such as JavaScript / Java Byte Code? I'm also wondering, is that the way App Inventor works? From that point on we would be able to write the code and enhance the app with TCP connection...
You can create your own extensions and create some blocks for the TCP connection yourself.
The App Inventor Extensions are currently in testing. See the announcement for more information and read the App Inventor Extensions document about how to use an App Inventor Extension.
For some examples, see my extensions here.
Concerning how to translate an App Inventor app into "something else", see this thread.