Search code examples
javascripttelevisionsmart-tvhbbtvbbc-tal

Implementing an application layer on top of a broadcast with bbc-tal


I am trying to implement a clickable HTML/CSS/Javascript based layer component on top of an ongoing broadcast, such as a clickable advertisement banner at the top of the broadcast.

But being a novice to the TAL framework, I am currently trying to figure it out on the example project provided by BBC here:

https://github.com/bbc/talexample

Any assistance towards the usage of broadcast object in the TAL framework, or a general advice would be a huge help for me as I am struggling to understand the framework.

TAL's documentation for Broadcast TV Widget can be found here: https://bbc.github.io/tal/other/broadcast.html

My work overall is based on HbbTV's, if it makes any difference.


Solution

  • I'm not very familiar with TAL but the broadcast widget you have linked seems to be used to control de broadcast object (showCurrentChannel(), getCurrentChannelName(), setPosition(top, left, width, height), etc) so, if you only need to build a clickable banner over the broadcast you don't need to deal with the broadcast object.

    Starting from the talexample you can:

    1. Adapt the static/style/layouts/720p.css to fill only your desired area off the screen instead the current fullScreen style

    2. Alse you should remove some fullscreen assets like background-image: url(../../img/bbc_background_720.png) from the css

    3. In order to test a minimum set of features, remove some of the sample components and leave just a button or similar to test your modifications.

    4. After that works, you can start to implement the image widget or the widget you want