Application Submission

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Applications

Overview

As of February 27th, 2011, submitting applications to the Boxee Application Library is done using the developers interface on our website. After you submitted your application - the request is then being tracked using JIRA (issue tracking system).

Boxee has the right to refuse submissions to the Boxee Applications Directory if they do not meet the Terms of Use.

Boxee will review the submitted applications and once approved, it will be added to the Boxee Applications Directory and an email response will be sent to the application developer.

At this time, the Boxee Application Library is open to the general public and submitting application is free of charge.

Guidelines

The key to an easy submission process is making sure your application conforms to the following guidelines:

Video

• Resolution must be 480p or higher. Your app will be on a television screen - video needs to be television quality
• Normal quality video playback must not be less than
• Audio must sync with video playback
• Experience should not be dominated by impediments like compression artifacts, jitter and audio loss
• Playback controls such as pause, seek and volume must be supported through our Javascript API (Flash and non-live content only)

Interface

• All text must be legible by a person with 20/20 vision from ten feet away
• Active text used as an interface element (e.g. a button) should not be overlaid on an unrelated image element. For example, a button cannot overlay on the top of a thumbnail image
• XML-defined UIs cannot use includes from the Boxee client (versions 0.9 and below)

Code

• No restricted system calls (e.g. "exec") or loading unauthorized binaries
• No uncaught exceptions should appear in the debug log
• No malicious code
• You must have a distributable license for all bundled software (e.g. Python modules)

Prepare your Application

Please perform the following checklist before uploading your application and submitting it.

Application Name

When naming a Boxee application it's important to be specific - create a name that quickly distinguishes your application from others available on Boxee - this means your collection of great comedy movie scenes from the 90s probably shouldn't just be called "Funny Scenes" :)

Additionally your application name should not be anything that's copyrighted or trademarked. The easiest way to avoid this issue is to do a quick web search for the name of your application. If there's a company, product, or existing show with that name in the first 2-3 pages of results we suggest you change it or reach out to the company to gain permission. If you do obtain permission to use the name please let us know when submitting your application.

Remove unused files and folders

Clear any files/temp files which are not required for you application to run.

• remove thumbs.db, hidden files and directories such as .svn
• remove backup files, or files that ends with ~.

Application Descriptor

Tripple check your descriptor.xml

• email: Make sure your email or support email is included in the descriptor. The default Boxee support email should not be used if it wasn't developed by Boxee.
• Thumbnail: Your thumbnail MUST be a 200x200 png.
• Adult content: if your app contains adult content, the rating element <rating>adult</rating> must be present.
• Remove the test-app element.
• Make sure the repository element value is http://dir.boxee.tv/apps
• For more descriptor "musts", read Anatomy of a Boxee App under descriptor section.

Source code

We ask that if your application contains python scripts to please include the py file and not just the compile pyo files. Although the app will still function its best to keep the code as open as possible. However if you are working with a company that requires this you can zip only the pyo but you must include the python code source (not compiled) in another zip file and attach it to the submission request on JIRA once created. All files are scanned by our QA team for possible malicious code.

Package

• Make sure to increment the version number every time you upload a new version of your application.
• Compress zip your application folder up in normal zip compression.
• MAC Users: Compress the folder using the console zip utility. This will create an archive without including mac hidden files/folders such as __MACOSX ._.DS_Store .DS_Store

zip -r appid-version.zip appid/

For instance... if your application id is baseballvideos and the application version is 1.8, navigate to where your application folder lives. then simply:

zip -r baseballvideos-1.8.zip baseballvideos/

Submitting Your Application

• If you haven't already register as a developer at www.boxee.tv/developer.
• Make sure your developer account is connected to JIRA (our issue tracking system), this can be done using the profile tab in the developer section.
• On the developer interface click the Apps tab on the left and upload your application's zip file.
• Once your application was uploaded click the green Submit to Boxee's App Library, this will create an application submission request in JIRA on your behalf.
• If you have not connected your developer account to JIRA by now - we will ask you to do that now. You can always submit applications using the Submit to Boxee's App Library action available on your application's versions page (accessible from the Apps tab).
• Once the application submission request was created you will get an e-mail containing its details, please track it regularly in case Boxee's stuff has any questions or issues regarding your application.

Categorizing Your Application

With Boxee 1.2, you have the ability of categorizing your app, thus making it easier for users to find your application based on the content it contains. This can be done in your Developer Dashboard. Select your application, then choose three of the following categories:

• Adult
• Education
• Entertainment
• Film and TV
• Gaming
• Kids
• Lifestyle
• Live
• Music
• News
• Photo
• Radio
• Sports
• Social
• Tech

Remarks

• By utilizing the Boxee API and submitting your application to Boxee repository you you are agreeing to and accepting the terms and conditions set forth in the API Terms of Service
• Applications are added to the repository few times a week.
  
• You will receive an email once your application has been approved by our QA and submitted to Boxee applications repository.