Roku Developer Program

[dan_shneider]

Hey,
I do some server requests in a task. eventually I get the final response with the videos I need to display. that's fine. I send a callback to the VideoGridScene.
Now, I need to request something again from the server. let's say, when the video pauses.
My task has a property with the Video node, and I get the 'pause' event.
But, on that point, I cannot access the registry to get some values nor can I request 
Errors:
'Dot' Operator attempted with invalid BrightScript Component or interface reference. (runtime error &hec)
and
BRIGHTSCRIPT: ERROR: roUrlTransfer: class PLUGIN|MARKUP on thread RENDER: pkg:/components/Task.xml(378)
BRIGHTSCRIPT: ERROR: roMessagePort: Trying to construct a message port on a non-plugin thread: pkg:/components/Task.xml(379)

What am I doing wrong?

[EnTerr]

Hard to read your tea leafs but seems as if you are trying to use some components that are "haram" 🙂 in RSG (render thread, specifically). Seeing that "Task.xml" is mentioned, you are probably doing it before spawning a task thread.

See also https://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc ... pt+Support

[dan_shneider]

"EnTerr" wrote:
Hard to read your tea leafs but seems as if you are trying to use some components that are "haram" 🙂 in RSG (render thread, specifically). Seeing that "Task.xml" is mentioned, you are probably doing it before spawning a task thread.

See also https://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc ... pt+Support

Not sure I understood (I did understand the Haram part 🙂
Anyhow, I guess what I am saying is that I need a task node that can act as a continuous server.
Task.xml is just a sample. that's not the real name of the node of course. my function within the task sends the result to the observer gets it and all is good.[/font][/color]
My question was actually about next step: I need to send more requests according to the player event (star, stop, pause and so on...).[/font][/color]

[belltown]

Do you have any code showing how you're trying to do this?

[dan_shneider]

"belltown" wrote:
Do you have any code showing how you're trying to do this?

Sure. this is how I init the Task:

m.babatorTask = createObject("RoSGNode", "BabatorTask")
   m.babatorTask.observeField("babator_recommendations", "OnRecommendationsFetched")
   m.babatorTask.babator_api_key = "API_KEY"
   m.babatorTask.video_player = m.VideoGrid.liveVideo.Video
   m.babatorTask.control = "RUN"

And this is the task code (part of it):

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "utf-8" ?> 

<!--********** B A B A T O R **********-->

<component name = "BabatorTask" extends = "Task" >
 
  <interface>
  <field id = "babator_api_url" type = "string" />
  <field id = "babator_api_key" type = "string" />
    <field id = "babator_recommendations" type = "string" />
    <field id = "video_player" type="node"/>
  </interface> 

  <script type = "text/brightscript" >

    <![CDATA[

    sub init()
      m.top.functionName = "startBabator"
    end sub

function startBabator()
userRequest = CreateObject("roUrlTransfer")
    port = CreateObject("roMessagePort")
    userRequest.SetMessagePort(port)
    userRequest.SetUrl(url)
    userRequest.AddHeader("x-api-key",m.top.babator_api_key)
    userRequest.AddHeader("x-is-native","true") 
  
    if (userRequest.AsyncGetToString())
    
        while (true)
            msg = wait(0, port)
            if (type(msg) = "roUrlEvent")
                code = msg.GetResponseCode()
                print "user response code: " + code.ToStr()
                
                if (code = 200) 'response OK
                    
                    m.top.babator_recommendations = msg.GetString()
                else
                    print "ERROR in user request: " + userRequest.GetFailureReason()    
                endif
            else if (event = invalid) 'response is invalid
                print "invalid !!!"
                userRequest.AsyncCancel()
            endif
            exit while
        end while
    endif
    return invalid
    
    end function
    
    

[belltown]

To use a Task as a continuous server, use the port form of ObserveField(), specifying an roMessagePort used to wait for changes on each item that you wish to observe. You can use the same port you use for your roUrlTransfer object. In the Task thread code, define a message loop that calls Wait() on the port. If an observed field changes, an roSGNodeEvent message is received. Call GetField() and GetData() on this message to get the name of the field that changed and its value. You only need to set the Task's control field to "RUN" one time, to start it up. Thereafter, it will handle observed field changes each time they occur in its main Wait loop.

[EnTerr]

How do we explain the bizarre "colonics"?

BRIGHTSCRIPT: ERROR: roUrlTransfer: class PLUGIN|MARKUP on thread RENDER: pkg:/components/Task.xml(378)
BRIGHTSCRIPT: ERROR: roMessagePort: Trying to construct a message port on a non-plugin thread: pkg:/components/Task.xml(379)

Seems awfully peculiar - could this be caused by assigning a Video node to a Task field?
Not something i would have tried but it shouldn't bind the task spawned to the render thread, right?

