Bixby Developer Center

Guides

2020 January–March

Note

Internal platform changes that are not visible to capsule developers will be communicated via internal status updates.

20C Capsule SDK Release Notes

Updated: March 25, 2020

Update to Capsule Lock Opt Out and Conversation Drivers

If your capsule opts out of capsule lock by setting the new result-view-capsule-lock runtime flag to false, conversation drivers with result moments in your capsule might not behave as expected.

New Macros for Dialog and Layout

You can now define a layout or a dialog with a macro. Use macro to define repeatable portions of your layouts or dialogs, such as a card or a cell for a specific structure or entire portions of a Bixby View. You define the exact parameters within a macro using a macro-def. For more information, see Reusing Content with Macros.

result-view {
match: MyConcept(this)
render {
layout {
macro (my-macro) {
param (myParam) {
expression (this)
}
}
}
}
}

Text Types Deprecated within 'Pattern For' Training

Because the Bixby platform is not designed for it, we're deprecating the ability to use Text type values with Pattern For specialized training examples, which allow you to refer to specific structured concepts using NL.

For example, if you have a note-taking capsule that has a Pattern For training entry [g:Note:pattern] Make a note (get groceries)[v:NoteText], where NoteText is role assigned to Text, you will now get a deprecation warning.

For more information, see the Pattern For section in the Training for NL Developers' Guide.

Deprecation Stages

Learn more about the deprecation stages.

  • Stage 1: R20E
  • Stage 2: R20H
  • End of Life: None

New NL Categories Added for ko-KR Locale

The following NL categories were added this release:

  • Astrology
  • CoffeeOrder
  • CurrencyConversion
  • MovieTickets

20B Capsule SDK Release Notes

Updated: March 10, 2020

Issue with Runtime Version 4 and Location

If your capsule uses runtime version 4 and imports the viv.geo library capsule, your ability to get the user's current location using viv.geo.SearchRegion is currently limited.

As a workaround, you can revert to using runtime version 3, or you can set the use-most-specific-instantiation-strategy runtime flag to false:

use-most-specific-instantiation-strategy (false)

YouTube and Vimeo Video Support

Within Bixby Views, you can now embed YouTube and Vimeo videos using the new youtube and vimeo sub-keys, respectively:

Examples

section {
content {
video {
vimeo {
video-id ("376938961")
}
}
}
}
section {
content {
video {
youtube {
video-id ("7zP30QYMUjQ")
}
}
}
}

New Options for Thumbnail Shape and Size

You now have the option to determine the shape (image-shape) and size (image-size) of thumbnail images within Bixby Views.

Circle thumbnail:

Thumbnail card with a circle thumbnail

Small thumbnail:

Thumbnail card with a small square thumbnail

New Runtime Flag and EL Function Related to Duplicate Node Elements

By default, Bixby ensures that multi-value properties have unique values by merging duplicate values. The new no-auto-property-value-merging runtime flag prevents this.

Additionally, you can now use the Expression Language (EL) function dedupe to merge equivalent elements of a specified node.

Example

action (ReduceStrings) {
type (Constructor)
collect {
input (strings) {
type (String)
min (Optional)
max (Many)
}
}
output (String) {
evaluate {
$expr(dedupe(strings))
}
}
}

New Runtime Flag for Instantiation Strategies

We've added a new runtime flag, use-most-specific-instantiation-strategy, that changes the default match mode of instantiation strategies to MostSpecific. When enabled, all instantiation-strategy files use the most specific match pattern.

Example

capsule {
  runtime-version (1) {
    overrides {
      use-most-specific-instantiation-strategy (true)
    }
  }
}

New Runtime Version 4

We've added a new runtime version that covers a number of runtime flags:

20A Capsule SDK Release Notes

Updated: March 18, 2020

New Thumbnail Area Component in Bixby Views

The size key in cards and images is now deprecated. Use the new aspect-ratio key to specify how an image or a card fits in a Bixby View.

Old:

image-card {
size (L)
...
}

New:

image-card {
aspect-ratio (4:3)
...
}

For more information, see Cards in Bixby Views.

Deprecation Stages

Learn more about the deprecation stages.

  • Stage 1: R19O
  • Stage 2: R19O
  • End of Life: R19U

New Runtime Version 3

We've added a new runtime version that covers a number of runtime flags:

  • concepts-inherit-super-type-features
  • no-filtering-with-validation
  • modern-default-view-behavior
  • modern-prompt-rejection
  • support-halt-effect-in-computed-inputs
  • use-authorization-header-for-remote-endpoint-oauth
  • use-input-views-for-selection-list-detail

For more information, read about runtime version 3.

Batch 7 Categories Released

The following NL categories were added this release:

  • AudioBook
  • MovieTickets
  • Lottery
  • Trivia
  • JobSearch
  • SportsScore

'$user.nickName' Deprecated

We've deprecated the $user.nickName Expression Language function because it never returned a value.

Deprecation Stages

Learn more about the deprecation stages.

  • Stage 1: R20A
  • Stage 2: R20D
  • End of Life: R20O

Updates to User Location Capsule Permission

If you previously used the user-profile-access permission for accessing the user's location, you now should now use the device-location-access permission. The user-profile-access permission will soon be deprecated.

Required Justification for Capsule Permissions

If you are requesting permissions in your capsule-info.bxb, you must now provide a localized justification using the requested-permissions key, which is then presented to the user:

capsule-info {
...
requested-permissions {
...
permission (user-profile-access) {
justification (Your location will be used to find restaurants nearby)
}
}
}

Deprecation Stages

Learn more about the deprecation stages.

  • Stage 1: R20A
  • Stage 2: R20G
  • End of Life: R20O

19X Capsule SDK Release Notes

Updated: January 22, 2020

Batch 6 Categories Released

The following NL categories were added this release:

  • Weather
  • Meditation
  • RealEstate
  • SleepSounds
  • Flowers
  • Gifts

Optional OAuth for Endpoints

We now allow endpoints to optionally require user oAuth using the optional sub-key within authorization.user.

action-endpoint (...) {
...
authorization: user: optional
}

If your endpoint includes optional user oAuth, Bixby won't automatically prompt the user to login, which is the case when without the optional key.

If you want to prompt the user with the optional user oAuth, you must do so through your endpoint implementation. Here is an example function for including optional user oAuth within your endpoint:

  if ($vivContext.accessToken) { // if this is present, the user is logged in
// access protected resource
http.oauthGetUrl(...);
...
} else {
var doLogin = ... // some condition if the user should login
if (doLogin) {
var err = new Error('Login required');
err.$type = 'authorization-error';
err.$message = 'You must have log in to authorize access';
throw err; // throwing a type 'authorization-error' error will trigger the login prompt
}
// obviously don't use oauthGetUrl here, the user is not logged in
http.getUrl(...);
...
}