Roku Developer Program

[Veeta]

Sharing this announcement here since I nearly missed the blog update myself and feel this is a big deal for developers.

https://blog.roku.com/developer/2017/02/01/legacy-sdk/

Effective immediately: No new features will be added to our legacy SDK visual screens
July 1, 2017: All new channels must use RSG or Direct Publisher
January 1, 2018: All channel updates must use RSG or Direct Publisher
January 1, 2019: Legacy visual screen components will be removed from Roku OS

[EnTerr]

It is a BFD indeed!
The Co want to deprecate the "old look&feel" components apparently.

On a side note, one could see the new posts from the dev.blog pop (rss feed) in the http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/125654/roku if one were to join that room. The question of course is, how would one remember to check on said chat room? 8-) 
Sadly, the @RokuDev twitter is a useless robot right now, that keeps repeating messages pre-recorded many months ago and because of that any real news would be lost in the repetitive torrent

[matrixebiz]

Will this affect the Sample Brightscript SDK that Belltown created : https://github.com/belltown/Roku-NewVideoPlayer? Does it include any of the Legacy SDK Components?
I was going to try converting a channel to Roku Direct Publisher but it is not available on Private channels, I don't see the “Convert to Direct Publisher” option. Not really sure what would happen if I try it on a Public channel.
I tried to do the SceneGraph guide but there are errors in it so was unable to test : https://developer.roku.com/en-ca/develo ... uide-index
I'm just trying to figure out if I need to do anything in preparation of the change

[EnTerr]

"matrixebiz" wrote:
Will this affect the Sample Brightscript SDK that Belltown created : https://github.com/belltown/Roku-NewVideoPlayer? Does it include any of the Legacy SDK Components?

Yes, it (d)effects the above NewVideoPlayer - i just had a quick look and it uses e.g. roPosterScreen which will be deprecated. Note the timeline - it does not mean you cannot submit new channels with "old" APIs outright - but plan accordingly for the long term.

[matrixebiz]

Okay, I'll try and create a working Direct Publisher version of my channel.
What time line does the above SDK channel fall under before it dies?;
July 1, 2017 or January 1, 2018 or January 1, 2019

Will my channel just not work anymore or does that timeline just mean that if I have to submit an update then it has to be in Direct Publisher format but the old channel itself will continue to work properly?

[EnTerr]

"matrixebiz" wrote:
What time line does the above SDK channel fall under before it dies?

It doesn't fall anywhere, since it is not published as an app in the Store.
The above deadlines apply to submissions
- if you don't have SDK1 channel out, you better publish before the 1st date.
- if you want to update a publish channel, you can keep SDK1 visual components in it till the 2nd date
- before the 3rd date, all published apps that use SDK1 visuals will keep working. After the 3rd date, all deprecated components will be yanked from the player so remaining channels that use them will stop working

[matrixebiz]

Sorry, I meant my published channel that is based off that SDK 🙂
Okay, thanks for the info, so I have 2 years to figure out how to program the channel in SceneGraph or Direct Publisher instead 🙂 

[squirreltown]

"matrixebiz" wrote:
Sorry, I meant my published channel that is based off that SDK 🙂
Okay, thanks for the info, so I have 2 years to figure out how to program the channel in SceneGraph or Direct Publisher instead 🙂 

Or 2D API. It's not going away.

[matrixebiz]

Which type is easier to convert the NewVideoPlayer channel too?

[adrianc1982]

"matrixebiz" wrote:
Which type is easier to convert the NewVideoPlayer channel too?

Id go with RSG its the newest and has a lot of customization. Just start building some samples and tweaking and studying its a lot harder than brightscript but not too hard, if you are fluid in brightscript you will figure it out in a couple days/weeks..