Roku Developer Program

[Gil_Dawson]

Last Friday Version 1.20 of our channel passed testing and was published.  My intent was to replace Version 1.19 with 1.20.  Here it is six days later and that hasn't quite happened.

Our "Manage Channels" page on the Roku site shows we have one channel, just the one I want, Version 1.20, as it should.  

However, my Roku device's Home screen has two icons for my channel.  One icon sees Version 1.19, the other sees Version 1.20.

My questions:

1. Might some of our customers also be seeing two icons on their Home screens, and thus have access to both Versions?


2. How can I eliminate Version 1.19 for myself and any of our customers that can see it, in a way so that we all keep on seeing Version 1.20?


3. What might I have done to create this awkward situation?

--Gil

[RokuMarkn]

Is the box you're seeing this on the same one you used for development?  Is it possible that one of the channels you're seeing is the sideloaded dev channel?

--Mark

[Gil_Dawson]

I am not sure of the terminology.  I am using InstantTVChanel.com, which produces a package for uploading.  My box is used to view the results.

I did have a Temporary Private Channel for testing, which I deleted after Version 1.20 was published.  However, the Temporary Private Channel had earmarks different from Version 1.19.

Thanks for your response, Mark.

--Gil

[EnTerr]

Open in browser http://ROKU_BOX_IP_HERE:8060/query/apps and scrutinize the list you see. That should give you idea about the channel numbers and versions.

The "side-loaded" channel RokuMarkn refers to would be at the very end and have "dev" as ID instead of a number. That's just the local development area on the box (not a "private" or "public" channel). OTOH, the "real" channel numbers you can see in the developer web portal, when looking at channel details... in the web browser's address bar  :roll:

[Gil_Dawson]

Thanks for the suggestion, EnTerr--

I had read about Developer Mode, but not used it. 

Both of our channel Versions appear in the list, each with the three-field Version Number that I put into the package for each.  This is consistent with the behavior of the Roku box as I have described above.  However, there seems to be no channel with "dev" as ID instead of a number.

Below is the relevant portion of the list to which I've added whitespace for formatting in this message and my emphasis:

<apps>
  <app id="31012" type="menu" version="1.6.3">Movie Store and TV Store</app>
  <app id="31863" type="menu" version="1.2.6">Roku Home News</app>

  <...skipping a  dozen or more lines...>

  <app id="68850" type="appl" version="10.0.1">UFO Planet</app>
  <app id="90440" type="appl" version="1.20.1">UFOTV</app>
  <app id="83494" type="appl" version="2.4.1">Sci-Fi Station - Free Movies</app>
  <app id="16030" type="appl" version="1.5.0">Aliens and UFOs</app>
  <app id="71845" type="appl" version="1.7.801">NewsOn</app>
  <app id="837" type="appl" version="2.0.70100049">YouTube</app>
  <app id="102765" type="appl" version="1.19.2">UFOTV</app>
  <app id="74051" type="appl" version="2.0.1">Classic Country</app>
</apps>

We sure appreciate your helping us figure this out, EnTerr.

--Gil

[EnTerr]

Well, from what i can tell 90440 is the public channel https://owner.roku.com/Developer/Apps/
That's about all i know.

[Gil_Dawson]

Thanks, EnTerr--

I did have a Private channel with the same name, for testing.  I deleted it using the Manage Channels webpage (same as your link) after the new Version of our Public channel passed its tests and was published.  The problem is that, although I deleted the Private channel using the website, it did not disappear from my device.

I have since verified with two subscribers that they see only the one channel, Public Version 1.20, the correct one.  So evidently the issue affects only my device, and likely not our customers.   I have now deleted the Private channel from my device using the * key.  I still think there was a problem, but, as it likely did not affect our customers, it was not serious and has a simple workaround, so we can now consider the matter closed.

 I have learned quite a bit about keeping tabs on Channel Versions.  That Debug Mode that you showed me on my device will be very useful.

Thanks for your help, EnTerr. 

[TheEndless]

"Gil Dawson" wrote:
The problem is that, although I deleted the Private channel using the website, it did not disappear from my device.

Deleting a channel from your developer account will not remove it from any device that it has already been installed on.  That has to be done on the device itself.

[EnTerr]

Just a commentary - what you observed is not a problem, the system is working "as designed". Just like with other platforms (iOS, Android), pulling out app from the store does not mean app will be deleted from users devices. Whoever downloaded it can keep/use it for as long as they please (and it still works, hehe). It only means that new downloads/installs won't be possible.

This said, likely no reason for you worrying - the private/test version would have been installed only on a limited few accounts - the test users you provided the vanity access code to add. You could see how many people have the channel installed in the dev.portal in principle - alas now that you say you deleted the private channel from there, don't think it possible.

So, some people may have been beta testers installing the private (#102765) version - and later installed the public (#90440) one - they will see both icons, till they delete one of them. If you have not given access code to other people, then nobody else has #102765

[Gil_Dawson]

Well, I've learned something.  That was a perfect answer, EnTerr.  Thank you for clearing this up!

Go Roku!  What a cool tool!