Linkbacking for posterity:
"fortscan" wrote:
Technically both methods still work with certain workarounds if you are already logged in to a Roku account.
Examples that work while being already logged in:
a) https://owner.roku.com/add/{access-code}
b) https://my.roku.com/account/add?channel={access-code} (instead of my.roku.com/add/{access-code} )
The real problem is that none of these methods (or any other) seem to work if the user is not already logged in, because the system redirects to my.roku.com/signin and does not retain any of the querystrings that were originally passed to take the user back to the installation page after the login process is completed, such as ?next=...
In other words, if you manually logout from your Roku account (or if you are not already logged in like what happens with most users) and you try to access any private channel linking URL, the process will fail at this time.
For an end-user, it's extremely confusing clicking on a link that should take them to the installation of a channel and -after submitting the Roku credentials- be taken to the standard /index page of the Roku account instead.
This could be quickly fixed if the ?next= querystring that is automatically added when the system redirects to my.roku.com/signin is retained and the system is able to recognize that it should take the user back to the channel installation page after successfully loggin in.
Love the optimism ("this could be quickly fixed") but in my experience RokuCo's web developers are
incredible klutzes. I would say they have reached their maximum potential under
Peter's principle... in other words, being
marginally incompetent. Not "marginally competent", mind you - but a small step further. Just enough to break things yet not enough to get fired.
Am i being too acerbic? I am sorry but it's never excusable to break things in PRODUCTION. That is sacred. Machines should work. Learning-on-the-job is not something web devs should do - if you don't know some modern technology, don't use it till you have mastered it.
Back to the business at hand: we should have a BRIEF and RELIABLE url to add Roku channels by vanity code. Something that can be printed on a business card and be relied to work when a person types it. To be
brief, it
in front. And to be
reliable, it should always work - even if a person is logged off, the workflow should not lose the initial URL and would lead them to the channel screen after having to log in.
So, @RokuCo -
give us something short and sweet to use, like "
my.roku.com/add/MYAPPCODE" -
and
not something long and stupid, like "
https://my.roku.com/account/add?channel=MYAPPCODE"
And guarantee it always works by adding test cases for it to an automated test suite!
