Roku Developer Program

[destruk]

If roku had a recursive search in it's own unzip routine to load code on the box then these issues would be a thing of the past.

[TheEndless]

"destruk" wrote:
If roku had a recursive search in it's own unzip routine to load code on the box then these issues would be a thing of the past.

The "source" folder can have any number of subfolders, so it's recursive below that folder. You just have to have a top level "source" folder for it to look in.

[destruk]

I'm not saying it's bad the way it works now, just if it requires a folder to be called source, and the manifest is in the level directly above source, then you could zip a folder and it'd work, rather than having to zip from within the folder like we've always done.

[creator]

I just sent up my first pkg and now its displaying on my roku. Its a simple streaming channel but it works. Streaming Radio 7. Check it out. My first try. I think it takes about 24hrs to show up in the channel store as a private channel. I bought another roku just to get another developer password because I could not get the first permanent password to work. It was worth the effort. The only problem I have is my router needs to be rebooted sometimes for some reason. Is it because I leave the box in development mode maybe?

[stratcat96]

"creator" wrote:
I just sent up my first pkg and now its displaying on my roku. Its a simple streaming channel but it works. Streaming Radio 7. Check it out. My first try. I think it takes about 24hrs to show up in the channel store as a private channel. I bought another roku just to get another developer password because I could not get the first permanent password to work. It was worth the effort. The only problem I have is my router needs to be rebooted sometimes for some reason. Is it because I leave the box in development mode maybe?

if it's a private channel it will not be in the channel store, that is reserved for public channels in which there is a review process by Roku. For anyone to be able to add it they need the code for the channel.

[destruk]

"creator" wrote:
I just sent up my first pkg and now its displaying on my roku. Its a simple streaming channel but it works. Streaming Radio 7. Check it out. My first try. I think it takes about 24hrs to show up in the channel store as a private channel. I bought another roku just to get another developer password because I could not get the first permanent password to work. It was worth the effort. The only problem I have is my router needs to be rebooted sometimes for some reason. Is it because I leave the box in development mode maybe?

No password is permanent. You can create new passwords at will. I don't know of any developers who toggle it on and off - it's been on for months here with no issues.

[aawebdesign]

I am new to the ROKU Developer program and trying to create my first Roku Channel for my Sport show and Comedy Show. Located at http://www.smacksportvideos.com and http://www.smackcomedyvideos.com

I have downloaded the SDK files but am trying to find Brightscript software in order to begin programming my channel. Can someone please point me in the right place to get the program to edit my channel files.

Thanks,
Alex

[destruk]

I still use notepad and it works for me. Others use other tools. AFAIK there is no official brightscript IDE.

[4n6days]

I found instructions for how to set up a basic Roku channel using the videoplayer template in the SDK at http://blog.defaultroute.com/2011/01/24/building-a-roku-channel-part-3.

But when I get to this part.... I get totally confused... can someone help me out?

Packaging:
1) Set your ROKU_DEV_TARGET environment variable.
export ROKU_DEV_TARGET=your roku IP address - since the Roku IP isn't static.... doesn't this change frequently?

2) Create a zip file with make. On your development machine, go to the directory where you edited the code. You will see a Makefile. Edit just this one line in the middle of the Makefile:
APPNAME = your_happy_little_app_name

3) Type make - Where do I type this? What happens when I do? Where is the .zip created? Does it use the script in the Makefile to "compile?" it?
4) Type make install
5) In your web browser, type in http://YOUR_ROKU_IP_ADDRESS
6) Remember those keys we generated in Part 1? Here they come into play. From the Roku documentation. I can’t shorten this and they’ve explained it better than I could:

Install your zip file:
Select your application zip file using the “Browse…” button and then press “Install”. The box now has a copy of your application installed, plus the keys are still resident on the device from when you performed the “genkey” operation.

This is my understanding. Edit the template XML files to point to my videos. Do the "Make" and "Make Install" thingy. Where do you find the ZIP that "Make" created?.....

Also, if I have 1 category with 3 videos in a PUBLISHED channel, can I edit the playlist to add or change videos without doing the "Make" thing again.


Sorry if these questions seem totally misinformed... they very well might be.... 🙂

[gonzotek]

"4n6days" wrote:
I found instructions for how to set up a basic Roku channel using the videoplayer template in the SDK at http://blog.defaultroute.com/2011/01/24/building-a-roku-channel-part-3.

But when I get to this part.... I get totally confused... can someone help me out?

Packaging:
1) Set your ROKU_DEV_TARGET environment variable.
export ROKU_DEV_TARGET=your roku IP address - since the Roku IP isn't static.... doesn't this change frequently?

2) Create a zip file with make. On your development machine, go to the directory where you edited the code. You will see a Makefile. Edit just this one line in the middle of the Makefile:
APPNAME = your_happy_little_app_name

3) Type make - Where do I type this? What happens when I do? Where is the .zip created? Does it use the script in the Makefile to "compile?" it?
4) Type make install
5) In your web browser, type in http://YOUR_ROKU_IP_ADDRESS
6) Remember those keys we generated in Part 1? Here they come into play. From the Roku documentation. I can’t shorten this and they’ve explained it better than I could:

Install your zip file:
Select your application zip file using the “Browse…” button and then press “Install”. The box now has a copy of your application installed, plus the keys are still resident on the device from when you performed the “genkey” operation.

This is my understanding. Edit the template XML files to point to my videos. Do the "Make" and "Make Install" thingy. Where do you find the ZIP that "Make" created?.....

Also, if I have 1 category with 3 videos in a PUBLISHED channel, can I edit the playlist to add or change videos without doing the "Make" thing again.


Sorry if these questions seem totally misinformed... they very well might be.... 🙂

You usually can assign a dhcp reservation for the Roku in your router settings, so that the IP will always be the same.

make is a command line tool, so you access it from a command line :). It isn't available in Windows(it's a primarily a unix/linux thing, I'm not sure but I think MacOS X has it as well). Since my main development machine is a windows box, I usually manually zip the source, and then manually upload it to the Roku with my browser pointed to http://MY_ROKU_IP/. You must have development mode enabled to be able to reach the installation page. The make command simply automates the process (Roku's make script also has some intelligent compression settings, for example it won't try to compress images, but don't worry about that for now).

As for the xml file, if you host the xml file on your server, and point your channel to it, then you can change it on the fly any time you have changes in your content. If it's part of the channel package, you'll only be able to change it by updating the channel(and going through the channel store publishing process).