✨ What’s new ?

Core

Implement clearBeforeLoad on other renderers

clearBeforeLoad property of ImagePrimitive was only available on Android. It is now available on other renderers. Only CSS renderer does not support this property now.

Expose getSystemLanguage

A new method getSystemLanguage in SystemInfoService class is available to allow you to retrieve system language. It has been separated from getPreferredMenuLanguageof UserSettingsService which allow you to retrieve a language for the application itself.

Add methods to player service

Some utilities flags & functions have been added to PlayerService :

• isMuted : Allow to know if passed session is in muted state or not
• isPresentationEnabled : Allow to know if passed session has presentation enabled or not
• getPlayingState : Retrieve PlayerPlayingState of passed session

Base 64 encode and decode

StringUtils.base64Encode and StringUtils.base64decode are now based on specific engine implementations to avoid having specific engine apis inside core methods.

For now, an implementation exists for HTML and NodeJS engines.

Retrieval of @dana dependencies version

It is now possible to retrieve versions of all dependencies starting by @dana by using method getDanaDependencies from SystemInfoService.

systemInfoService.getDanaDependencies().then(dependencies => {
  // Use dependencies object to retrieve versions
})

It will return an object with keys corresponding to dependency name, and value corresponding to used version.

{
  "@dana/core": "7.242.1",
  "@dana/engine-html5": "7.242.2"
}

Animations lifecycle

We noticed that method start of Animation was not resolved on most of the renderers when calling method stop. This was leading to two major issues:

• memory leaks because freeNative was not called and some native element would remain unused
• resolving start on stop doesn’t allow to know if animation was finished or cancelled. As a result, GroupAnimation continues animation even if one animation of the group was cancelled

This could have an impact on your existing animation if you were waiting for start to resolve. You now have a boolean as parameter of then to know if the animation finished because it has been cancelled or not.

animation.start().then(isCancelled => {
  // if isCancelled === true, animation has been stopped
  // otherwise animation is complete
})

Duration parameter available on all services

In parameters of methods of services, you can pass options object that support property to manage cache. Property duration was available but not used by all services. This parameter is now sent to cache management to allow you to define a duration of the cache.

For example, set a cache duration of 10s on getContents method:

this.cmsService.getContents("myCategory", {duration: 10000});

Components

Use a font icon for fallback of virtual keyboard

A new font has been created to include icons for virtual keyboard when using NativeInput on engines that does not support native keyboard.

Support of placeholder color for NativeInputTextElement

You can now choose a text color for your placeholder. This will allow you a better customization of your inputs.

For more information, please visit NativeTextInput properties.

Support of KeyboardType password

Both Lightning and Css native inputs now handle password types correctly and hides the entered value.

In Android and TVOS renderers, this feature is already available as it is handled natively.

Cursor color is binded to text color

In order to increase input readability in some UIs with dark colors, the native input cursor color is now binded to the text color.

This is newly available in Lightning and Css renderer. Other vendors handle it natively.

Marquee RTL support

Marquee animation is reversed when current local is in right to left.

Stabilization of RTL navigation

To stabilize RTL navigation of RecyclingList, some update have been made.

currentViewIndex of ScrollView does not exist anymore. You could find a new object currentViewPosition that carry property index.

Lightning

Upgrade to Lightning 2.13

Lightning renderer has been updated from 2.7.0 to version 2.13.1. It contains several bug fixes and performance improvements. You could enjoy this new version without any change.

More info on Lightning release note.

Android and TVOS

Implement reload

Method reload of RouterManager has been implemented for TVOS and Android engines. It allows you to totally reload the application.

Implement player sessions

TVOS and Android engines can now support multiple player sessions. You can display multiple streams at the same time, like for PIP or multi live experience for example. Use method getPlayerSession with different type to create multiple sessions.

Support pause / resume event

When application is put in background or bring back to the foreground, event $ApplicationEvents.suspended and $ApplicationEvents.resumed are fired. You can add feature at this moment like stopping of resuming video stream.

VAST support

Ad insertion is now supported on Android and TVOS devices. For more details about how to integrate this feature, visit ad insertion documentation.

Android

Import wtvDebug

wtvDebug is now available while using chrome inpector on Android. See debugging documentation for more information.

TVOS

DRM FairPlay

The feature DRM FairPlay for TVOS is available.

Now you can integrate the DRM in your project by following the DRM FairPlay configuration.

Shell version management

We notice that retrieval af native shell was taking latest minor version. This could be dangerous if CI is taking a fresh version that you haven’t tested, in particular because it could depend on a development made on JavaScript part too.

We recommend to change it be replacing from keyword in Package.swift by keyword exact.

let package = Package(
    dependencies: [
        .package(id: "dana.jscmodule", exact: "7.241.0"),
        .package(id: "dana.playermodule", exact: "7.241.0")
    ]
)

🐛 What’s fixed ?

