Other Features Q&A

The following questions are related to various TV application features.

Multitasking allows you to save the application state when the user launches another application or TV channel, and restore it when the application is resumed.

To be published on Samsung Apps TV, your application must implement multitasking. For more information, see Multitasking.

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HTV
#multitasking

Yes. To offer in-app purchases, you can implement Samsung Checkout in your application. It allows any user with a Samsung Account to register a payment method and use it to make payments on the TV. In addition, Samsung Checkout provides a comprehensive global monetization platform, which allows you to integrate various business models and promotional campaigns into your services. For more information, see Samsung Checkout.

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#samsung checkout
#monetization
#in-app purchase

Samsung Smart TVs support the accessibility toolkit (ATK) as part of the Web engine. If the user has activated the voice guide feature, the text-to-speech (TTS) engine can read HTML elements on the application screen.

Since 2016 models, the voice guide also supports various roles and descriptions based on the WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative - Accessible Rich Internet Applications) standard for Web content accessibility.

For information on implementing voice guide support, see Text To Speech.

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#text to speech
#accessibility

No. Voice control is supported only for TV features, such as opening the search panel or adjusting the volume level. It is not supported within applications.

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#voice control

The standard screen resolution for Samsung Smart TV applications is 1920x1080 px for UHD models, and 1280x720 px for FHD models. For information on implementing your application to fit TV screens, see Managing Screen Resolution.

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#screen resolution

You can use the AppCommon API to enable and disable the screensaver. For more information, see Setting Screensaver.

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#screensaver

When an application is hidden, JavaScript execution is paused, which can affect time calculations. To avoid problems, retrieve the time from a server. For more information, see Special Multitasking Scenarios.

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#gettime
#multitasking

Since 2017 model groups, Samsung TVs have a stability-monitoring feature that automatically terminates processes to free up system memory.

Applications installed through the Tizen Studio for testing can use a maximum 120 MB of memory.

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HTV
#system memory

Since 2015 models, you can enable or disable the auto update feature for your application, which automatically updates it during regularly-scheduled updates.

On 2015 and 2016 TV models, you can also enable or disable the force update feature for your application, which automatically updates the application when a new version is available, even outside regularly-scheduled updates.

These features are configured in the "config.xml" file. For implementation details, see Meta Data.

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#automatic update
#config xml

No. Overlay applications are not supported on Samsung TVs.

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#overlay

Picture-in-picture (PiP) allows you to display TV source video, such as a TV channel or HDMI input, through a cutout in your application screen. You can implement it using the TVWindow API.

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HTV
#picture in picture

Yes. To hide the application and move directly to the TV live signal screen, use the launch() method of the Application API to launch the "org.tizen.tv-viewer" application.

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#live tv signal

No. Detecting the attached audio devices is not supported. The user must select the active audio device from the TV menu.

By default, the remote control volume keys adjust only the TV volume, but you can use the TVAudioControl API to control the volume level in your application.

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HTV
#audio device
#tvaudiocontrol api
#volume

The SSO feature allows users to save login information to their Samsung Account on the device.

To enable SSO in your application, you must add the following code to your "config.xml" file:

<login itemtype="boolean">y</login>

For information on implementing the SSO feature, see Sso API.

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#single sign on
#config xml

MLS is a feature on 2014 and 2015 TV models that allows the user to divide the TV screen into 2 parts, showing the TV broadcast signal in 1 part and a running application in the other part.

This feature is enabled by default. If you want to disable it for your Tizen application, add the following line to your "config.xml" file:

<tizen:metadata key='http://samsung.com/tv/metadata/multiscreen.support' value='false' />

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#multi link screen

The Ticker feature, which allowed an application to run as an overlay, is no longer supported. Do not use ticker elements in your "config.xml" file.

Since 2015 TV models, you can implement similar PiP (Picture in Picture) functionality, to show the TV source through a cut-out in the application screen.

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#picture in picture
#ticker

The live signal is the broadcast received by the TV, such as through cable or satellite reception.

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#live signal

No. Screen capture is not supported in Samsung TV applications.

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#screen capture

Samsung TVs do not include a built-in parental control solution. You must implement your own in the application.

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#parental control

In general, the serviceName property represents a TV broadcast service, which can have multiple channels defined by channelName properties. The encoding used for these properties depends on the broadcaster.

The sourceID property uniquely identifies a source for scheduled TV programming.

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HTV
#tv broadcast
#servicename
#channelname
#sourceid

The value of the "'http://samsung.com/tv/metadata/devel.api.version" key within the tizen:metadata element defines the API version used in the application. For compatibility reasons, it is not required to be the latest API version; you can specify the minimum version needed to use all application features.

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#metadata
#api version

No. Since 2015 TV models, applications are automatically paused when they are hidden. For compatibility reasons, in the "config.xml" file, the background-support attribute must be set to "disable". Do not modify it.

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#background support
#config xml

Make sure that your application is loading the CSS file. Check that your HTML code is valid and that your stylesheet link element is in the following format:

<link href="css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

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#css

The Family Hub platform is not fully compatible with that of Samsung Smart TVs. To enable a Family Hub application to run on a Samsung TV, you must modify the application to meet TV application specifications.

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#family hub

For information on developing applications for Samsung professional display solutions, such as digital signage and hotel TVs, see Samsung D Forum B2B Developers.

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#professional display

The Samsung D Forum content has been migrated to the Samsung Developers Smart TV site.

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#samsung d forum