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evilmax17's avatar
evilmax17
Visitor
16 years ago

Channel "Loading" screen - as seen in PodTV and KoldcastTV

I just tried both PodTV and KoldcastTV for the first time, and they both shared something that I haven't seen in other channels.

When you first launch the channel, you are greeted with a minimalistic loading screen. It has a solid-black background, and prominently displays the channel logo with the "loading..." written underneath it.

Is this a new feature in the 2.8 SDK? If not, are there best-practices that Roku wants to encourage when implementing something like this?
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17 Replies

  • TheEndless's avatar
    TheEndless
    Roku Guru
    16 years ago
    Not a new feature.. just an roImageCanvas, if I'm not mistaken. My MainSqueeze channel implemented something similar back in 2.6.
  • TheEndless's avatar
    TheEndless
    Roku Guru
    16 years ago
    I'm not sure how RokuChris does it (I believe he's the developer of both of the channels that you mentioned), but if you're interested, here's a simplified version of my implementation that uses the HD channel icon... I put this in my RunUserInterface() method instead of the facade screen...

    deviceInfo = CreateObject( "roDeviceInfo" )
    displaySize = deviceInfo.GetDisplaySize()
    background = {
        Color: "#000000"
    }
    loadingImage = {
        Url: "pkg:/images/mm_icon_focus_hd.png"
        TargetRect: {
            x: Int( displaySize.w / 2 ) - Int( 336 / 2 ),
            y: Int( displaySize.h / 2 ) - Int( 209 / 2 ),
            w: 336,
            h: 209
        }
    }
    loadingText = {
        Text: "Loading...",
        TextAttrs: {
            Font: "Large",
            VAlign: "Top"
        },
        TargetRect: {
            x: loadingImage.TargetRect.x,
            y: loadingImage.TargetRect.y + 25,
            w: loadingImage.TargetRect.w,
            h: 30
        }
    }
    canvas = CreateObject( "roImageCanvas" )
    canvas.SetLayer( 0, [ background, loadingImage, loadingText ] )
    canvas.Show()
  • dynamitemedia's avatar
    dynamitemedia
    Binge Watcher
    15 years ago
    i thought i would give this a try and im getting the following error

    006: Sub RunUserInterface()
    007:
    008: deviceInfo = CreateObject( "roDeviceInfo" )
    009: displaySize = deviceInfo.GetDisplaySize()
    010: background = {
    011:     Color: "#000000"
    012: }
    013: loadingImage = {
    014:     Url: "pkg:/images/MainMenu_Icon_CenterFocus_HD.png"
    015:     TargetRect: {
    016:         x: Int( displaySize.w / 2 ) - Int( 336 / 2 ),
    017:         y: Int( displaySize.h / 2 ) - Int( 209 / 2 ),
    018:         w: 336,
    019:         h: 209
    020:     }
    021: }
    022: loadingText = {
    023:     Text: "Loading...",
    024:     TextAttrs: {
    025:         Font: "Large",
    026:         VAlign: "Top"
    027:     },
    028:     TargetRect: {
    029:         x: loading.TargetRect.x,
    030:         y: loading.TargetRect.y + 25,
    031:         w: loading.TargetRect.w,
    032:         h: 30
    033:     }
    034: }
    035: canvas = CreateObject( "roImageCanvas" )
    036: canvas.SetLayer( 0, [ background, loadingImage, loadingText ] )
    037: canvas.Show()
    038:
    039: showWelcomeScreen()
    040: homeMain()
    041:
    042:
    043: End Sub
    /tmp/plugin/NEAAAAa9pBYR/pkg:/source/appMain.brs(29): runtime error ec: 'Dot' Op
    erator attempted with invalid BrightScript Component or interface reference.

    029:         x: loading.TargetRect.x,

    Backtrace:
    Function runuserinterface() As Void

    i added these cause i wasnt sure if i need them as they are in my sub main()
    039: showWelcomeScreen()
    040: homeMain()

    I also took out the sub main(), do i need to?
  • TheEndless's avatar
    TheEndless
    Roku Guru
    15 years ago
    Sorry, "loading" on lines 29-31 should be "loadingImage". That's what I get for making a last minute change to the code without testing. I've updated my original code snippet.
  • dynamitemedia's avatar
    dynamitemedia
    Binge Watcher
    15 years ago
    thanks endless now i have two questions about this screen.

    1.) is there a way to set a time on it?

