Roku Direct Publisher

Roku Direct Publisher - the easiest way to create a great TV experience. Learn more about how to create a Roku channel and share your experiences with others.
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toesinthesand
Binge Watcher

Can't add playlist as category

Using Direct Publisher, to add a new playlist, I click on "add category, select "based on playlist" then select one of the playlist titles from the drop down menu that is being fed from my json file. When I try to click save, I get the following error:

Sorry, An error was encountered with the form. Please correct the highlighted fields.

I've looked everywhere and tried selecting every option available on the form. There is not a highlighted field to correct. Has anyone experienced this? I'm stumped.

Thanks in advance.
If were easy, everyone would do it. Problems are opportunities to learn, but there is a lot of banging your head against the wall to get there.
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6 REPLIES 6
37mediagroup
Roku Guru

Re: Can't add playlist as category

I think you have to name the category. Click in the tab where 'Add A Category' is greyed out, and give it a name.
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Baradanikto
Roku Guru

Re: Can't add playlist as category

You may want to consider defining your categories and play lists in the feed file rather than through the developer portal. You'll have more control over those aspects of your feed file.
FREE Windows desktop software for converting Direct Publisher channels to SceneGraph (SDK), for creating BIF (Trick Play) files, Roku (MRSS, JSON) feed files, and FireTV feed files @ GitHub/rrirower.
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toesinthesand
Binge Watcher

Re: Can't add playlist as category

"37mediagroup" wrote:
I think you have to name the category. Click in the tab where 'Add A Category' is greyed out, and give it a name.

Thanks for the advice. That was where it was highlighting. It was greyed out to start, so I thought that was a default. Thanks for the tip. 
Now I'm getting an error:
Category "Places To Eat" (my playlist name) is missing either tags or a playlist. 
This might be operator error on my part. In my json feed I'm using the following:
"playlists": [
    {
      "name": "Places To Eat",
      "itemIds": [
        "2016010205"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Things To Do",
      "itemIds": [
        "2016010202"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Places To Stay",
      "itemIds": [
        "2016010205"
      ]
    }
Am I missing a defining set of code for the playlist? 
If were easy, everyone would do it. Problems are opportunities to learn, but there is a lot of banging your head against the wall to get there.
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toesinthesand
Binge Watcher

Re: Can't add playlist as category

"Baradanikto" wrote:
You may want to consider defining your categories and play lists in the feed file rather than through the developer portal.   You'll have more control over those aspects of your feed file.

Baradanikto, first thank you for all your other advice in the forums. I've been reading through your advice and others the past few weeks. It's HUGELY appreciated and helps a ton.
I just replied on this thread in regards to the same thought. I now have a new error. I listed the json code in the reply above this one. 
I have the playlist defined in the json feed, but the playlist wasn't showing up on my roku channel. I thought perhaps Direct Publisher required you to establish the playlist or category though the category section to pull from the json feed to populate that section? I'll admit I'm new to json and teaching myself as I go. It's been a while since I've coded. So the operator error factor is potentially pretty high. Thank you for all your help on this and other topics I've searched and found. 
If were easy, everyone would do it. Problems are opportunities to learn, but there is a lot of banging your head against the wall to get there.
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toesinthesand
Binge Watcher

Re: Can't add playlist as category

Baradanikto and 37Mediagroup,

I think I do have my playlists defined incorrectly. At least part of the way?

Using the following code:
"playlists": [
    {
      "name": "Places To Eat",
      "itemIds": [
        "2016010205"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Things To Do",
      "itemIds": [
        "2016010202"
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Places To Stay",
      "itemIds": [
        "2016010205"
      ]
    }

It will allow me to add the category as a playlist, but I have to select, "most recent first", I can't use "Use Playlist Order".

Direct Publisher is a particular GUI. This is what I get for not knowing BrightScript. Thank you again for both of your help. Sorry I'm new to this. 
If were easy, everyone would do it. Problems are opportunities to learn, but there is a lot of banging your head against the wall to get there.
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Baradanikto
Roku Guru

Re: Can't add playlist as category

You've defined the play list in the feed file, but, it sounds like you are still trying to use the developer portal for your categories. I don't think a mix and match approach is correct. Try defining your categories in the feed file. Additionally, if you want to post your feed file, I can validate it with the software I've written.
FREE Windows desktop software for converting Direct Publisher channels to SceneGraph (SDK), for creating BIF (Trick Play) files, Roku (MRSS, JSON) feed files, and FireTV feed files @ GitHub/rrirower.
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