Debugging with RALE
The Roku Advanced Layout Editor (RALE) is a graphical tool which allows you to inspect a SceneGraph, in a similar fashion to the You.i Platform Dev Panel Scene Tree Inspector. RALE is a powerful tool for debugging issues and understanding how a given scene is set up on your client.
Installation
Download the standalone RALE application to your computer from the Roku website.
Unzip and launch the RALE application.
On a fresh launch, you’ll be prompted to follow a brief tutorial. We recommend taking this tutorial before proceeding.
Using RALE
Step 1: Connect RALE to your device
Ensure that both your computer and your Roku device are on the same network.
When you launch RALE, you see the Device Manager, which lists all detected Roku devices on your network, along with some other information.
If you don’t see your Roku device in the detected devices list, see Troubleshooting below.
Select the device to connect to by clicking the appropriate circle in the ON/OFF column.
It’s also a good idea to click the asterisk in the Options column of this row to favorite the item. Doing so adds the device to your favorites list, which you can access by clicking the Favorites button at the top of the overlay.
Step 2: Launch your client
Close the Device Manager dialog by clicking Close at the top right. The RALE application is now waiting for you to launch the client.
Side-load your client through RALE. First, generate a client zip file.
cd client
youi-tv roku-client -l
Click Settings in the center of the RALE window.
In the overlay that appears, click Select channel by zip.
Navigate to your <project>/client/RokuClient.zip file and select it.
To learn more, see Roku Client Builds.
You must side-load your client through RALE.
RALE injects a component TrackerTask.xml that provides communication between RALE and the client.
You must run the server before trying to side-load the client using RALE. Otherwise you will see the following message in RALE: Client does not contain RALE Component.
Step 3: Inspect the SceneGraph
You can now navigate to your scene. View children for a given node by selecting the arrow to the left of the node’s name. Selecting the node opens a panel with more information about the node, such as its fields and their values.
These values are usually Read/Write, which means you can edit them in real time and they’ll update on your device. This is useful if you want to identify the cause of a node not appearing as you would expect.
When you’ve completed debugging, exit the client before disconnecting RALE. Otherwise, the client may become unresponsive as it attempts to communicate with RALE.
To learn more about RALE, see the Roku documentation.
Troubleshooting
RALE doesn’t update when changes happen in my scene
RALE doesn’t always update automatically. You may need to click Update View near the top of the window to refresh the scene.
Update View doesn’t work, or my scene doesn’t load
Sometimes RALE becomes “stuck.” If this happens, click View > Force Reload in the RALE window context bar for your OS. If this fails, try restarting RALE.
RALE displays a version error when trying to side-load my app
A version error indicates a version mismatch.
Make sure you’re using the latest version of RALE, in which the TrackerTask.xml is injected by the app itself.
RALE doesn’t show my Roku device
If you don’t see your Roku device in the detected devices list, you can manually add it.
- Open the Device Manager dialog and select the Favorites tab.
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Click Add a Device and add your Roku device IP.
To obtain your Roku device’s IP address, go to Home > Settings > Network > About on your device.
- Click Add and now you should see your Roku device on the detected devices list.