Yahoo! provides a connected TV platform for the development of widgets on it. It uses the Konfabulator framework for developing the widgets.
The TV widgets have an internal defined structure.
Yahoo! TV widgets support PNG and JPEG picture formats.
The two main XML files that every widget should contain are,
1) main.TV
It provides the entry point for the widget
2) widget.xml
This file gives the information about the widget
The actual functionality of the widget is written in Javascript.
Every time you need to deploy your widget on the TV, test it on the simulator, compress that tested widget folder and publish it.
The TV might give you an "Install Error!" for the widget when you try to install it without testing on the simulator.
How do I test my widget on the TV?
A: You should take the following steps to test your widget on the TV,
- Turn ON the TV :)
- Open the "Gallery" widget
- Go to the "Settings" option
- Go to Developer Settings
- Turn ON the "Show test widgets option"
- Login with your Yahoo! ID and Password
- You will get a 4-character developer code. Copy it somewhere
- Go to http://gallery.tv.widgets.yahoo.com/publisher/
- Upload your widget with the required information
- Now go back to your TV
- Open the "Gallery" widget
- Go to "Categories"
- Select the "Test widgets" category
- Now you will see a list of your test widgets.
Here are a few tutorials to get you familiar with the platform,
- Hello World - Understand the internal structure and working of a TV widget
- Twitter Updates widget - How to access a third party API from Yahoo! TV widget
- Playing Audio on the Yahoo TV widget
- Playing Video on the Yahoo TV widget
- Working with graphics on the Yahoo TV widget
Here is a link to creating your first Hello World program,
http://developer.yahoo.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=4007
For a control to resume focus on return to a view, it must have an guid specified in its config.
Here are some random ideas that I thought about (most of them are futuristic and depend on the nature of the meta data obtained from the video stream):
- Power monitoring widget
- Indicate the amount of power consumed as you watch the Television
- Monitor the power consumption in different parts of the house
- 2) Bookmark shows and share them with other potential watchers through social media
- 3) Converge television and telephony:
- Set up a call with someone
- Send a message to someone
- Access emails
- 4) Have a calendar application which reminds you of your daily schedule. It should also allow you to add a TV program to the calendar with the click of a button.
Other important links,
Yahoo connected TV quick start: http://developer.yahoo.com/connectedtv/quickstart/CTV_QS_Overview.html
Yahoo connected TV developer guide: http://developer.yahoo.com/connectedtv/devguide/
Getting started forum: http://developer.yahoo.net/forum/index.php?showforum=117
FAQs
Q: Can I view the source code of the KONtx Framework?
A: Yes, you can review the latest KONtx Framework JavaScript source code located at $HOME/TVWidgets/Konfabultor-Latest- 540/Framework/ after the Widget Development Kit is installed and the latest production widgets are updated.
With the WDK, Yahoo! has provided the following Photoshop template files for collateral creation:
/usr/local/share/WDK/doc/collateral/widget sidebar 1080.psd — Photoshop file for 1920x1080 blank sidebar
/usr/local/share/WDK/doc/collateral/snippet 1080.psd — Photoshop file for 1920x1080 blank snippet
Q: If I have a choice between JSON and XML parsing, what would be a good way to go for?
A: JSON. Always try to use JSON whenever possible.
Q: Is there a limit on the number of files in a widget?
A: No. There is no limit
Q: My widget runs perfectly on the simulator, but gives an "install error" on the TV. Why?
A: Check whether you are using two different copies of widget. It is possible you are not uploading the widget which was tested on the simulator. ALWAYS upload the widget tested on the simulator.
