Roku Developer Program

[DukeOfMarshall]

Just curious, but is there a tutorial anywhere on creating a Roku app/channel? I've Googled to no end trying to find such. The closest thing I can find is the Roku blog that I've come across from time to time, but that's not always the most in depth or explanatory on things. Just wondering if there was a tutorial out there somewhere or if Roku would even allowed such a thing to exist.

Thanks in advance for any input. I'm learning myself and could have used an in depth, extensive tutorial. So if possible I may start creating a blog/tutorial about developing a Roku channel.

[Komag]

I couldn't find anything like what you're asking for. Here is some of what I found:

http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/ ... umentation
http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/ ... +Reference
viewforum.php?f=34
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GOOD TUTORIAL:
http://www.treygourley.com/2012/07/deve ... u-channel/

INTERESTING BLOG:
http://www.subfurther.com/blog/2014/02/ ... rain-dump/

GOOD TUTORIAL FOR BRIGHTSCRIPT PROGRAMMING, lays a foundation:
http://yaketyhack.blogspot.com/2011/05/ ... -1-my.html

THREE WAYS TO MAKE "HELLO WORLD", using roPosterScreen, roOneLineDialog, and roMessageDialog
http://blog.roku.com/developer/2011/05/ ... o-world-2/

2D GRAPHICS API, useful for building games:
http://blog.roku.com/developer/2012/08/ ... pt-2d-api/
http://blog.roku.com/developer/2012/09/ ... he-2d-api/
http://blog.roku.com/developer/2012/09/ ... g-sprites/
- IMAGECANVAS CONTROLS:
blog.roku.com/developer/2012/09/29/creating-custom-brightscript-uis-with-image-canvas/

I recommend reading the entire Brightscript Language Reference about 5 times through, seriously. On each pass you learn a few new things as your brain settles it in more and more.

Sounds like you personally are past this beginner stuff though. I suspect a nice big organized tutorial would be totally welcome, but just nobody has spent the time to do it yet.

[dcrandall]

There really needs to be a design patterns or 'best practices' somewhere out there, for sure. For as much grief as brightscript and I have had together, for the most part it has a lot of the features I desire in a 2014-ish platform... or if it doesn't have them, something reasonably close can be approximated.

[DukeOfMarshall]

Komag,
Thanks for the links and the information. That first link you listed was one that I had actually been to before and was extremely helpful in getting started. I haven't seen those other links yet, but I'll have to check them out.

Yeah, it seems like that's the general suggestion from others as well. Just start at page one of the documentation and then read through to the end. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat. I'll have to take some time and do that. However, I'm afraid that due to the way the documentation is structured and the content contained therein, that even after reading through the entire documentation, that going back for reference on projects may provide just as futile an attempt as before.

drcandall,
I completely agree. Not only does the BrightScript language appear to be completely proprietary, but so does the naming conventions for traditional coding syntax. I mean, did we really need to place "ro" in front of things like "array". Either way, it's not really that important I guess. Like you said, we really need some further documentation, references, and best practices guidelines.

[RokuJoel]

I would start by looking at the example files and seeing how they are structured. While some are perhaps overcomplicated for beginners, they do illustrate most of the principals involved in Roku channel development. The SimpleInfo example is a good one to start with.

- Joel