How to make a Android TV app without using leanback lib

Question

Im new to Android TV development. I want to build an app without using leanback lib.But Android Studio automatically attaching leanback when selecting the platform as TV. How do i remove it?

PS- My app is going to run inside a webview .

private AdvancedWebView mWebView;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    mWebView = (AdvancedWebView) findViewById(R.id.webview);
    mWebView.setListener(this, this);
    mWebView.loadUrl("url for app hosted on server");
}

Is it a good decision for TV apps?

thank you

Answer 1

You don't need any of the android tv libraries or even to setup your project as an android tv project to get it on the android tv play store. I set my project up as a standard app (all those support libs make your apk large). Put a 320x180 icon in drawable. In the manifest just add

     <uses-feature android:name="android.software.leanback" android:required="false" />
     <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen" android:required="false" />
     android:banner="@drawable/banner"
     <category android:name="android.intent.category.LEANBACK_LAUNCHER"/>

If your using a webview and your ui is gonna be the same across all platforms you can use the leanback launcher intent in the same activity as your regular activity.

That's it.