Drive TV App

An Android TV optimized native Kotlin application that integrates directly with Google Drive to securely stream video files using a hardware-accelerated libVLC player. Look at that D-Pad navigation support go!

Prerequisites

Before building and running the project, you must obtain a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Service Account credentials.json file. This app uses Service Accounts rather than standard OAuth user sign-ins down to its automated design.

1. Enable the Google Drive API

1. Navigate to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Create a New Project or select an existing one.
3. In the sidebar, go to APIs & Services > Library.
4. Search for "Google Drive API" and click Enable.

2. Create a Service Account

1. In the sidebar, go to APIs & Services > Credentials.
2. Click + CREATE CREDENTIALS at the top and select Service account.
3. Name the service account (e.g., "DriveTV-Bot") and click Create and Continue, then Done.
4. You will be redirected back to the Credentials tab. Look for the newly created Service Account email address—copy it (you will need it later to share folders).

3. Generate your credentials.json

1. Under the Service Accounts section, click on the Email of the account you just created.
2. Go to the KEYS tab at the top.
3. Click ADD KEY > Create new key.
4. Select JSON and click Create. This will download the file to your computer.
5. Rename the downloaded file to exactly credentials.json.
6. Place this file inside the Android project at the following path:

   DriveTVApp/app/src/main/res/raw/credentials.json
   

4. Share your Google Drive folders with the Service Account

Service accounts are essentially "bots." They only see what is explicitly shared with them; they do not have access to your personal Google Drive by default!

1. Open your regular Google Drive in a browser.
2. Find the folder containing the videos you want the TV app to see.
3. Right-click the folder and select Share.
4. Paste the Service Account Email Address (from Step 2.4) into the specific people bar.
5. Set the permission to Viewer and click Send. (Uncheck "Notify people" to avoid an error, as Service Accounts don't have real inboxes).
6. Important: The app currently defaults to showing folders at the "root" of the Service Account. Ensure you share the top-level folder!

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Building and Running

System Requirements

• Android Studio Giraffe | 2022.3.1 or newer.
• JDK 17 integration.
• Minimum API: Android TV 10 (API level 29+).

Gradle Sync & Build

1. Open Android Studio and select Open. Point it to the DriveTVApp/ directory.
2. Wait for Android Studio to index the files and download the necessary Gradle wrappers (this repository targets Gradle 8.2).
3. Verify that DriveTVApp/app/src/main/res/raw/credentials.json exists in the Project tool window.
4. Click the Sync Project with Gradle Files (elephant icon) at the top right.

Running on an Emulator or Real Device

1. To run on an emulator, set up an Android TV (1080p or 4K) AVD instance in the device manager targeting at least API 29.
2. To run on a physical Android TV, enable Developer Options on the TV, enable Network Debugging (or USB Debugging), and connect to the TV via adb connect <IP_ADDRESS>.
3. In Android Studio, select your TV emulator/device from the device dropdown.
4. Click the green ▶️ Run 'app' button (or use Shift + F10).

Tech Stack

• 100% Kotlin Compose for TV (androidx.tv.material3) targeting TV D-pads natively.
• libVLC Android binding for high-performance MP4/MKV hardware-accelerated playback on slow generic TV chips.
• Repository Pattern / MVVM using Kotlin Coroutines for safe UI states.
• OkHttp / manual JWT generation (No heavy dependency on the full bulky Google Java API Client).