Sap Data on LG Smart TV

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LCD TVs indispensable part of our lives. Nowadays, while talking about sharing data, we usually mention mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, etc. Also other devices getting smarter and can be alternative to share instant data.

LCD displays are used as informative screens for a long time in waiting rooms, production lines, etc. Currently, the screens are usually connected to a PC and used as a monitor. Using a dedicated PC just for display information is not cost effective.(PC cost, OS and software licences, maintenance costs, etc). Today LCD TV’s are more smart. They have internet connection, browser, own applications and can be used as informative screens without the need for any additional hardware.

In this blog, I will convert MySapReport (web client to call ALV reports) to Smart TV web application. Although LG and Samsung are two major players, I chose LG, because I use LG LM660S at home :smile:

Go to http://developer.lge.com register for a new account and login
(Optional) You can download LG Smart TV SDK via menu Resource Center>SmartTv>SDK&Tools

SDK is for developing native applications. We will convert our web client to web application so we don’t need SDK. For detail information check http://developer.lge.com/resource/tv/RetrieveDocDevLibrary.dev

3. Go to Resource Center->Smart Tv->Test->App Test and create new App Test

4. Fill the form as described in screen shots then download the created file to a usb memory.

5. Test the application on TV as described in below video.

If you download SDK, there are two Smart TV emulators for 2011 and 2012 TV series. You can also use emulators.

6. If you want, you can distribute your application by Smart TV App Store. (This study is just a prototype for me, so I didn’t try this step)

For detail check http://developer.lge.com/distribution/distribution/RetrieveTVAppStore.dev

To develop Web applications for smart tv, you should pay attention to producer warnings. There are some constraints that you should be careful while developing. I didn’t modify my web client for smart tv but LG has a list that constraints while developing app for smart tv:

UI screen must adopt LG screen resolution size. It means that every element of web application should be displayed in 1280 x 720 pixel screen resolution size. Separate the elements into several pages if displaying elements in a screen is not available since scrolling is not supported.
The smallest font must be readable and legible to users 3.5 meter (10 foot) away from the TV screen.
Follow the “overscan area” rule because the overscan area may not be visible on some devices such as LG media devices.
Application must be fully navigable using 4 direction and remote keys: Up/Down/Left/Right + OK + Back
Implement the ‘Back’ button in application to move back to the previous NetCast menu.

Login ( http://developer.lge.com )