In App purchase question

If you package both channels with the same devID / Password then the two channels will be able to access each-other's registry information which makes something like what you are talking about possible.

The other way is to use launch parameters so that if one channel launches the other it can send specific instructions. However, there is nothing preventing someone with a LAN sniffer from figuring out what those instructions are.

- Joel

The most direct way to do this is to use In-App Upgrade rather than In-App Purchase. Create the paid channel first and when you create the free channel, set its "Upgrade Channel" to the paid channel. Then you can use ifChannelStore.DoUpgrade to upgrade the channel. The online documentation of this is unfortunately incomplete, but here are the ifChannelStore methods you would use.


GetUpgrade() as Void

Requests information about the upgrade for the current channel. Each channel may have one "In-Channel Upgrade" channel associated with it.

If successful, a later roChannelStoreEvent will be received which contains an roList of roAssociativeArray items where each item contains the following following parameter names with specified value type:

String code
String name
String description
String SDPosterUrl
String HDPosterUrl
String cost (Localized cost with local currency symbol)

If the current channel has no In-Channel Upgrade, an empty roList is returned.



DoUpgrade() as String

Displays the Roku Channel Store Product Purchase Screen populated with information about the "In-Channel Upgrade" available for the currently running channel. The user can then either approve and complete the purchase or cancel the purchase. If the purchase was completed successfully, the return value is the item code of the purchased upgrade; otherwise it is an empty string. If a code is returned, then the new channel has already been downloaded and installed on the unit, and the currently running channel will be automatically deleted when the user exits it.

You must call GetUpgrade() on the same roChannelStore object before calling DoUpgrade().

Here's some more information about how to use these methods. Normally your app will have a screen that offers the option to upgrade. Before displaying this screen, you would call GetUpgrade and wait for the ChannelStoreEvent message. Then extract the information you need from the message (the price at least) and display the offer. If the user accepts the offer, call DoUpgrade to complete the purchase, and check the return code from DoUpgrade to determine whether the user completed the purchase or cancelled it.

Here is some skeleton code that does this. It would need to be fleshed out with text appropriate to your app, and possibly modified if your upgrade offer is not on a separate screen like this.

' ---------------------------------------------------------------------
function ShowPurchaseScreen() as Void
    ' First screen: wait for GetUpgrade from Channel Store
    store = CreateObject("roChannelStore")
    if store = invalid then return
    screen1 = CreateObject("roParagraphScreen")
    upgrade = ScreenGetUpgrade(screen1, store)
    if upgrade = invalid then return

    ' Second screen: buy offer
    screen2 = CreateObject("roParagraphScreen")
    if not ScreenPurchase(screen2, screen1, store, upgrade) then return

    ' Third screen: thanks for buying
    screen3 = CreateObject("roParagraphScreen")
    ScreenThanks(screen3, screen2)
end function

' ---------------------------------------------------------------------
function ScreenGetUpgrade(screen as Object, store as Object) as Dynamic
    msgport = CreateObject("roMessagePort")
    screen.SetMessagePort(msgport)
    screen.AddParagraph("Please wait a moment...")
    screen.Show()

    store.SetMessagePort(msgport)
    store.GetUpgrade()
    timer = CreateObject("roTimeSpan")
    timer.Mark()

    while true
        msg = wait(1000, msgport)
        if type(msg) = "roChannelStoreEvent" then
            if msg.IsRequestSucceeded() then
                items = msg.GetResponse()
                if items <> invalid and items.count() > 0 then return items[0]
                exit while
            elseif msg.IsRequestFailed() then
                print "channel store req failed: ";msg.GetStatusMessage()
                exit while
            end if
        elseif type(msg) = "roParagraphScreenEvent" then
            if msg.IsScreenClosed() then return invalid
        end if
        if timer.TotalMilliseconds() > 8000 then 
            print "Channel Store timeout"
            exit while
        end if
    end while
    return invalid
end function

' ---------------------------------------------------------------------
function ScreenPurchase(screen as Object, old_screen as Object, store as Object, upgrade as Object) as Boolean
    msgport = CreateObject("roMessagePort")
    screen.SetMessagePort(msgport)
    screen.AddParagraph("Do you want to upgrade?")
    screen.AddButton(1, "Buy for " + upgrade.cost)
    screen.Show()
    old_screen.Close()

    while true
        msg = wait(0, msgport)
        if type(msg) = "roParagraphScreenEvent" then
            if msg.IsScreenClosed() then
                return false
            elseif msg.IsButtonPressed()
                button = msg.GetIndex()
                if button = 1 then ' Buy
                    item = store.DoUpgrade()
                    if item <> invalid and item <> "" then
                        print "buy succeeded, item ";item
                        return true
                    end if
                    print "buy failed"
                end if
            end if
        end if
    end while
end function

' ---------------------------------------------------------------------
function ScreenThanks(screen as Object, old_screen as Object) as Void
    msgport = CreateObject("roMessagePort")
    screen.SetMessagePort(msgport)
    screen.AddParagraph("Thank you for upgrading.")
    screen.AddParagraph("Press OK to return to the Roku home screen.")
    screen.AddButton(1, "OK")
    screen.Show()
    old_screen.Close()

    while true
        msg = wait(0, msgport)
        if type(msg) = "roParagraphScreenEvent" then
            if msg.IsScreenClosed() then
                return 
            elseif msg.IsButtonPressed()
                return 
            end if
        end if
    end while
end function

--Mark