    2.) I do not want it showing twice, its also showing after i click the start button on the welcome screen. i tried doing a canvas.close but it didnt like that. it just exited the channel

    the way i have it now is

    Sub RunUserInterface()
     deviceInfo = CreateObject( "roDeviceInfo" )
     displaySize = deviceInfo.GetDisplaySize()
    background = {
        Color: "#000000"
     }
    loadingImage = {
        Url: "pkg:/images/MainMenu_Icon_CenterFocus_HD.png"
         TargetRect: {
            x: Int( displaySize.w / 2 ) - Int( 336 / 2 ),
             y: Int( displaySize.h / 2 ) - Int( 209 / 2 ),
             w: 336,
             h: 209
         }
     }
     loadingText = {
         Text: "Loading...",
         TextAttrs: {
             Font: "Large",
             VAlign: "Top"
         },
         TargetRect: {
             x: loading.TargetRect.x,
             y: loading.TargetRect.y + 25,
             w: loading.TargetRect.w,
             h: 30
         }
     }
    canvas = CreateObject( "roImageCanvas" )
    canvas.SetLayer( 0, [ background, loadingImage, loadingText ] )
    canvas.Show()

    initTheme()
    showWelcomeScreen()
    homeMain()
    End Sub


    but its going in this order
    1.) RunUserInterface()
    2.) showWelcomeScreen()
    3.) RunUserInterface()
    4.) homeMain()

    i dont want that i just want it going like this
    1.) RunUserInterface()
    2.) showWelcomeScreen()
    3.) homeMain()
  • TheEndless's avatar
    TheEndless
    Roku Guru
    15 years ago
    No idea why RunUserInterface would be getting called twice, unless you're explicitly calling it in your code somewhere... ?
  • dynamitemedia's avatar
    dynamitemedia
    Binge Watcher
    15 years ago
    i had to take it out for now... however i did like it...

    i must have it called somewhere or maybe its cause its not closing out the screen or something...

    Is it possible to set a timer on hit however?
  • RokuKevin's avatar
    RokuKevin
    Visitor
    15 years ago
    You should add a screen facade to assure there's always a screen in the display stack whenever your channel is executing.

    Add it to your RunUserInterface() method like so:


        'display a fake screen while the real one initializes. this screen
        'has to live for the duration of the whole app to prevent flashing
        'back to the roku home screen.
        screenFacade = CreateObject("roPosterScreen")
        screenFacade.show()

        showWelcomeScreen()
        homeMain()

        'exit the app gently so that the screen doesn't flash to black
        screenFacade.showMessage("")
        sleep(25)


    --Kevin
  • dynamitemedia's avatar
    dynamitemedia
    Binge Watcher
    15 years ago
    unless i am missing something or did something wrong here. this code below skips past everything and goes straight to the welcome screen


    Sub RunUserInterface()
    deviceInfo = CreateObject( "roDeviceInfo" )
    displaySize = deviceInfo.GetDisplaySize()
    background = {
        Color: "#000000"
    }
    loadingImage = {
        Url: "pkg:/images/Logo.png"
         TargetRect: {
            x: Int( displaySize.w / 2 ) - Int( 336 / 2 ),
             y: Int( displaySize.h / 2 ) - Int( 209 / 2 ),
             w: 365,
             h: 110
         }
    }
    loadingText = {
         Text: "Loading...",
         TextAttrs: {
             Font: "Large",
             VAlign: "Bottom"
         },
         TargetRect: {
            x: loadingImage.TargetRect.x,
            y: loadingImage.TargetRect.y + 225,
            w: loadingImage.TargetRect.w,
            h: 30
         }
    }
    canvas = CreateObject( "roImageCanvas" )
    canvas.SetLayer( 0, [ background, loadingImage, loadingText ] )
    canvas.Show()

    initTheme()
        screenFacade = CreateObject("roPosterScreen")
        screenFacade.show()

        showWelcomeScreen()
        homeMain()

        screenFacade.showMessage("")
        sleep(25)

    End Sub
  • uarlive's avatar
    uarlive
    Visitor
    15 years ago
    hello. i am trying to use this code in my app main file using the video player example.

    i modified it to match the functions i am using and get this error. the screen loads the image and immediately goes to the home screen. it doesnt have the 3-5 sec pause. thanks.

    Sub RunUserInterface()
        deviceInfo = CreateObject( "roDeviceInfo" )
        displaySize = deviceInfo.GetDisplaySize()
        background = {
            Color: "#FFFFFF"
        }
        loadingImage = {
            Url: "pkg:/images/MainMenu_Icon_CenterFocus_HD.png"
             TargetRect: {
                x: Int( displaySize.w / 2 ) - Int( 336 / 2 ),
                 y: Int( displaySize.h / 2 ) - Int( 209 / 2 ),
                 w: 365,
                 h: 110
             }
        }
        loadingText = {
             Text: "Loading...",
             TextAttrs: {
                 Font: "Large",
                 VAlign: "Bottom"
                 Color: "#000000"
             },
             TargetRect: {
                x: loadingImage.TargetRect.x,
                y: loadingImage.TargetRect.y + 225,
                w: loadingImage.TargetRect.w,
                h: 30
             }
        }
        canvas = CreateObject( "roImageCanvas" )
        canvas.SetLayer( 0, [ background, loadingImage, loadingText ] )
        canvas.Show()
     
        
        
        Main()


        End Sub