A built-in web app is a web app that is packaged with webOS OSE platform at a build time. Built-in web apps have the following features:
Can be built into the webOS OSE image to be packaged together with the platform image.
Can provide enhanced functionalities with external libraries by building them all together with the app.
In this tutorial, you will explore source codes and required configurations to create a sample built-in web app. We will start with sample codes (GitHub repository) for convenience. After all the steps are done, the sample app will show the message: “Hello, Web Application!!”.
Note The content of this page is based on webOS OSE 2.0 or later. If you are developing on webOS OSE 1.x, you might notice differences in the project directory structure, log messages, etc. Notes indicating such differences are provided where necessary.
The directory structure of the sample app is as follows:
For the sample web app (com.example.app.web), index.html file exists in the com.example.app.web directory.
index.html prints a hello message on the monitor and also prints the current time on the log. To call LS2 API, webOS OSE 2.0 or later uses WebOSServiceBridge, a JavaScript API for web apps to access Luna Bus.
<!DOCTYPE html><html>
<head>
<title>Example Web App</title>
<styletype="text/css">
body {
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
background-color:#202020;
}
div {
position:absolute;
height:100%;
width:100%;
display: table;
}
h1 {
display: table-cell;
vertical-align: middle;
text-align:center;
color:#FFFFFF;
}
</style>
<scripttype="text/javascript">
var bridge =new WebOSServiceBridge();
var url ='luna://com.webos.service.systemservice/clock/getTime';
var params ='{}';
function callback(msg){
var arg = JSON.parse(msg);
if (arg.returnValue) {
webOSSystem.PmLogString(6, "GETTIME_SUCCESS", '{"APP_NAME": "example web app"}', "UTC : "+ arg.utc);
}
else {
webOSSystem.PmLogString(3, "GETTIME_FAILED", '{"APP_NAME": "example web app"}', "errorText : "+ arg.errorText);
}
}
bridge.url = url;
bridge.onservicecallback = callback;
bridge.call(url, params);
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<h1>Hello, Web Application!!</h1>
</div>
</body>
</html>
A brief explanation of the above file:
Line(25) : Create a WebOSServiceBridge object.
Line(26~27) : Set the URL of the method to call and the parameters in JSON string format.
url: URL of the LS2 API method
params: parameter for the method to invoke
Line(29~37) : Define a callback function that can handle the response. If the response is successful, “UTC” value is printed on the logging file. For details on logging, refer to Using PmLogLib in JavaScript.
Line(39~41) : Set the callback to the WebOSServiceBridge object, and invoke the method with Luna call.
webOS OSE 1.x
The sample index.html file is not provided for webOS OSE 1.x version. So you must replace the index.html file with your own file.
The following shows sample codes that do the same jobs as the previous index.html file. To call LS2 API, webOS OSE 1.x uses the webOS library.
Prerequisite for webOS OSE 1.x only (when calling LS2 API in the web app) Download the webOS library file from webOSjs-0.1.0.zip and decompress it to the project root directory.
<!DOCTYPE html><html>
<head>
<styletype="text/css">
/* same as webOS OSE 2.0 or later */</style>
<scriptsrc="webOSjs-0.1.0/webOS.js"charset="utf-8"></script>
<scripttype="text/javascript">
//sample code for calling LS2 API
var lunaReq= webOS.service.request("luna://com.webos.service.systemservice",
{
method:"clock/getTime",
parameters:{},
onSuccess:function (args) {
webOS.info("GETTIME_SUCCESS", {"APP_NAME":"example web app"}, "UTC : "+ args.utc);
},
onFailure:function (args) {
webOS.error("GETTIME_FAILED", {"APP_NAME":"example web app"}, "errorText : "+ args.errorText);
}
});
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<h1>Hello, Web Application!!</h1>
</div>
</body>
</html>
A brief explanation of the above file:
Line(9) : Include the webOS library.
Line(12~22) : Call com.webos.service.systemservice/clock/getTime method. If the response is successful, “UTC” value is printed on the logging file. To print log messages when using the webOS library, you can use the following methods provided by the webOS library (in descending order of importance):
This file provides general information of the web app.
Caution
If the README.md file is missing, a build error occurs.
