Developer guide

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StremioK developer guide

How StremioK is put together and how to run it on a computer. For what it does, see the user guide; for installing it, the installation guide; for how things work inside, the technical reference.

• Run it on a computer
• Architecture
• Documentation

Run it on a computer

In a browser

Everything is plain web tech, so the UI runs in any browser. AVPlay is absent there, so it uses the <video> fallback, which is good for trying navigation, addon loading and playable HTTP streams:

python3 -m http.server 8080
# open http://localhost:8080 — arrow keys + Enter; Backspace = RETURN / back

Browser CORS may block some addon hosts on a computer; on the TV the widget's <access origin="*"> (and TizenBrew's environment) allow the cross-origin calls.

As a TizenBrew module

package.json is already set up as a TizenBrew application module (packageType: "app", appPath: "tizenbrew.html", the service as its serviceFile), and its files list keeps the docs out of the published module. To try changes under TizenBrew, serve this folder locally, use a wrapper package, or use the @tizenbrew-kit/cli development server.

Architecture

File	Responsibility
index.html	Layout, video planes (<object avplayer> + <video> fallback), OSD, overlays
js/polyfills.js	Feature-guarded shims for Chromium 47 (Array.find, Object.assign, …)
js/qrcode.js	qrcode-generator (Kazuhiko Arase, MIT), unchanged: every QR code the TV draws (Trakt and Stremio sign-in, From your phone, Continue on phone, an addon's Share and Configure)
js/util.js	DOM helpers, XHR (text / JSON), bounded caches, localStorage, toast / spinner, image queue, appearance themes, QR codes drawn on a canvas
js/iptv.js	M3U parsing, TV / radio classification, the synthetic IPTV addon
js/xtvod.js	An Xtream account's films and series: the local addon for their catalogs, title pages and sources, and its copies on your addons' titles
js/stvod.js	A Stalker portal's films and series, the same way, through the service
js/vendor/shaka-player.compiled.js	Shaka Player 5.3.3 (Google, Apache 2.0: js/vendor/SHAKA-LICENSE), unchanged, loaded only to play a ClearKey channel
js/epg.js	The TV guide: which guide a playlist has, its channels' keys for the service, the programs cards, the player, schedules and the Guide tab ask for
js/youtube.js	StremioK's own YouTube: your YouTube catalogs (Settings › Content › YouTube), YouTube in Search, the built-in YouTube addon (catalogs, channel / playlist / video pages, streams), SponsorBlock and DeArrow settings and lookups
js/stremio.js	Addon client (manifests, catalog / meta / stream / subtitles), source cache and de-duplication, source details (resolution, codec, HDR, audio…), Formats (learning, allowed resolutions), TMDB / OMDb / MDBList / TheIntroDB / SkipDB / IntroDB
js/stremio-account.js	Importing addons from your Stremio account: the link.stremio.com sign-in code, reading the account's addons, signing out at once
js/trakt.js	Trakt: device-code sign-in (StremioK's built-in Client ID, no secret), watched marks and Continue Watching from Trakt, progress and watched sent to it
js/keys.js	Registers TV media and channel keys; maps key codes to actions
js/focus.js	Geometry-based spatial (D-pad) focus engine
js/tvapps.js	Other apps on the TV: the installed list, your streaming apps, matching a "where to watch" source to its app, opening it (on the title where the link allows)
js/player-core.js	The playback session: AVPlay lifecycle + HTML5 fallback, progress bar, seeking, credits / next episode, stall recovery, stopping
js/player-store.js	Saved player state: watched marks, Continue Watching progress, subtitle look, audio and picture settings, per-title subtitle / audio memory
js/player-lang.js	Track languages: spellings and aliases, display names, reading a track's details
js/player-quality.js	Video quality (HLS ladder, caps, retries and fallbacks after a failed start) and switching source
js/player-subs.js	Subtitles: addon tracks (download, parse, draw, timing), the file's own tracks, subtitle menus
js/player-audio.js	Audio tracks: remembered / preferred pick (before playback starts, or once it runs), switching, the audio menu
js/player-controls.js	Remote keys, scrubbing, quick-action bar, in-player menu, skip prompt, stream info, picture mode
js/player.js	Assembles the public Player API from the player parts (which share the PlayerParts namespace)
js/local.js	Local: USB drives, folder listings (the TV's, or the service's), file names to titles, the drive index, local sources and their subtitle files
js/downloads.js	Downloads to a USB drive: the list kept on the TV, starting, cancelling and retrying through the service's /fsdl endpoints, the Local tab's Downloads row
js/ytplay.js	Detects how StremioK was installed (TizenBrew / sideloaded), starts or waits for the YouTube service, builds its URLs
js/hubpreview.js	Continue Watching on the TV's home bar: sends the tiles to service/preview.js (the sideloaded app, Tizen 4 and later)
js/view-core.js	Shared view pieces: dialogs, pick lists, the top menu (Home, Discover, Search, Settings and title pages), poster cards, Add to Continue Watching, poster long-press actions
js/view-home.js	Home: tabs, catalog rows (loading, saved copy, refresh), details strip, Continue Watching, NEW badges
js/view-guide.js	The Guide tab: the TV guide as a grid (channels by hours), its D-pad moves
js/view-detail.js	Title pages: ranked sources (Play best, Played before), seasons / episodes, Cast & more, person pages, ratings grid, trailers, bulk watched, playback launch, CH+/CH−, next-episode matching
js/view-search.js	Search: one row per searchable catalog (loads more as you scroll right), a People row (TMDB), recent searches
js/view-settings.js	Settings sections (incl. Formats) and the text-entry pages (add addon / playlist)
js/view-discover.js	Discover: browse a catalog in full by type, catalog and genre / year, page by page; People (TMDB) by name
js/views.js	Assembles the public Views API from the view parts (which share the ViewParts namespace)
js/app.js	Bootstrap, navigation history, key routing
service/index.js	StremioK's service: YouTube, USB drives, downloads, the phone page, AIOManager, live relays, TV guides, Stalker portals, Xtream film and series lists (see the service)
service/preview.js	The home bar preview service: sets the tiles js/hubpreview.js sends, and sets them again when the TV asks (the sideloaded app only)
service/cacert.pem	The trusted certificates downloads use (the 2017 TV's own list is too old for many servers)

