Build Your First App for webOS TV

Web apps for webOS TV are basically very similar to standard web apps. Further, they are given access to hardware and OS features typically available for native apps. So if you have an experience in building web apps, you can start developing web apps for webOS TV easily, with your knowledge in standards-based web technologies, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. For information about using standard web API in developing a web app for webOS TV, see Supported web API.

Here’s how you build your first app for webOS TV.

Create an app with CLI

1. Download and install webOS CLI.
2. Create a new app with the ares-generate command. With this example, you will use a template named basic to generate a new app.

   ares-generate -t basic ./sampleApp

3. Type in app id, title, and version.

   ? app id com.domain.app
   ? title new app
   ? version 0.0.1

   If the app is successfully generated, you will see Success.

   Generating basic in ./sampleApp Success

Now you have an app in the sampleApp directory.
You can try running the app on the simulator, or if you have a real TV device and want to test the app on it, you need to package and install the app first.

Launch the app on the simulator

1. Download and install the webOS TV Simulator.
2. Launch your app on the simulator with the area-launch command.

   ares-launch -s 23 ./sampleApp

   If the app is successfully launched, you will see Hello, World! on the simulator.

Package, install, and launch the app on a TV device

To test the app on a TV device, you first need to install Developer Mode app and connect your PC with the TV device. For how, see Developer Mode App.

1. Package the app in the sampleApp directory with the ares-package command.

   ares-package ./sampleApp

   If packaging is successful, you can see the created package (.ipk) file in the current working directory.
   Note

   You can specify a directory where the package file is to be created using the -o option. For details, see ares-package.
2. Install the package file to the TV device with the ares-install command. Be sure to type correctly the file name of your package.

   ares-install -d myTV com.domain.app_0.0.1_all.ipk

   Note

   If you have specified the directory where the package file is to be created using the -o option, make sure that you specify the path, as well as the file name, of your package correctly.
3. Launch the app on the TV device with the area-launch command.

   ares-launch -d myTV com.domain.app

   If the app is successfully launched, you will see Hello, World! on the TV device.

See also

Here's the list of recommended activities you can do next.

• To create a hosted web app, go to Hosted web app. If you are planning on an app that requires continuous update, a hosted web app is a good choice.
• To learn about the lifecycle of an app, go to App Lifecycle. Understanding the app lifecycle will help you have a rough sketch on how your app will work.
• To learn about JS services on webOS, go to JS Service Basics. JS services allow your app to do some work, even when it is not running.