PS. Why is the diagnostic text so weird? Is it trying to say that PLUGIN and MARKUP are mutually exclusive flags? I am guessing #378 is `userRequest = CreateObject("roUrlTransfer")`? Why is this the RENDER thread if it's in the Task runner function?

[dan_shneider]

"EnTerr" wrote:
How do we explain the bizarre "colonics"?

BRIGHTSCRIPT: ERROR: roUrlTransfer: class PLUGIN|MARKUP on thread RENDER: pkg:/components/Task.xml(378)
BRIGHTSCRIPT: ERROR: roMessagePort: Trying to construct a message port on a non-plugin thread: pkg:/components/Task.xml(379)

Seems awfully peculiar - could this be caused by assigning a Video node to a Task field?
Not something i would have tried but it shouldn't bind the task spawned to the render thread, right?

PS. Why is the diagnostic text so weird? Is it trying to say that PLUGIN and MARKUP are mutually exclusive flags? I am guessing #378 is `userRequest = CreateObject("roUrlTransfer")`? Why is this the RENDER thread if it's in the Task runner function?

Yes, #378 is  CreateObject("roUrlTransfer")

[dan_shneider]

"belltown" wrote:
To use a Task as a continuous server, use the port form of ObserveField(), specifying an roMessagePort used to wait for changes on each item that you wish to observe. You can use the same port you use for your roUrlTransfer object. In the Task thread code, define a message loop that calls Wait() on the port. If an observed field changes, an roSGNodeEvent message is received. Call GetField() and GetData() on this message to get the name of the field that changed and its value. You only need to set the Task's control field to "RUN" one time, to start it up. Thereafter, it will handle observed field changes each time they occur in its main Wait loop.

Not so sure I understood what should I do in the Scene level & in the task level. any code snippet?

[belltown]

Here's a very simplified example that illustrates the concept. Note that I don't include the Video node as a field in the Task node as you've done. That just seems weird to me. It makes more sense to keep the Video node contained within the Render thread and communicate any state changes that the Task needs to know about via an interface field on the Task node that only contains the information the Task needs to know (i.e. the video state in this case). The Task just prints out any changes to the Video state by observing its interface field. You can add your own code to use your roUrlTransfer object to send that data where it needs to go.

Test.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<component name="Test" extends="Scene">
  <script type="text/brightscript" uri="pkg:/components/Test.brs" />
  <children>
    <Video id="videoNode">
      <ContentNode role="content"
        url="https://archive.org/download/Plan9FromOuterSpace1958/Plan-9-from-Outer-Space.mp4"
        title="Test Video" />
    </Video>
    <TaskServer id="taskServerNode" />
  </children>
</component>

Test.brs:

sub init()
    m.taskServerNode = m.top.findNode("taskServerNode")
    m.taskServerNode.ObserveField("stateOutput", "onTaskStateOutput")
    m.videoNode = m.top.findNode("videoNode")
    m.videoNode.SetFocus(true)
    m.videoNode.ObserveField("state", "onVideoState")
    m.videoNode.control = "play"
end sub

sub onVideoState()
    m.taskServerNode.stateInput = m.videoNode.state
end sub

sub onTaskStateOutput()
    print "Task state: "; m.taskServerNode.stateOutput
end sub

function onKeyEvent(key as string, press as boolean) as boolean
    handled = false
    if press
        if key = "play"
            if m.videoNode.state = "playing"
                m.videoNode.control = "pause"
            else if m.videoNode.state = "paused"
                m.videoNode.control = "resume"
            else if m.videoNode.state = "stopped"
                m.videoNode.control = "play"
            end if
            handled = true
        end if
    end if
    return handled
end function

TaskServer.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<component name="TaskServer" extends="Task">
  <script type="text/brightscript" uri="pkg:/components/TaskServer.brs" />
  <interface>
    <field id="stateInput" type="string" alwaysNotify="true" />
    <field id="stateOutput" type="string" alwaysNotify="true" />
  </interface>
</component>

TaskServer.brs:

sub init()
    m.top.functionName = "taskRun"
    m.top.control = "RUN"
end sub

function taskRun() as void
    port = CreateObject("roMessagePort")
    m.top.ObserveField("stateInput", port)
    while true
        msg = Wait(0, port)
        if Type(msg) = "roSGNodeEvent"
            field = msg.GetField()
            state = msg.GetData()
            if field = "stateInput"
                print "stateInput: "; state
                m.top.stateOutput = state
            end if
        end if
    end while
end function