The next phase of development is submitting your widget to the Widget Gallery Service. First you upload your widget using the Widget Developer Code and then download your widget to a staging area for testing. When testing is complete, you can publish your widget by getting it approved by the Yahoo! Gallery team. The goal of the submission and approval process is to enable an open ecosystem whereby, subject to published approval criteria, widgets flow through to the Gallery Widget on deployed devices for consumer availability.

Download the Microsoft Word version of the Acceptance Criteria: http://developer.yahoo.com/connectedtv/assets/YWE_Acceptance_Criteria.doc

Download the Rich Text Format version of the Acceptance Criteria: http://developer.yahoo.com/connectedtv/assets/YWE_Acceptance_Criteria.rtf

Overview of the Widget Approval Process

The widget approval process allows widget developers to add new widgets (and to make updates to existing widgets) to deployed devices running the Yahoo! Widget Engine.

Developer Steps to Developer-Approved State
  1. The developer uploads the test widget to the Gallery.
  2. The developer adds QA testers to the Gallery using the Widget Developer Code.
  3. The QA testers download the widget from the Gallery to a development device (if available), and perform on-device testing.
  4. The developer marks the widget as developer-approved based on successful on-device testing.
Yahoo! Steps to Yahoo!-Approved State
  1. The Yahoo! Gallery team is notified that a new widget is pending approval.
  2. Yahoo! QA testers execute testing on the widget.
  3. The Yahoo! Gallery team marks the widget as Yahoo!-approved based on successful testing.
OEM Partner Steps to OEM-Approved State
  1. The OEM partner team is notified that a new widget is pending approval.
  2. OEM QA testers execute testing on the widget.
  3. The OEM team marks the widget as OEM-approved based on successful testing.
Consumer Steps
  1. The widget shows up in the Gallery Widget in the widget dock on deployed OEM devices.
  2. Consumers can elect to download/install the new widget and add it to their user profiles.

The following diagram outlines the testing and approval process.

Use the following Widget Upload Tool to upload both test versions and final versions of your widget to the Widget Gallery Service.

Widget Upload Tool

http://gallery.tv.widgets.yahoo.com/publisher/

Follow these steps when uploading your widget:

  1. Before uploading your widget, make sure it runs in the TV Simulator.
  2. Access your unique Developer Code for your device from the Widget Gallery widget.
    • Launch the Widget Gallery widget.
    • Press the GREEN key on the remote control while you are in the Widget Gallery widget to launch the Settings view.
    • Select Developer Settings.
    • Toggle the Developer Mode button to On.
    • Sign-in with your Yahoo! ID.
    • A unique Developer Code for your device is displayed.
    • Note this code for future reference.
  3. Make sure the .widget directory is zipped using the following naming convention:
    • widgetID-versionNumber.widget
    • For example: com.yahoo.widgets.tv-1.0.12.widget
    • Make sure you zip your widget from the .widget directory (and not from the Contents directory).
    • Rename the .zip extension to .widget.
  4. Make sure you are signed in to the Widget Upload Tool with the Yahoo! ID that you use to manage all of your widget submissions. This Yahoo! ID may be the same Yahoo! ID that is associated with your Developer Code, however it is not required to be the same Yahoo! ID.
  5. Make sure you fill out all mandatory fields identified with asterisks in the Widget Upload Tool web form.
  6. Make sure the widget ID in the widget.xml file is lower case.
  7. Make sure there are no spaces in the parent widget file name.
  8. You can associate more than one Developer Code with a specific Yahoo! ID by separating them with commas. For example: HFV5,XM89,R54H.
  9. The icon and gallery images are the images that get displayed in the Widget Gallery. If you do not upload these images, defaults will be used.
  10. Once you submit the form, select the My Widgets tab to see that your widget has been uploaded. Please note that there is no confirmation screen when the widget has finished uploading. If the widget shows up in the My Widgets tab, it has successfully uploaded and will be available in the Test Widgets category in the Widget Gallery on your TV.
  11. If the widget does not show up in the My Widgets tab, it is usually caused by widget ID and widget file errors. Using upper case characters in the widget ID or using spaces in the widget file are not permitted.
  12. Using the right-mouse-button, click on the widget in the My Widgets tab to add and remove testers, to remove a widget, and to view the information related to your widget.
  13. You can upload and test several versions of your widget prior to requesting approval.
  14. When you are ready to submit your widget for approval, please send an email to tvwidgets@yahoo-inc.com containing the following information:

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