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Design questions related to various screen types

I've been working on implementing a very nice design based on the Roku templates in a Roku app, but I'm running into several limitations in the configurability of the graphical aspects of the standard Roku screen types. Below I've listed the specific issues I've encountered.

Taken together almost each screen type has some sort of significant limitation, resulting in an overall look of the app which is quite far from the original design. Therefore I'm hoping there are solutions to at least some of these issues!


  • Is there any way to change the background color of popup dialogs such as roOneLineDialog (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roOneLineDialog) and roMessageDialog (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roMessageDialog) to a dark blue color, instead of the default gray?

    It is possible to change the text color through the attributes DialogBodyText and DialogTitleText in roAppManager (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roAppManager), but I don't see any way to change the background color. Setting ThemeType to generic-dark also appears to have some effect, but only allows switching between light gray and dark gray.


  • Is there any way to change the background color of roGridScreen (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roGridScreen) to a dark blue color?

    There is the attribute GridScreenBackgroundColor in roAppManager (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roAppManager), but that only allows settings of grayscale values. If you try a full color dark blue value there, the entire gridscreen changes color to have a strange purple hue over all content instead of setting the desired background color.


  • Is there any way to use the star icon on the info button on the Roku remote control in the breadcrumb at the top right of the roGridScreen (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roGridScreen)? The intention is to indicate to users that they can press the info button to access a settings view.

    The closest I've gotten is by using the * text string (gridScreen.SetBreadcrumbText("Settings *", "")), but that doesn't look nearly as convincing as the icon in Roku's own Home interface to the right of the word "Options".

    A way to use a custom image in the breadcrumb would do the trick or perhaps a character code for use with Chr().


  • Is there any way to change the border around the image ("Poster") in the roSpringboardScreen (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/ ... oardScreen)?

    It is possible to change the focus border in the roGridScreen through the attribute GridScreenFocusBorderHD in roAppManager (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roAppManager), but there appears to be no similar feature to set a custom image for the border in the roSpringboardScreen.

    Even disabling the poster border would be an improvement over the default poster border.


  • Is there any way to change the default black highlight color for the active button in various screen types?

    There are several options in roAppManager (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roAppManager) to change the text color of buttons, such as ButtonNormalColor, ButtonHighlightColor, ButtonMenuNormalText, ButtonMenuNormalOverlayText and ButtonMenuHighlightText, but I can't find any way to change the color of the focus from the default black.
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RokuJoel
Binge Watcher

Re: Design questions related to various screen types

Is there any way to change the background color of popup dialogs such as roOneLineDialog (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roOneLineDialog) and roMessageDialog (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roMessageDialog) to a dark blue color, instead of the default gray?


No, there is just the standard and the "dark" theme for these. You might consider creating your own pop-up dialog with roImageCanvas.

It is possible to change the text color through the attributes DialogBodyText and DialogTitleText in roAppManager (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roAppManager), but I don't see any way to change the background color. Setting ThemeType to generic-dark also appears to have some effect, but only allows switching between light gray and dark gray.


That is correct.

Is there any way to change the background color of roGridScreen (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roGridScreen) to a dark blue color?

There is the attribute GridScreenBackgroundColor in roAppManager (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roAppManager), but that only allows settings of grayscale values. If you try a full color dark blue value there, the entire gridscreen changes color to have a strange purple hue over all content instead of setting the desired background color.


Most gridscreen styles don't allow more than greyscale, but I think there may be a couple of modes that allow color. Unfortunately color in those modes sometimes produces weird color artifacts like you described and or weird green flashes. Its really designed to be greyscale. If you must have a grid with a color background, then you might want to use roScreen to create your own gridscreen.

Is there any way to use the star icon on the info button on the Roku remote control in the breadcrumb at the top right of the roGridScreen (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roGridScreen)? The intention is to indicate to users that they can press the info button to access a settings view.

The closest I've gotten is by using the * text string (gridScreen.SetBreadcrumbText("Settings *", "")), but that doesn't look nearly as convincing as the icon in Roku's own Home interface to the right of the word "Options".


Channels that show a * in the upper right area use a graphic image, either part of the overhang graphic itself, or using one of the overhangLogo .png graphics.

Is there any way to change the border around the image ("Poster") in the roSpringboardScreen (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/ ... oardScreen)?


I don't believe so.

It is possible to change the focus border in the roGridScreen through the attribute GridScreenFocusBorderHD in roAppManager (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roAppManager), but there appears to be no similar feature to set a custom image for the border in the roSpringboardScreen.


Right, not for springboard or poster screen,.

Even disabling the poster border would be an improvement over the default poster border.

Is there any way to change the default black highlight color for the active button in various screen types?

There are several options in roAppManager (http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roAppManager) to change the text color of buttons, such as ButtonNormalColor, ButtonHighlightColor, ButtonMenuNormalText, ButtonMenuNormalOverlayText and ButtonMenuHighlightText, but I can't find any way to change the color of the focus from the default black.


I don't think we implemented any hooks for those. The newer Theme attributes added to the documentation were found by someone combing through the source code looking for undocumented theme attributes, so its already been combed.

(RokuMarkN or RokuChris feel free to correct me if I'm missing something here).

- Joel
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