Boxee application development: minor frustrations
I was asked some time ago to develop a boxee skin. Having very little knowledge in this application, I started to fool around with it for a while, and I thought the whole application was actually quite nice. Very neat look, most of the plugins have a look that is very adapted for both computer screens and TV sets.
So I started to play around with it, and some setbacks started to appear. No biggies, but small things that are made to frustrate coders I would guess.
No Javascript API for http:// links
Why? This is kind of frustrating – I was in this case using a player that was coming with a full blown Javascript API for the ExternalInterfaces, and was planning to use it (i.e. use the standard function calls as wrappers). But no go. Funny thing is, the Javascript code does work – I was starting the video on an http:// link with a set timeout. All that was missing on to that point was for Boxee to make the calls… but no go.
It’s a bit hard to believe – I certainly hope I am wrong on that matter, but to have read the Javascript code of the hulu-feed player, I am pretty sure that this is right.
No control over Boxee time progress display
When you use a Flash/Silverlight player through a flash:// URL, you are expected (although it is technically optionnal) to give the path to a Javascript sheet which will contain standard function definition to allow the Boxee controls and the player to communicate (i.e. send pause/play, give feedback when the video is over, etc.). That’s nice, but I have yet to find a way to control the time on the left – even though you have control on the progress bar. That’s a bit odd to my taste.
Overall, Boxee is still very cool – no doubts about that. But those things are must-fix things to my opinion…
