Roku Developer Program

[stratcat96]

Hello,

I have been able to successfully modify and play internet-based mp4's in the simple video player example but one format of url has gotten me stumped... I have come across filenames that in Windows have spaces (like if it's downloaded), but my packet sniffer shows it as using placeholders for the spaces in its url i.e. "the%20end%20of%20" etc. When I insert the url formatted like that it won't play, and if I insert it with spaces it won't play either. Is there a formatting that will agree with the Roku? I've gone through the documents searching for an answer but perhaps I overlooked it.

Also, I have been able to create metadata for episodes with an xml file, but I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to be able to point me in the right direction of the creation of dynamic metadata that changes with the offerings of a particular destination? That way if a new podcast is put on a website it will automatically show up in the channel as well. I hope I explained that right lol

I hate to keep bothering everybody with my questions but I REALLY appreciate the help I've gotten. Thanks in advance!

[TheEndless]

The %20's are standard URL encoding of spaces, so they should work fine with the Roku. What error are you getting? Are you sure the video is in a format the Roku can play, and are you correctly specifying the StreamFormat in the code?

[stratcat96]

"TheEndless" wrote:
The %20's are standard URL encoding of spaces, so they should work fine with the Roku. What error are you getting? Are you sure the video is in a format the Roku can play, and are you correctly specifying the StreamFormat in the code?

hmmm well from the springboard I get the retrieving screen for a second, then it jumps back to the springboard. If I select play again, the progress bar will advance a slight amount and then jump back.. It is an mp4 file and the stream is set that way, I guess I'm going to have to experiment with my link once again. Sorry for the dumb question but I thank you for the clarification.


EDITED TO ADD: I got it to play, I was inadvertently truncating part of the url that extended beyond the ".mp4" in the filename DUH lol

Endless, do you have any suggestions about the dynamic feeds that I could trouble you for?

[TheEndless]

"stratcat96" wrote:
hmmm well from the springboard I get the retrieving screen for a second, then it jumps back to the springboard. If I select play again, the progress bar will advance a slight amount and then jump back.. It is an mp4 file and the stream is set that way, I guess I'm going to have to experiment with my link once again. Sorry for the dumb question but I thank you for the clarification.

If you catch the IsRequestFailed() message, can get more information about why a certain video fails to play. It probably won't tell you that the URL is truncated, but it would give you an indication of whether it's a bad url or a bad video.

"stratcat96" wrote:
Endless, do you have any suggestions about the dynamic feeds that I could trouble you for?

I've never actually used any of the SDK examples beyond testing videos and referencing specific code snippets, and it sounds like you're asking how to modify one of those to be more dynamic, so I'm not sure I can be of much help there. If you're just talking about supporting different XML formats, then you'd most likely need to write your own parsing code for each different version. Not sure if that helps or not... Sorry.

And stop apologizing for asking questions! That's why there's a developer forum.. 😉

[stratcat96]

"TheEndless" wrote:

"stratcat96" wrote:
hmmm well from the springboard I get the retrieving screen for a second, then it jumps back to the springboard. If I select play again, the progress bar will advance a slight amount and then jump back.. It is an mp4 file and the stream is set that way, I guess I'm going to have to experiment with my link once again. Sorry for the dumb question but I thank you for the clarification.

If you catch the IsRequestFailed() message, can get more information about why a certain video fails to play. It probably won't tell you that the URL is truncated, but it would give you an indication of whether it's a bad url or a bad video.

"stratcat96" wrote:
Endless, do you have any suggestions about the dynamic feeds that I could trouble you for?

I've never actually used any of the SDK examples beyond testing videos and referencing specific code snippets, and it sounds like you're asking how to modify one of those to be more dynamic, so I'm not sure I can be of much help there. If you're just talking about supporting different XML formats, then you'd most likely need to write your own parsing code for each different version. Not sure if that helps or not... Sorry.

And stop apologizing for asking questions! That's why there's a developer forum.. 😉

Functionality I'm trying to create is like what you would have in say your itunes podcast channel, TV.com, or the HGTV channel where as the channel updates itself to dynamically display the content that is available on the site (or app), and when something new is added on the website's end, it also appears on the channel page without you having to manually add it. As always though, thank you so much for all your help my friend

[kbenson]

You know, it's pretty awesome that the SDk is accessible enough that regular users can jump in and wet their feet on this stuff. Congrats to Roku on that, and good job yourself stratcat96 for taking the plunge!

[TheEndless]

"stratcat96" wrote:
Functionality I'm trying to create is like what you would have in say your itunes podcast channel, TV.com, or the HGTV channel where as the channel updates itself to dynamically display the content that is available on the site (or app), and when something new is added on the website's end, it also appears on the channel page without you having to manually add it. As always though, thank you so much for all your help my friend

That should be automatic if you're already programmatically parsing a remote XML file. Just update the file, and the channel should automatically see the changes.

[stratcat96]

"kbenson" wrote:
You know, it's pretty awesome that the SDk is accessible enough that regular users can jump in and wet their feet on this stuff. Congrats to Roku on that, and good job yourself stratcat96 for taking the plunge!

I sgree it is really remarkable that "anyone" can try it out. Thank you for the encouragement, I learn a little bit every time I tinker, and thanks to help and encouragement from all of you "seasoned pros" I'm having a really good time.

Endless: Thank you once again 😉 I guess I'm going to have to pick up a book on XML because I'm not getting it on fetching dynamic feeds lol