Roku SceneGraph is a framework Developed by Roku with the intent to help developers make the development process easier and faster.

According to Roku, these are the Roku SceneGraph core concepts:

The SceneGraph framework is used for developing channels. This framework incorporates two key concepts:

SceneGraph rendering of the channel screens

XML configuration of the SceneGraph screens

This programming framework aims to speed channel development time by reducing the procedural code required to render a screen display. Instead, the screen's appearance can be configured as screen component attributes set in XML files. Much of the appearance and behavior of screen components has been coded into the SceneGraph components that Roku provides, allowing you to quickly select and set the attributes of each component to match the design of your channel and allowing more manageable development of more complex screen displays than were possible in previous Roku firmware.

In addition, the SceneGraph XML programming framework includes a new capability to design your channel's user interface for specific screen display resolutions, but also with the flexibility to allow the user interface to render correctly on Roku players that do not support the intended display resolution.

It allows developers to create user interfaces from various components, such as posters, labels, grids, lists, keyboards, dialogs, and more.

It also enables developers to use BrightScript, a scripting language designed for Roku, to handle the logic and functionality of their channels. Roku SceneGraph was intended to replace the legacy SDK.

Some of the benefits of using Roku SceneGraph are:

It provides more control over the presentation layer of the channel, such as animations, transitions, effects, and layouts.

It supports custom fonts, background images, debugging screens, and busy spinners.

It follows the latest Roku UI designs and best practices for OTT channel development.

Now, back to English. :)

The Roku SceneGraph is an easier way to develop Channels / Apps.

Thanks to the Roku SceneGraph, developers can now use Channel Templates ( like in TV Boss Fire).

To support this "new way," Roku provides some basic templates to help developers start a new channel.

But you still need to know and understand what can go where and how to "stitch" all the pieces to make it work. And we are back to BrightScript and coding.

In TV Boss Fire, we already did the extensive work and provided you with the only relatively easy template to use/ customize, and it will pass all the validation requirements.

In conclusion, to these two introductory lessons;

Roku SDK / SceneGraph is the most fantastic thing that we, as developers, could have been forced into.

SDK apps are easier and faster to rank, load faster, have instant content updates, and can offer almost endless customization options.

But all this comes at a considerable cost: you must learn coding.

You basically have two options:

Learning to code takes years, and not everyone is open to this. I am almost two years into learning all this, and I still consider myself a very, very, very beginner. :)

Or option nr 2: learn to use templates - this is the easy way out but comes with another cost - every template has its limitations.

What is Roku ScheneGraph

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