Corona app not visible in Google TV

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#21

Good find SegaBoy.  I didn’t know that Google recently added NDK support.  I *think* that’s the only other thing that is blocking a Corona built app from being purchasable on a Google TV based on the documentation I’ve read.  I don’t know for sure since we’ve yet to test this for ourselves.

Interestingly enough, we’re looking into updating the Corona Simulator to support a 720 and 1080 resolution TV for Ouya.  So, this should also prove useful in simulating for Google TV if we can verify that it works with Google’s newest revision.

#22

Wanted to check does Corona support this now? We have also recently been contacted by LG and need to add the permissions… 

<uses-feature android:name=“android.hardware.touchscreen” android:required=“false”/>
<uses-feature android:name=“android.hardware.faketouch” android:required=“false”/>

I don’t have a recent enough LG tv to test so I wanted to ask if we add these to the build settings is it likely to work or do we need to wait for a new corona build with this support? 

  • Luke
#23

So far the answer is *no* until the Google TV device supports Android NDK built apps.

We haven’t tried testing with the newest Google TV devices.  No plans to do that yet.  We’ve been more focused on supporting Ouya at the moment.

#24

I know corona apps work on the TV as LG have sent us demo video of our corona apps running their TV. I can forward if you like, they use the want like remote.

The issue is corona doesn’t seem to be passing the permissions through to the manifest.xml when doing the build. This means the apps don’t show up on Google play store when viewed on the TV. I cant say for sure I but I would guess its a case of adding them to a whitelist of permissions allowed to be used in the build settings. 

Just to be clear… Are you saying you cant / wont be allowing this? 

Is there any workaround where by we can modify the manifest.xml manually? 

  • Luke
#25

“So far the answer is *no* until the Google TV device supports Android NDK built apps.”

It looks like the latest release does support NDK and corona apps work if they have the permissions. 

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/05/15/google-bumps-google-tv-to-android-4-2-2-jelly-bean-lg-confirms-it-will-update-gtv-devices/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/android-jelly-bean-coming-to-lg-smart-tv-with-google-tv/

Here is the video of our app running on the TV.

http://cl.ly/303r253C0V2Z

  • Luke
#26

We’re not going to be putting any time or resources into Google TV in the near future.  There isn’t enough demand for it.  So, you’re on your own in getting it working.  But I can give you some quick tips.

Instructions on how to set the “uses-features” tags is near the top of this forum thread.  Here is a quick link…

   http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/35504-corona-app-not-visible-in-google-tv/?p=185602

Also, the newest daily build gives you access to the remote control’s key events.  Have a look at the documentation here…

   http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/api/event/key/keyName.html

#27

HI Joshua, 

I can understand you guys have to dedicate resources where it makes sense. I’m not asking for official support for Google TV.

We tried using the uses-features tag (as suggested in this thread) but the feature/permission didn’t make it though to the manifest.xml. As someone else in this thread reported the same problem I guess it may be an issue with corona writing the manifest.xml? Does uses-features have a fixed list of strings that are allowed? is there a whitelist or blacklist.  

Thanks for your help. 

  • Luke
#28

Corona does correctly add “uses-features” tags to the AndroidManifest.xml file.  This has been supported for well over a year.  It’ll accept any string that you give it and copy it as-is into the AndroidManifest.xml file.  You’re likely running into a different issue.

Perhaps your app is using a feature that Google TV does not support?

Google Play will assume that your app requires a feature if you add a permission for it.  For example, if you add a permission for the GPS or camera features, then those feature will be required unless you flag them as not required via the “uses-feature” tags. We document this here…

   http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/guide/distribution/buildSettings/index.html#features

#29

Hi Joshua,

Apologies for being a bit bone headed and thanks for the help. We checked with aapt and can see the permissions are getting passed through now. They don’t show up on google play if they are set to required=false hence us thinking they were not getting passed through. Will report back if the app is installable by LG on latest Google TV. I think it should work now. 

  • Luke
#30

No worries.  I’m happy to help.