Make sure the ‘Summary’ section is a single line. Even any whitespace at the line above the ‘Description’ section is considered a part of the summary and can cause the build to fail.
Sample README.md
Summary
-------
web app sample
Description
-----------
web app sample
How to Build on Linux
---------------------
## Dependencies
Below are the tools and libraries (and their minimum versions) required to build sample program:
* cmake (version required by cmake-modules-webos)
* gcc
* glib-2.0
* make
* cmake-modules-webos
## Building
$ cd build-webos
$ source oe-init-build-env
$ bitbake com.example.app.web
Copyright and License Information
=================================
Unless otherwise specified, all content, including all source code files and
documentation files in this repository are:
Copyright (c) 2020 LG Electronics, Inc.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
Step 2: Configure the Web App
This section describes how to prepare the configuration files required to build and test the built-in web app.
Note If you want to use the sample codes and webOS OSE 2.0 or later, you can skip this step.
appinfo.json
Apps are required to have metadata before they can be packaged. This metadata is stored in a file called appinfo.json, which is used by the webOS device to identify the app, its icon, and other information that is needed to launch the app.
Line(7) : The title to be shown on the Launchpad, which is a dock UI of webOS OSE.
Line(8) : The icon file to be shown on the App Bar and the Launchpad. Make sure the icon file is located in the project root directory. You can use your own icon file (size: 80 px * 80 px) or icon.png.
Line(9) : The Access Control Group (ACG) name associated with the LS2 API methods used in the app. For example, this sample app uses the clock/getTime method of the com.webos.service.systemservice API, whose ACG is “time.query”. To identify the ACG names associated with a method, see the “ACG” field of the method in its API reference. You can also use the ls-monitor command with the -i option to identify the ACGs of the method.
This file is required to generate the standard build files.
CMakeLists.txt
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cmake_minimum_required(VERSION2.8.7)project(com.example.app.webNONE)include(webOS/webOS)webos_modules_init(100QUALIFIERRC4)set(INSTALL_DIR${WEBOS_INSTALL_WEBOS_APPLICATIONSDIR}/${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME})#install necessary files to destination directory
install(DIRECTORY.DESTINATION${INSTALL_DIR}PATTERN"*~"EXCLUDEPATTERN"CMake*"EXCLUDEPATTERN"build*"EXCLUDEPATTERN"README.md"EXCLUDEPATTERN"oe-*"EXCLUDEPATTERN"*.lock"EXCLUDE)
A brief explanation of the above file:
Line(2) : Specify the project name and the file extension type. In this tutorial, we use “com.example.app.web” as the project name. The file extension type “NONE” allows CMake to skip unnecessary compiler checks.
Line(3) : Include webOS OSE modules for the build.
Line(4) : Specify the “cmake-modules-webos” version.
Line(6) : Set a directory path to install the app. WEBOS_INSTALL_WEBOS_APPLICATIONSDIR is set to /usr/palm/applications/ by default.
Line(8~14) : Install the required files to INSTALL_DIR on the target. Exclude the files that do not need to be installed to the target device.
Step 3: Build the Web App
After implementing and configuring the web app, you must build the app.
Add the Recipe File
webOS OSE uses OpenEmbedded of Yocto Project to build its components. OpenEmbedded needs a recipe file that configures the build environment. For more details about the recipe, see Yocto Project Reference Manual.
You must move the recipe file (com.example.app.web.bb) into the webOS project directory (build-webos).
Line(5) : Version of the component. For the webOS OSE component, this field is mandatory.
Line(6) : Revision version of the recipe. Each recipe requires a counter to track its modification history. Make sure that you increment the version when you edit the recipe, unless you only change the value of the WEBOS_VERSION field or comments.
Line(8) : Inherit common functions of webOS OSE. For all components of webOS OSE, this entry is required.
Line(9) : Instruct OpenEmbedded to use the WEBOS_VERSION value as the component version number. If you develop your component on a local repository, this entry is required.
Line(10) : Instruct OpenEmbedded that the component uses CMake for configuration, which is the preferred choice for webOS components.
Line(11) : Inherit webos_app, because the component is an app.
