Forum Discussion

Twisha's avatar
Twisha
Channel Surfer
2 years ago

How can install roku SDK and how can I use VS code extension to build my own roku channel?

Hi there
I'm new to Roku channel development. I was able to enable developer mode on my streaming stick and I was able to install the hello world app but I'm not sure how to debug and How to create my own project on VS code with extension to build and debug my own channel on Roku and I don't see SDK option or IDE setup for development on the official document.

Can you please help me or can you provide some resource which might be helpful. Any help will be appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

Roku Developer Program

7 Replies

  • ferdiworks's avatar
    ferdiworks
    Roku Guru
    2 years ago

    If you want a tool to create an SDK channel without VS code

    You can try the new wizard tool that should alleviate some of the anxiety of converting a Direct Publisher channel to a SceneGraph channel or creating a new SDK channel. The tool can be found on GitHub. https://github.com/rrirower/DP2SceneGraphWizard

  • philanderson777's avatar
    philanderson777
    Roku Guru
    2 years ago

    Hey Twisha how are you?

     

    If you install VSCode and install the 'Brightscript' Extension you should be able to run the sample app using Run (F5) which allows you to build a 'launch.json' file which allows your VSCode to build a zip file from your code then push the zip file to your Roku TV in order to run the app.

    Once you have this step working, you can then add breakpoints in your code to view variables etc and debug your code

    You can also run a shell and view debug output which is created in code using the 'print' command in your brightscript code and is viewed from the shell using 

    telnet <<ROKU TV IP ADDRESS>> 8085

     

    Links

     

    Add brightscript extension

    https://rokucommunity.github.io/vscode-brightscript-language/installation.html

     

    View output either in VSCode (automatic) or you can launch a separate shell

    https://developer.roku.com/en-gb/docs/developer-program/getting-started/hello-world.md

     

    Samples

     

    https://github.com/rokudev/samples/tree/master/getting%20started

     

    Hope that helps

     

    Phil

     

     

     

     

     

    • Twisha's avatar
      Twisha
      Channel Surfer
      2 years ago

      Thanks Phil 

      But I'm still unable to debug from vs code using extension it's not recognizing the command also I can find how can I setup and run sample projects but I cannot find any source which explains how to create project from beginning also as there any course available on Udemy for Roku channel development?

      Thanks in advance
      Twisha

      • philanderson777's avatar
        philanderson777
        Roku Guru
        2 years ago

        OK so there are a couple of things you can try

         

        Firstly are you able to find the IP address of your Roku TV.  You should be able to find this in Roku Settings, Network, About

         

        Secondly using Chrome browser are you able to navigate to this IP address? http://<<ROKU IP>>

         

        Thirdly if you take a sample project and manually zip (compress) it on your computer, are you able to upload it to the Roku TV and get the sample app to run?   You click 'Upload' to find the ZIP you created, then click 'Replace with Zip' to run the sample app

         

        Note : when you are zipping up the sample project, don't zip the parent folder but zip the files in the folder instead

         

        So you are bypassing VSCode completely just to be sure you can run a sample app

         

        Roku resources are scarce 

         

        Thanks

         

        Phil