1page.title=Building TV Apps
2page.tags=tv, leanback
3helpoutsWidget=true
4startpage=true
5
6@jd:body
7
8<div id="tb-wrapper">
9<div id="tb">
10  <h2>Dependencies and Prerequisites</h2>
11  <ul>
12    <li>Android 5.0 (API level 21) or higher</li>
13  </ul>
14</div>
15</div>
16
17<p>
18  Android offers a rich user experience that's optimized for apps running on large screen devices,
19  such as high-definition televisions. Apps on TV offer new opportunities to delight your users
20  from the comfort of their couch.
21</p>
22
23<p>
24  TV apps use the same structure as those for phones and tablets. This approach means you can
25  create new TV apps based on what you already know about building apps for Android, or extend your
26  existing apps to also run on TV devices. However, the user interaction model for TV is
27  substantially different from phone and tablet devices. In order to make your app successful on TV
28  devices, you must design new layouts that can be easily understood from 10 feet away, and provide
29  navigation that works with just a directional pad and a select button.
30</p>
31
32<p>
33  This class describes how to start building apps for TV, including setting up your development
34  environment, basic requirements for layouts and navigation, as well as guidance on how to handle
35  hardware features that are not typically available on TV devices.
36</p>
37
38<p class="note">
39  <strong>Note:</strong> You are encouraged to use <a href=
40  "{@docRoot}sdk/installing/studio.html">Android Studio</a> for building TV apps, because it
41  provides project setup, library inclusion, and packaging conveniences. This training assumes you
42  are using Android Studio.
43</p>
44
45
46<h2>Lessons</h2>
47
48<dl>
49  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}training/tv/start/start.html">
50    Getting Started with TV Apps</a></dt>
51    <dd>Learn how to create a new Android Studio project for TV apps or modify your existing
52      app project to run on TV devices.</dd>
53  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}training/tv/start/layouts.html">
54    Building TV Layouts</a></dt>
55    <dd>Learn the minimum requirements for TV layouts and how to implement them.</dd>
56  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}training/tv/start/navigation.html">
57    Creating TV Navigation</a></dt>
58    <dd>Learn the requirements for TV navigation and how to implement TV-compatible
59      navigation.</dd>
60  <dt><a href="{@docRoot}training/tv/start/hardware.html">
61    Handling TV Hardware</a></dt>
62    <dd>Learn how to check if your app is running on TV hardware, handle unsupported hardware
63      features, and manage controller devices.</dd>
64</dl>
65