Line(12) : Inherit webos_arch_indep, because the web app is CPU architecture independent. When inheriting from webos_arch_indep, ensure that your project command in the CMake script specifies NONE as the language, i.e. project(<component> NONE). Otherwise, CMake will attempt to find the C and C++ compilers. Your component may well be built before the toolchain, resulting in a failure to build.
Line(14) : ${webos_applicationsdir} indicates /usr/palm/applications. ${PN} is a package name, which is set to com.example.app.web.
Configure the Local Source Directory
To build a component that is located on the local system, you must specify the directory information.
You must move the configuration file (webos-local.conf) into the webOS OSE project directory.
Line(2) : The path to the local source directory. You must replace this value with your own value as follows:
For the property name, enter EXTERNALSRC:pn-<web app ID>.
For the value, enter an absolute path to your web app directory. If you use the sample codes, enter an absolute path to /samples/web-apps/com.example.app.web/.
Line(3) : The path to the local build directory. You must replace this value with your own value as follows:
For the property name, enter EXTERNALSRC_BUILD:pn-<component>.
For the value, enter <local source directory>/build/.
Line(4) : The appended revision version (PR) for building local source files. The syntax of the property is PR:append:pn-<component>. This property is optional.
Note We recommend that you add a trailing slash (/) at the end of all local directory paths, as in Line(2) and Line(3).
Build the App
To build the component on the OpenEmbedded environment, enter the following commands on the shell.
After building the app, you must verify its functionalities.
When the build is successful, OpenEmbedded-related directories (oe-*) are created under the project root directory. These directories are linked to the actual build-webos sub-directories where the build output is generated.
Copy the IPK file to the target device using the scp command.
com.example.app.web/oe-workdir/deploy-ipks/all$ scp com.example.app.web_1.0.0-r0.local0_all.ipk root@<target device IP address>:/media/internal/downloads/
Install the App on the Target Device
Connect to the target using the ssh command and install com.example.app.web_1.0.0-r0.local0_all.ipk.
$ ssh root@<target device IP address>
root@raspberrypi4-64:/sysroot/home/root# cd /media/internal/downloads/
root@raspberrypi4-64:/media/internal/downloads# opkg install com.example.app.web_1.0.0-r0.local0_all.ipk
Installing com.example.app.web (1.0.0) on root.
Configuring com.example.app.web.
No image conversions needed for com.example.app.web
Discover the LS2 Configuration Files
To make the LS2 daemon scan the LS2 configuration files of the app, use the ls-control command as follows:
root@raspberrypi4-64:/media/internal/downloads# ls-control scan-services
telling hub to reload setting and rescan all directories
Note For built-in web apps, LS2 configuration files are generated during the build process. To run the app properly, you must make the system scan the newly generated configuration files.
Scan the App
To make System and Application Manager (SAM) scan the app, restart SAM using the systemctl command. This step is required so that the app can be added to the app list, which in turn makes the app appear on the Launchpad.
root@raspberrypi4-64:/# systemctl restart sam
Note Rebooting the target after installing the app will have the same effect as running the ls-control and systemctl commands. However, using the commands allows you to continue testing without rebooting.
Run the Web App
To display the App Bar, drag the mouse cursor upward from the bottom of the screen (or swipe up from the bottom of the screen if you’re using a touch display).
Note
On webOS OSE 1.x, press the Windows key on your keyboard to display the Home Launcher.
From webOS OSE 2.19.0, the app icon is displayed on the Launchpad instead of the Home Launcher.
To display the Launchpad, click the Launchpad icon. The Launchpad shows the list of installed apps.
Click the app icon to run the app. The message, “Hello, Web Application!!”, will be displayed as follows:
You can use the journalctl command on the target device to debug the app. For details on how to use the command, see Viewing Logs.
root@raspberrypi4-64:/# journalctl | grep UTC
Nov 21 20:07:14 raspberrypi4-64 WebAppMgr[915]: [][pmlog] com.example.app.web GETTIME_SUCCESS {"APP_NAME": "example web app"} UTC : 1637554034
Step 5: Build the webOS OSE Platform with the Web App
You are now ready to build the webOS OSE image including the built-in web app and flash it to the target device.
Add the web app to the build recipe file (packagegroup-webos-extended.bb).
