Roku API

John Gonzales

Just tried to download the Roku API and it forced me to give a credit card number which really pisses me off. If anyone needs the Roku API/SDK you can google this filename and find it available for download without needing to provide a credit card number:

roku_sdk_v29.zip

-John

mpullin

That is bad. Why have an API if you're going to discourage others from using it? It's wasted engineering.

Curious, how much did they charge you for it?

John Gonzales

It was a free download but they force you to open an account before they give it up. In opening the account they require a credit card number, mailing address, and billing info just in case I want to buy something in the future. You can probably get around it by calling their customer service department, but who wants to waste time doing that? I'd rather use that time complaining about their dumbness in forums.

mpullin

John Gonzales wrote: »

It was a free download but they force you to open an account before they give it up. In opening the account they require a credit card number, mailing address, and billing info just in case I want to buy something in the future. You can probably get around it by calling their customer service department, but who wants to waste time doing that? I'd rather use that time complaining about their dumbness in forums.

If they don't intend to charge to it, you could probably get around it by giving false credit card info. But you're absolutely right, they should not force you to engage in such foolishness.

roognation

Roku API Online

FYI

http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/External+Control+Guide

See section 3.3. I was a little surprised at the lack of Roku information on the forums...I used this basically in a function, making sure of course to open the connection before sending the command and then waiting 5 seconds before closing:

volatile char scRoku_Cmds[][15] =
{
    'Play'		// 01
    ,'Fwd'		// 02
    ,'Rev'		// 03
    ,'Home'		// 04
    ,'Up'		// 05
    ,'Down'		// 06
    ,'Left'		// 07
    ,'Right'		// 08
    ,'Select'		// 09
    ,'Back'		// 10
    ,'InstantReplay'	// 11
    ,'Info'		// 12
    ,'Backspace'	// 13
    ,'Search'		// 14
    ,'Enter'		// 15
}

function:
send_string dvRoku1_IP,
"'POST /keypress/',scRoku_Cmds[ncBtn_Roku01],' HTTP/1.1',13,10,
'Content-Length: 0',13,10,
'Host: 192.168.1.146:8060',13,10,           // ip address of the Roku
'Connection: Keep-Alive',13,10,13,10"

Works pretty well. I'll work on retrieving some info like loaded apps tomorrow.

Bigsquatch

I have a Roku on my home system. If you get stuck I might be able to help. I didn't spend a ton of time working on it after I got the basics. Getting the apps and their IDs and launching them is pretty straightforward. I do have 1 app that never reports it's name but I think it is probably a fault in the app.

One thing I haven't figured out yet is how to type a space in the onscreen text entry fields. A-z and symbols all work as documented but I never got space to work.

If you are using an Android device for control I recommend installing the Roku app. You can launch it from within TPControl and with the app you can stream music and/or photos from your Android device to your Roku.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.roku.remote

John Nagy

Comments at the SDK site suggest and escaped "\", and another suggests that the "+" may result in a space as it does in URLS:

URLEncode characters and it works great. URLEncode(" ") == "+"