Roku Developer Program

[joe-flacco]

Wow... is all I can say. I haven't actually dove into programming on the Roku yet. However I read the documentation, took a peak at the sample apps, and side loaded the examples on my Roku.

Programming for the Roku is done in a language called BrightScript scarily reminds me of qbasic back in the DOS era. The only editor I see for BrightScript is an Eclipse plugin... and I dislike Eclipse. So I'll probably be hacking together something for myself using using C# and ScintillaNET or a plugin for FlashDevelop since I use the IDE a ton. We'll see how the BrightScript language grows on me.

I know when I started programming Boxee apps I strongly disliked Python however its grown into more of a love/hate relationship. At leaste Python is a full fledged language and you can use external libraries or search for others who were trying to do the same thing. I'm afraid the resources aren't going to be as large for BrightScript.

[gonzotek]

"joe-flacco" wrote:
Programming for the Roku is done in a language called BrightScript scarily reminds me of qbasic back in the DOS era. The only editor I see for BrightScript is an Eclipse plugin... and I dislike Eclipse. So I'll probably be hacking together something for myself using using C# and ScintillaNET or a plugin for FlashDevelop since I use the IDE a ton. We'll see how the BrightScript language grows on me.

There are some other options:
http://dylan.doxey.org/article/64/roku- ... ing-in-vim
http://old.nabble.com/Review-Request%3A ... 36217.html
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=36912&p=240108
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=33897&p=216174&hilit=jedit#p216165

These are just syntax highlighters, not full fledged IDEs, but since we're dealing with an embedded system with no emulator/vm/wysiwyg for the gui design anyway... 🙂

[bgrantdev]

Quick question, I've read the eclipsePluginGuide included in the SDK, and was able to create a new brightscript project. I cannot seem to figure out how to add new .brs files to my test project in eclipse.

[malloys]

"bgrantdev" wrote:
Quick question, I've read the eclipsePluginGuide included in the SDK, and was able to create a new brightscript project. I cannot seem to figure out how to add new .brs files to my test project in eclipse.

Sorry for the delay in responding (was on vacation).
There is no special menu item for adding .brs files, just use the default menu item for creating a new generic file (File->New->File).
Just be sure to add it to the top-level source folder and name it with a .brs extension.

Cheers

[malloys]

"TheEndless" wrote:

Any ETA on said release? It's been nearly 5 months since the initial release, and so far the only update has been the addition of support for Eclipse 3.7. All of the issues I reported back in August and September are still present.. 😞

Just a few more bugfixes and we should be ready to release a new version.
No promises, but I'm aiming for sometime in the next few weeks.

Cheers

[malloys]

"malloys" wrote:

"TheEndless" wrote:

Any ETA on said release? It's been nearly 5 months since the initial release, and so far the only update has been the addition of support for Eclipse 3.7. All of the issues I reported back in August and September are still present.. 😞

Just a few more bugfixes and we should be ready to release a new version.
No promises, but I'm aiming for sometime in the next few weeks.

Cheers

Just an update for those of you who have been asking about the ETA for a new release:

The code's been checked in for a few weeks, but we've been (and still are) held up by an administrative issue that's expected to be resolved either this week or next.
I'll post an update as soon as I hear more from my contacts at Roku.

Cheers

[TheEndless]

"malloys" wrote:
Just an update for those of you who have been asking about the ETA for a new release:

The code's been checked in for a few weeks, but we've been (and still are) held up by an administrative issue that's expected to be resolved either this week or next.
I'll post an update as soon as I hear more from my contacts at Roku.

Cheers

Thanks for the update! Looking forward to it!

[SCTR]

Any update on this? We're going on a month since the above post. As a newb to Brightscript, this Eclipse plugin is the only thing making it somewhat tolerable to use/code. There are a LOT of things that don't work it seems:

• Open Declaration (doesn't do anything but say, "Current text selection doesn't resolve to a script element")


• Hovering or clicking on a function doesn't give any popup or hinting about what parameters are expected or comment/documentation


• There is no auto-assist?! When I type "scene." I would expect a list of 'methods' that I can use there to appear


• the shortcut for print "?" shows as an error in the "Problems tab" -- this REALLY threw me off since you can still Export and all works fine. I'm used to Zend Studio (PHP) or the Android SDK where if you have an error there, you need to fix it. I spent HOURS trying to fix this before I finally just tried to Export it and "see what happens". *sigh*


• print a; "="; left(element.GetAttributes()rempty(obj)" renders quirky)

[malloys]

"SCTR" wrote:
Any update on this? We're going on a month since the above post. As a newb to Brightscript, this Eclipse plugin is the only thing making it somewhat tolerable to use/code.

Sorry for the delay -
My contacts at Roku have told me that the last 1+ months holdup have been due to a budgeting approval process, but thankfully that got resolved last week.
Currently, I'm told the plugin release is now being delayed due to a wait on purchasing a code signing cert (to sign the plugin in order to prevent the warning message during install).
No word yet on how long the cert acquisition process will take.

In regard to the issues you mention...

"SCTR" wrote:

• Open Declaration (doesn't do anything but say, "Current text selection doesn't resolve to a script element")

That issue hasn't been previously reported. Adding it to the bug queue now.

"SCTR" wrote:

• Hovering or clicking on a function doesn't give any popup or hinting about what parameters are expected or comment/documentation

Known issue.
The current plugin only has knowledge of the BrightScript core language, not the "components" or their interfaces.
However, this is high on the to-do list.

"SCTR" wrote:

• There is no auto-assist?! When I type "scene." I would expect a list of 'methods' that I can use there to appear

Same as previous issue.

"SCTR" wrote:

• the shortcut for print "?" shows as an error in the "Problems tab" -- this REALLY threw me off since you can still Export and all works fine. I'm used to Zend Studio (PHP) or the Android SDK where if you have an error there, you need to fix it. I spent HOURS trying to fix this before I finally just tried to Export it and "see what happens". *sigh*

Yep, this is a known parser grammar bug.
This is fixed in the upcoming release.

"SCTR" wrote:

• print a; "="; left(element.GetAttributes()rempty(obj)" renders quirky)

The example you show is due to the presence of the string "rem" in the code. That specific bug has been fixed in the upcoming release.
Are there any other syntax highlighting issues you've spotted?

Cheers

[SCTR]

"malloys" wrote:
Are there any other syntax highlighting issues you've spotted?

Thanks so much for the feedback. I will keep an eye out for more and post as I discover them.

As for the certificate, personally *I* don't care if it prompts me about a cert warning! I have other plugins that do that on upgrade/install too. I would much rather they just release the plugin now so that we can actually use it than wait on what amounts to a simple "*click* yes install it" warning box that I'll never see again until the next update (which by then they'll have the cert most likely). Please pass along my (and I'm sure others) sentiment on this. We've already had an extraordinarily long delay it seems, and prolonging it for something as silly as a cert, isn't helping anyone (especially us newbs).