I’ve also noticed that you can set up an APK that only targets Google TV as instructed by the link below.  Might be helpful if you need to make a different version of your app that only targets Google TV.

   https://developers.google.com/tv/faq#multipleAPK

#31

I’ve also read in Google’s documentation that if your app supports portrait orientations, then Google Play will assume that it is required and will not be purchasable by Google TV.  In which case, you must do one of the following…

  • Set up your app to be landscape only.  (Easiest)
  • Set up your app to support portrait and landscape, but specify that portrait orientations are not required via the “android.hardware.screen.portrait” <uses-feature> setting.

Anyways, I hope this helps.  Good luck on supporting Google TV.  I’m very interested if you can get it to work.

#32

Wanted to check does Corona support this now? We have also recently been contacted by LG and need to add the permissions… 

<uses-feature android:name=“android.hardware.touchscreen” android:required=“false”/>
<uses-feature android:name=“android.hardware.faketouch” android:required=“false”/>

I don’t have a recent enough LG tv to test so I wanted to ask if we add these to the build settings is it likely to work or do we need to wait for a new corona build with this support? 

  • Luke
#33

So far the answer is *no* until the Google TV device supports Android NDK built apps.

We haven’t tried testing with the newest Google TV devices.  No plans to do that yet.  We’ve been more focused on supporting Ouya at the moment.

#34

I know corona apps work on the TV as LG have sent us demo video of our corona apps running their TV. I can forward if you like, they use the want like remote.

The issue is corona doesn’t seem to be passing the permissions through to the manifest.xml when doing the build. This means the apps don’t show up on Google play store when viewed on the TV. I cant say for sure I but I would guess its a case of adding them to a whitelist of permissions allowed to be used in the build settings. 

Just to be clear… Are you saying you cant / wont be allowing this? 

Is there any workaround where by we can modify the manifest.xml manually? 

  • Luke
#35

“So far the answer is *no* until the Google TV device supports Android NDK built apps.”

It looks like the latest release does support NDK and corona apps work if they have the permissions. 

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/05/15/google-bumps-google-tv-to-android-4-2-2-jelly-bean-lg-confirms-it-will-update-gtv-devices/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/android-jelly-bean-coming-to-lg-smart-tv-with-google-tv/

Here is the video of our app running on the TV.

http://cl.ly/303r253C0V2Z

  • Luke
#36

We’re not going to be putting any time or resources into Google TV in the near future.  There isn’t enough demand for it.  So, you’re on your own in getting it working.  But I can give you some quick tips.

Instructions on how to set the “uses-features” tags is near the top of this forum thread.  Here is a quick link…

   http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/35504-corona-app-not-visible-in-google-tv/?p=185602

Also, the newest daily build gives you access to the remote control’s key events.  Have a look at the documentation here…

   http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/api/event/key/keyName.html

#37

HI Joshua, 

I can understand you guys have to dedicate resources where it makes sense. I’m not asking for official support for Google TV.

We tried using the uses-features tag (as suggested in this thread) but the feature/permission didn’t make it though to the manifest.xml. As someone else in this thread reported the same problem I guess it may be an issue with corona writing the manifest.xml? Does uses-features have a fixed list of strings that are allowed? is there a whitelist or blacklist.  

Thanks for your help. 

  • Luke
#38

Corona does correctly add “uses-features” tags to the AndroidManifest.xml file.  This has been supported for well over a year.  It’ll accept any string that you give it and copy it as-is into the AndroidManifest.xml file.  You’re likely running into a different issue.

Perhaps your app is using a feature that Google TV does not support?

Google Play will assume that your app requires a feature if you add a permission for it.  For example, if you add a permission for the GPS or camera features, then those feature will be required unless you flag them as not required via the “uses-feature” tags. We document this here…

   http://docs.coronalabs.com/daily/guide/distribution/buildSettings/index.html#features

#39

Hi Joshua,

Apologies for being a bit bone headed and thanks for the help. We checked with aapt and can see the permissions are getting passed through now. They don’t show up on google play if they are set to required=false hence us thinking they were not getting passed through. Will report back if the app is installable by LG on latest Google TV. I think it should work now. 

  • Luke
#40

No worries.  I’m happy to help.

I’ve also noticed that you can set up an APK that only targets Google TV as instructed by the link below.  Might be helpful if you need to make a different version of your app that only targets Google TV.

   https://developers.google.com/tv/faq#multipleAPK