How do I program Top Shelf on Apple TV?

To program Top Shelf on Apple TV, you can use SwiftUI, which provides a flexible and powerful toolkit for building tvOS apps. Here are the steps and concepts you need to know:

1. Introduction to SwiftUI for tvOS:

   • SwiftUI allows you to create native tvOS UI with design cues aimed specifically at producing great tvOS apps. It uses the same language and tools you use for building apps on other Apple platforms like iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and visionOS. This means you can share a lot of code across different platforms (Migrate your TVML app to SwiftUI).

2. Building the Interface:

   • The typical design language of a tvOS media app includes a homepage with promoted content at the top, flowing shelves of content below, and a tab bar for navigation. You can build these elements using SwiftUI components (Migrate your TVML app to SwiftUI).

3. Creating Lockups:

   • Lockups are a common UI element in tvOS apps, consisting of an image above some text. You can create these using SwiftUI by placing an image and text in a button with a borderless button style to achieve the desired appearance and interaction (Migrate your TVML app to SwiftUI).

4. Assembling Shelves:

   • Content shelves flow horizontally and align themselves to the edges of the screen. You can use container relative frames to build these shelves, ensuring they look great on any screen size (Migrate your TVML app to SwiftUI).

5. Implementing Search:

   • A good content delivery service must have a search feature. You can add a search view to your app using a tab view. The search results can be displayed in a grid layout, which is more appropriate for large amounts of content (Migrate your TVML app to SwiftUI).

For more detailed guidance, you can refer to the session Migrate your TVML app to SwiftUI from WWDC 2024. This session covers everything from building lockups and shelves to implementing search functionality in a tvOS app using SwiftUI.