Roku Developer Program

[edunn]

Hi all,

I was in the process of developing an app, and everything was working when I last checked it. Today, I gave it another test drive without changing anything, and it's broken.

The app loads, and attempts to play videos but once the video is loaded it either crashes or it returns me to the selection menu.

My app is a modification of the rss video demo app.

Additonally, connecting to the Roku box through the console no longer works. I do telnet <Roku IP> 8080, it connects, and then nothing happens.

Can anyone help me???

Thanks so much,
Evan

[RokuJoel]

As far as the telnet connection goes, the port is 8085.

In terms of troubleshooting, one simple way is to print to the console as much information as possible so that you know where exactly the channel crashes. In videoplayer, you can use msg.getdata(), msg.getmessage(), msg.getindex(), msg.gettype() to output data to the console.

example:

msg=wait(0,port)
?"type: ";msg.gettype();" data: ";msg.getdata();" message: ";msg.getmessage();" index: ";msg.getindex()

Once you get reconnected, print the output from the console and see if you can figure out where it crashed, what the last line to execute was, and the variable value(s) that may be related to the crash.

-Joel

[edunn]

Everything looks ok through the console except I'm getting when I play a video:

"Unexpected event type: 20"

The video fails most of the time, but not all of the time. Sometimes the video does play successfully, but I don't know why.

When the video fails I get this is the message:

"showHomeScreen | msg= An unexpected problem (but not server timeout or HTTP error) has been detected. | index = -3
Video request failure: -3 0

This is really frustrating, because as of 11/14 the app never crashed. The box updated itself on the 15th.

[RokuChris]

"edunn@lifeminute.tv" wrote:
Everything looks ok through the console except I'm getting when I play a video:

"Unexpected event type: 20"

That's normal. If you read through the documentation for roVideoScreen, type 20 is the isStreamStarted() event. That line gets printed to the console because the sample has no explicit handler for that event and any event without a handler is labeled "unexpected".

If you look at the event loop in appVideoScreen.brs, you'll see that the other error is being caused by an isRequestFailed() event. It's hard to guess what might cause that without knowing more about the particular content that's failing.

[edunn]

I don't think I made any changes to appVideoScreen.brs

Function showVideoScreen(episode As Object)

    if type(episode) <> "roAssociativeArray" then
        print "invalid data passed to showVideoScreen"
        return -1
    endif

    port = CreateObject("roMessagePort")
    screen = CreateObject("roVideoScreen")
    screen.SetMessagePort(port)

    screen.Show()
    screen.SetPositionNotificationPeriod(30)
    screen.SetContent(episode)
    screen.Show()

    'Uncomment his line to dump the contents of the episode to be played
    'PrintAA(episode)

    while true
        msg = wait(0, port)

        if type(msg) = "roVideoScreenEvent" then
            print "showHomeScreen | msg = "; msg.getMessage() " | index = "; msg.GetIndex()
            if msg.isScreenClosed()
                print "Screen closed"
                exit while
            elseif msg.isRequestFailed()
                print "Video request failure: "; msg.GetIndex(); " " msg.GetData() 
            elseif msg.isStatusMessage()
                print "Video status: "; msg.GetIndex(); " " msg.GetData() 
            elseif msg.isButtonPressed()
                print "Button pressed: "; msg.GetIndex(); " " msg.GetData()
            elseif msg.isPlaybackPosition() then
                nowpos = msg.GetIndex()
                RegWrite(episode.ContentId, nowpos.toStr())
            else
                print "Unexpected event type: "; msg.GetType()
            end if
        else
            print "Unexpected message class: "; type(msg)
        end if
    end while

End Function

The content I'm playing is coming from http://www.lifeminute.tv/roku-entertainment.xml for example.

Please let me know any additional information that might help solve this issue.

[RokuJoel]

There is a line in that file that can be helpful:

    'Uncomment his line to dump the contents of the episode to be played
    'PrintAA(episode)

This of course assumes that you have left the printAA function in your channel.

If you are comfortable with it, post the output from that function.

- Joel

[edunn]

Here is the output.

---- AA ----
starrating: 90
hdbifurl: 
shortdescriptionline2: 
shortdescriptionline1: It's National Animal Safety and Protection Month!
contentid: 
sdbifurl: 
categories: (list of 1)...
  List(0)= 
sdposterurl: http://lifeminute.tv/sites/default/files/imagecache/roku_sd_poster/images/video/3425/poster/pets4.png
description: One of America                                  ??s favorite pet experts, Steve Dale is on hand with the scoop on the best tips, trends, and must-have advice on proper protection and safety for your beloved four-legged family members.
Sponsored by: Elanco Companion 
Animal Health  ?
ishd: false
genre: 
hdimg: http://lifeminute.tv/sites/default/files/imagecache/roku_sd_poster/images/video/3425/poster/pets4.png
streamformat: mp4
length: 145
contentquality: SD
streamurls: (list of 1)...
  List(0)= http://www.lifeminute.tv/video/animalsafetyandprotection.mp4
runtime: 145
synopsis: One of America                                  ??s favorite pet experts, Steve Dale is on hand with the scoop on the best tips, trends, and must-have advice on proper protection and safety for your beloved four-legged family members.
Sponsored by: Elanco Companion 
Animal Health  ?
streamqualities: (list of 1)...
  List(0)= SD
sdimg: http://lifeminute.tv/sites/default/files/imagecache/roku_sd_poster/images/video/3425/poster/pets4.png
streambitrates: (list of 1)...
  List(0)= 0
hdposterurl: http://lifeminute.tv/sites/default/files/imagecache/roku_sd_poster/images/video/3425/poster/pets4.png
playstart: 0
title: It's National Animal Safety and Protection Month!
contenttype: episode
hdbranded: false
actors: (list of 1)...
  List(0)= 
------------

Thank you so much for your help!
-Evan

[edunn]

My app now works again with V 4.2 build 1006

I made no changes... So... that's cool. Makes me nervous at the inconsistant behavior of the OS, but I'm glad to see the app working again. I just wish v 4.2 build 1006 hadn't landed the day before my boss came in to review the project. 😛