The views are split into seven parts (view-core, view-home, view-guide, view-detail, view-search, view-settings, view-discover) that share one namespace, ViewParts: each publishes the functions the others use and reaches theirs through small forwarders, resolved when called, so the parts can load in any order. views.js loads after them (see index.html) and assembles the public Views API that app.js calls.

The player is split the same way into seven parts sharing PlayerParts. What they all need about the current playback (what's playing, position, duration, live or not, buffering and seek state, the page elements) is one object, PlayerParts.S, set up by player-core.js, which loads first. Everything else stays private to its part: another part asks through a function (resetSubs, menuOpen, qualityHeight…), never by reaching into its variables. player.js loads last and assembles the public Player API.

JavaScript rules (Tizen 3.0 ≈ Chromium 47)

The app code in js/ and service/ is ES5 only: no let / const, arrow functions, template literals, classes, destructuring, default parameters, spread or async / await. Promise is available, and polyfills.js adds the few newer array / object helpers used. The app ships as written, not minified, so the line numbers in Diagnostics' script errors match the source.

The version

package.json's. config.xml (the widget's version) and index.html (every ?v= on the scripts and the stylesheet, which drops the TV's cached copies) carry the same one. Under TizenBrew, its start page (tizenbrew.html, which carries the version too) opens that version's own copy (npm/stremiok@<version>/index.html), so a TV never runs two versions' files together.

Limits on what's downloaded

Everything that arrives from an addon, a playlist or an API is size-limited and checked before use, a screen left for good stops its own downloads, artwork is throttled, and typed or imported URLs go through one parser. The limits and rules, which new code should follow, are in the technical reference.

Documentation

Each change goes in the one document it belongs in; the others link to it rather than repeat it.

Document	What goes in it
User guide	How to use a feature, task by task
Settings reference	A setting: where it is, its choices, its default, its effect in a line
Troubleshooting	What can go wrong: what you see, why, what to do
Privacy and data	What's kept on the TV, and what's sent where
Technical reference	How it works inside: limits, timings, rules, TV quirks
Installation guide	Installing and updating, and what differs between installs
Security policy	Reporting a vulnerability: how, and what's in scope
This guide	The code
Changelog	One entry per version

How to write it:

• Write for that document's reader. The user guide says what to do and what you'll see; limits, timings, sizes and how something works inside go in the technical reference.
• Explain once. Anywhere else, a sentence and a link to its home.
• Short pieces. A paragraph or bullet makes one point; several points make a list. A table cell is a phrase or a sentence, with any detail right below the table.
• A changelog entry is one bullet per change: what someone would notice, with a link to the document that explains it.
• On the TV, a Settings hint says the effect in a sentence or two, with any warning; the detail belongs in the documents.
• American spelling.

Before a change's documentation is done, check:

• Labels and menu paths as the TV shows them (Settings › Content › Addons).
• Defaults as the code sets them.
• Restrictions: Tizen 3 or the 2017 TV, TizenBrew or the sideloaded app, a TMDB key or a Trakt account needed.
• Nothing personal: no API keys, tokens, or addon / playlist links with a personal configuration in them, in code, docs or examples; use made-up hosts (addon.example). The one key in the code on purpose is StremioK's Trakt Client ID (js/trakt.js): a public app id, not a secret.
• Links and anchors resolve.
• ES5: nothing newer than ES5 under js/ or service/ (see JavaScript rules).

Packaging for the TV is in the installation guide.