• QT/QML
  • Alpha (~transparency) of colors was not applied on Text and Border,
  • XhrService was raising an error when response was empty,
  • A black border was displayed on rectangles,
  • Support key down, key up and key press
• SmartTV
  • Fix reload method of RouterManager.
• HTML5 NativeInput
  • Cursor position was not correctly set on Lightning native input
  • Pressing back when cursor is at the beginning of the word deleted the first letter
• Lightning
  • TextPrimitive with auto dimensions that were created out of screen bounds were not correctly rendered after some property updates

⬆️ Migration guide

Update Android template

Due to player session add and android player version upgrade, following changes are required.

In app_android/app/build.gradle, remove the following lines:

    def exoplayerVersion = '2.17.1'
    api "com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-core:$exoplayerVersion"

In app_android/app/src/main/res/layout, remove player element by removing this code:

<include android:id="@+id/player"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        layout="@layout/player_view"/>

In app_android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml, add following queries after </application>:

    <queries>
        <intent>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"/>
            <data android:scheme="https"/>
        </intent>
        <intent>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"/>
            <data android:scheme="http"/>
        </intent>
    </queries>

In your MainActivity.java:

• on top on the file, add import of WTV8RelativeLayout

import com.dana.androidtv.v8_runtime.WTV8RelativeLayout;

• replace playerAdapter.addPlayerView call by playerAdapter.setRootView.

playerAdapter.setRootView((WTV8RelativeLayout)findViewById(R.id.rendererView));

• import UnstableApi and flag the class as unstable.

import androidx.media3.common.util.UnstableApi;

@UnstableApi
public class MainActivity extends WTV8MainActivity {
}

• remove call to playerAdapter.playerSessionSetActive.
• replace call to playerAdapter.stop() by playerAdapter.stopSessions().

Finally, in app_android/variables.gradle, change compileSdkVersionto 34.

compileSdkVersion = 34

Update TVOS template

For VAST integration

Due to VAST implementation, you need to add Google IMA SDK to your application.

With Xcode, open your folder app_tvos.

Go to File > Add packages dependencies. In the newly opened window, search for the IMA SDK Swift Package GitHub repository:

https://github.com/googleads/swift-package-manager-google-interactive-media-ads-tvos

Configure dependency rule as follows : Commit : 08635769971695be3d9373d7f7ee381857b2fb7b

Configure Add to project to point to your app (tvOS-App by default).

Finally, select Add package. In the prompt window, select your application on the Add to target column.

GoogleInteractiveMediaAds should have been added to your project. To ensure everything is OK, open project settings and go to Build phases. Under Link binary with libraries, check that GoogleInteractiveMediaAds has been added, otherwise add it manually by using +.

For reload integration

In the AppDelegate.swift file, add the following code.

Between import and class declaration, add the following code to allow exposure of reload method to the JavaScript context :

@objc protocol AppDelegateJSExport: JSExport {
    func reload() -> Void
}

Add the reload and loadApplication methods in AppDelegate class:

func reload() {
    ThreadManager.main.async {
        (self.jsExports?["renderer"] as! Renderer).clear()
        (self.jsExports?["player"] as! Player).destroy()
        (self.jsExports?["webApi"] as! WebApi).destroy()

        JSTimer.clearAll()
        ThreadManager.js?.cancel()
        ThreadManager.js = nil

        self.loadApplication()
    }
}

func loadApplication() {
    let window = UIWindow(frame: UIScreen.main.bounds)
    print("Main thread \(Thread.current)")
    // init root view controller
    let root = WTVViewController()

    self.jsExports = self.loadModules(window: window, root: root)
    // start app & init js thread
    ThreadManager.js = JSThread(jsExports!)
    ThreadManager.js!.start()

    window.rootViewController = root
    window.makeKeyAndVisible()
}

Replace the application method:

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
    loadApplication()
    return true
}

In loadModules method, add the application in the module array:

return [
    ...
    "AppDelegate": AppDelegate.shared! as NSObject
]

For application tracking privacy

You need to add the tracking service in the module list. In method loadModules of AppDelegate.swift:

• instanciate the tracking service

let trackingService = TrackingPrivacy()

• add it in the module list

return [
    ....
    "trackingPrivacy": trackingService
]

For application suspend / resume event

You need to add the application helper in the module list. In method loadModules of AppDelegate.swift:

• retrieve the application helper

let application = Application.shared

• add it in the module list

return [
    ....
    "application": application
]

In method loadModules of AppDelegate.swift, before call to JSTimer.clearAll(), add :

Application.shared.reset()

Finally, add call to Application methods by adding the following functions in AppDelegate.swift :

    func applicationDidEnterBackground(_ application: UIApplication) {
        Application.shared.callSuspend()
    }

    func applicationWillEnterForeground(_ application: UIApplication) {
        Application.shared.callResume()
    }

Update main.qml template

To support key up and key down, you need to update your main.qml.tpl file.

In method Keys.onPressed, add type before sending event to keyEventAdapter :

event.type="keyDown";
global.keyEventAdapter.manageInputEvent(event);

Add a new method Keys.onReleased like this :

Keys.onReleased: {
  event.type="keyUp";
  global.keyEventAdapter.manageInputEvent(event);
}

📝 Further reading

• Github Release note
• Public roadmap