Roku Developer Program

[kemamo]

I just got my first Roku and downloaded the SDK and read all the docs.

I read some of the posts on the desire for an emulator -- I'll cast my vote for that too. I haven't tried to write anything yet but having experience with other custom languages on proprietary hardware, it's quite a painful process without an emulator. But that's just an aside.

Is there a compiler available or something that would at least check the syntax of the scripts before they're uploaded to the box? Since there is something on the box that converts the script to the bytecode, and since the box is running Linux. I assume there must be something that would help the workflow.

Thanks for providing the SDK Roku folks. It sounds like it will be fun to develop with.
Regards,
Ken

[TheEndless]

An emulator would definitely be nice, but I don't know how realistic that is from Roku's perspective. The web page upload process can definitely be tedious, but this "tool" that one of the other developers put together makes it a lot less painful... viewtopic.php?f=34&t=30032

[nowhereman]

"TheEndless" wrote:
The web page upload process can definitely be tedious, but this "tool" that one of the other developers put together makes it a lot less painful... viewtopic.php?f=34&t=30032

You can also avoid the web interface almost completely using the makefile included with some of the example code. It can be tweaked pretty easily to work with a given project. The only time I ever use the web interface is when I need to re-key my box and even that could probably be incorporated into a makefile if I took the time to figure it out.

[TheEndless]

"nowhereman" wrote:

"TheEndless" wrote:
The web page upload process can definitely be tedious, but this "tool" that one of the other developers put together makes it a lot less painful... viewtopic.php?f=34&t=30032

You can also avoid the web interface almost completely using the makefile included with some of the example code. It can be tweaked pretty easily to work with a given project. The only time I ever use the web interface is when I need to re-key my box and even that could probably be incorporated into a makefile if I took the time to figure it out.

I was under the impression that the makefile was intended for linux environments, and I haven't been able to find any documentation about how to use them with the Roku beyond the limited comments in the makefiles for the SDK samples. Can they be used in a Windows dev environment?

[nowhereman]

"TheEndless" wrote:
I was under the impression that the makefile was intended for linux environments, and I haven't been able to find any documentation about how to use them with the Roku beyond the limited comments in the makefiles for the SDK samples. Can they be used in a Windows dev environment?

Make originated on UNIX and I develop either on a Mac or a Ubuntu machine, but googling for "Windows Make" turns up several promising results, so it's almost certainly possible.

[kemamo]

Thanks for the quick responses, i'll check out the link and the makefiles. I'm on a mac so that works for me!

[RokuKevin]

I use the makefiles on windows all the time with the help of cygwin http://sourceware.redhat.com/cygwin/

--Kevin

[bbakernc]

Does anybody have a link to instruction to use Cygwin. I am using Windows 7 and would like to find a "faster" way to test my app on the Roku, then Zipping and uploading.

THANKS

[gonzotek]

"bbakernc" wrote:
Does anybody have a link to instruction to use Cygwin. I am using Windows 7 and would like to find a "faster" way to test my app on the Roku, then Zipping and uploading.

THANKS

I'm using 7zip and curl on win7 with the following:

"c:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" u %1.zip %1\*
curl -s -S -F "archive=@%1.zip" -F "mysubmit=Replace" -F "passwd=" http://ROKU_IP/plugin_install
pause

I put this in a batch script and then put that into the sendto menu (C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo) and then I can just right click on the root directory(the folder containing the manifest) of the project and then "Send To...>Roku.cmd". You'll get a cmd window popup that will be paused at the end of the script. If everything worked you'll see an html response from the Roku with a message 'xxx bytes stored' near the bottom. If you try to upload the same source twice you get a message like "Application Received: Identical to previous version -- not restarting.".

Instead of the sendto menu, this could be modified to work from an IDE or programmer's text editor, if they support calling external programs with the parameters. Just be sure to point the zip program to the right directory level (so manifest is at the top level of the zip).

[RokuMarkn]

"bbakernc" wrote:
Does anybody have a link to instruction to use Cygwin. I am using Windows 7 and would like to find a "faster" way to test my app on the Roku, then Zipping and uploading.

You can download cygwin from cygwin.com. However this doesn't avoid the zipping and uploading process. It just allows you to do it via a Makefile.

--Mark