Set Up Windows for C++ App Development

You.i Platform app development is supported on Windows with C++ for:

Amazon Fire TV
Android Touch, Android TV
Sony PlayStation 4
Xbox One X

Windows is one of the three available development platforms for You.i Platform. See Choose a Development Platform for a complete list of target platforms and associated development platforms.

The instructions below offer a detailed list of mandatory and optional installation components.

Prerequisites

Before you get going, there are a few third-party tools to install.

Yarn (version 1.13.x through 1.22.x)
- On Windows, we recommend installing these through Chocolatey. We support Chocolatey version 0.10.11.
node.js (nodejs-lts and the NPM packager)
- On Windows, we recommend installing these through Chocolatey. We support Chocolatey version 0.10.11.
Ruby (version 2.0 to 3.x)
- We suggest you let the installer add the Ruby executables to your PATH. If you choose not to do this, you’ll have to add them manually later.
- If prompted with a Windows Security alert, allow access.
- Verify successful installation by running ruby --version from your command prompt.
Google Protobuf Ruby Gem (use the latest pre-packaged gem)
- If prompted with a Windows Security alert, allow access.
CMake (version 3.19.x)
- Download the latest version of the win32 or win64 msi file.
- We suggest you let the installer add the CMake executable to your PATH. If you choose not to do this, you’ll have to add it manually later.
- Verify successful installation by running cmake --version from your command prompt.
Watchman (version 4.x or higher)

Optional Third Party Tools and IDEs

The following tools are optional, but most developers need them. We suggest you install them.

Visual Studio 2019
React Native CLI
VLC (64-bit) is needed only if you’re using a video player in a You.i C++ project.
- Create an environment variable called VLC_PLUGIN_PATH that points to your VideoLAN\VLC\plugins folder. (The default folder is C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\plugins.)
- Edit your PATH environment variable and append both the above mentioned plugins folder and the parent VLC folder.
Python can also be used (version latest)

Install You.i Platform

Install the You.i TV command line interface tool. Then, using your provided API key, install You.i Platform.

yarn global add youi-cli
youi-tv login    # Enter your API key or user name when prompted.
youi-tv install 6.15.0 # If asked, accept most recent version of Babel or other dependencies

Our CLI comes with a special command, youi-tv doctor, that verifies the availability and versions of third party tools on your system. Use youi-tv doctor to identify any dependency mismatches. Install any missing tools or versions and run doctor again to verify.

Pro tip

If you’re not planning to develop for a given platform, don’t worry too much about its requirements for now. Just remember the youi-tv doctor command and run it again if you expand your target platforms. You can always use youi-tv doctor --help to get more information about doctor.

What’s Next

Congratulations, you’ve completed the You.i Platform installation for your development platform.

Now you can build and generate your first app.