Roku Developer Program

[brocker]

Hi all,

What is the proper syntax for calling a image file that is not hosted within the project? I know in the example projects there are images in folders, but if I want to link to one that's hosted at BrightCove, what would be the proper way to do that?

ABBREVIATED EXAMPLE

Sub initTheme()

    app = CreateObject("roAppManager")
    theme = CreateObject("roAssociativeArray")
    theme.OverhangSliceSD = "pkg:/images/Overhang_BackgroundSlice_Blue_SD43.png" '<<==NORMAL WAY TO SET IMAGES
    theme.OverhangLogoSD  = <WHAT URL FORMATTING GOES HERE??> 
    app.SetTheme(theme)

End Sub

I tried several different combinations and they all didn't seem to work.

Thanks
Bud

[stratcat96]

Are you trying to set a non-locally hosted overhang logo pic? You're really better off snagging it from the web and editing it yourself to make sure that you get it the right size so it will display correctly. Other than exacting size specifications in theme- work, you can set image url for poster screens, spring boards, etc. just by using the url. Those objects don't have strict dimension requirements like your theme pics

[brocker]

I was actually trying to offload as many images as I could as I read there is a limitation to what can be saved to the Roku, and they suggested hosting them elsewhere if you have a bunch (which I will). I already got a couple of warnings when side loading the project that I'm going over on size.

I had our graphic artist go through and make images as per dimensional guidelines, now was hoping to host them at BrightCove.

Thanks
Bud

[jbrave]

Overhangs HAVE to be hosted in the .pkg, poster images and most others can be hosted anywhere. You can however use the download function to download the overhang locally to the box and then use it for an overhang, although I haven't tested that this works.

[kbenson]

There's a 500k soft limit, and 2000K hard limit to channels (after zip conpression). If it's a core part of the channel, I suggest including it in the package. If it's dynamic in nature, then yes, definitely offload it.

Last I heard not all components allowed remote URLs to be used to define the files, but in that case you can use an roURLTransfer to download it to a file in tmp:/ and reference it there. If it's part of the initial screen, and you still want to remotely reference it, I suggest displating some sort of splash screen while that's happening.

[stratcat96]

"brocker" wrote:
I was actually trying to offload as many images as I could as I read there is a limitation to what can be saved to the Roku, and they suggested hosting them elsewhere if you have a bunch (which I will). I already got a couple of warnings when side loading the project that I'm going over on size.

I had our graphic artist go through and make images as per dimensional guidelines, now was hoping to host them at BrightCove.

Thanks
Bud

Those theme files should be so small in size that really it's not worth going to the trouble of keeping it out of the package. If you were even able to put all image data off-site, if the channel were to have connection issues, or the box itself had connection issues when the user opened it, only a skeleton-like frame would show in the channel and kind of look crappy if you know what I mean.

[gonzotek]

"brocker" wrote:
Hi all,

What is the proper syntax for calling a image file that is not hosted within the project? I know in the example projects there are images in folders, but if I want to link to one that's hosted at BrightCove, what would be the proper way to do that?

ABBREVIATED EXAMPLE

Sub initTheme()

    app = CreateObject("roAppManager")
    theme = CreateObject("roAssociativeArray")
    theme.OverhangSliceSD = "pkg:/images/Overhang_BackgroundSlice_Blue_SD43.png" '<<==NORMAL WAY TO SET IMAGES
    theme.OverhangLogoSD  = <WHAT URL FORMATTING GOES HERE??> 
    app.SetTheme(theme)

End Sub

I tried several different combinations and they all didn't seem to work.

Thanks
Bud

Some good advice from the other posters, and here's some example code

    http = CreateObject("roUrlTransfer")
    http.SetPort(CreateObject("roMessagePort"))
    http.SetUrl("http://yourserver.com/yourpath/yourimage.png")
    http.GetToFile("tmp:/yourimage.png")

[gonzotek]

"stratcat96" wrote:

"brocker" wrote:
I was actually trying to offload as many images as I could as I read there is a limitation to what can be saved to the Roku, and they suggested hosting them elsewhere if you have a bunch (which I will). I already got a couple of warnings when side loading the project that I'm going over on size.

I had our graphic artist go through and make images as per dimensional guidelines, now was hoping to host them at BrightCove.

Thanks
Bud

Those theme files should be so small in size that really it's not worth going to the trouble of keeping it out of the package. If you were even able to put all image data off-site, if the channel were to have connection issues, or the box itself had connection issues when the user opened it, only a skeleton-like frame would show in the channel and kind of look crappy if you know what I mean.

It *could* be coded to have fall back files in the package, if the hosted ones are unavailable.

[stratcat96]

"gonzotek" wrote:

"stratcat96" wrote:

"brocker" wrote:
I was actually trying to offload as many images as I could as I read there is a limitation to what can be saved to the Roku, and they suggested hosting them elsewhere if you have a bunch (which I will). I already got a couple of warnings when side loading the project that I'm going over on size.

I had our graphic artist go through and make images as per dimensional guidelines, now was hoping to host them at BrightCove.

Thanks
Bud

Those theme files should be so small in size that really it's not worth going to the trouble of keeping it out of the package. If you were even able to put all image data off-site, if the channel were to have connection issues, or the box itself had connection issues when the user opened it, only a skeleton-like frame would show in the channel and kind of look crappy if you know what I mean.

It *could* be coded to have fall back files in the package, if the hosted ones are unavailable.

it could, but then that's defeating the intended purpose of moving images out of the package and only saves the space difference between the two sets of images, and adds to the work

[gonzotek]

"stratcat96" wrote:
it could, but then that's defeating the intended purpose of moving images out of the package and only saves the space difference between the two sets of images, and adds to the work

True, if the purpose is space-saving. I was thinking of dynamic theming. And wouldn't really be that much work.