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GPX Import via Android Connect App

wrpsoft
over 4 years ago

Hi to all,

It seems that the last Connect App Update (4.30) has broken the GPX-file import functionality.
When I try to open a GPX file with the 'open with' command via a file commander the Connect app is showing an error message (an error occurred...)

The previous version could easily import GPX files, but 4.30 cannot. Would be nice if you could enable this import functionality again (an important functionality if you want to import a gpx based route in the fly).

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 1422068

    Most likely because the phone cleaned up the cache in the meantime (either it restarted, or it happened during a maintenance task). That's why I suggested clearing the cache of the file manager app. Restarting the phone can perhaps help too. If not, resetting the default app for gpx files should hopefully do the trick.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to rienjan

    @Rien: I don't know. Maybe the Garmin developers will investigate or not.

    As far as I know you can use the mentioned file manager for free (but you will see some ads). For me at the moment this is the only working alternative (or downgrade to vers. Connect 4.29).

    Conclusion:
    Some file managers are working with 4.30 and some not. Vers. 4.29 does not make any trouble at all on my phones.

    I have double checked this with several *.gpx files on three different smartphones/tablets and I'm always able to reproduce this 'error' with 4.30. I have rebooted the devices several times, cleared the caches of file managers and Garmin Connect app, etc., but 4.30 always throws an error message after it's has been opened by the 'Open with' command.

    So for me it seems they have changed the internal (intent) handling or something like that in vers. 4.30. First I assumed there could be a problem with the decimal separator, but that isn't obviously the case.

    Technically spoken, a file manager is asking the Android system if there is an app that is able to handle a *.gpx file while the Android system is looking if an app that is able to handle gpx files is registered. If that's the case the 'selected' app is called and it's this app, who must handle an intend -> that means it must get the 'intent' message, extract the file name and doing the handling for this file.
    An Intent is a sort of interface for communication between different apps.

    So it's not so easy to find the reason, you must look at the source code for deeper investigation. But vers. 4.29 is definitely handling the 'Open with' command different compared to 4.30

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to wrpsoft
    wrpsoft said:
    But vers. 4.29 is definitely handling the 'Open with' command different compared to 4.30

    Frankly told, the case of  (two posts earleir) demonstrates that the problem may be different than what you concluded. In his case it initially did not work with v4.30, but then started to work again alone (without changing the file manager). Which suggests that it is rather a problem of settings (i.e. the app/extension association tabe), or of cache, and not really of the app version.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to trux

    I only shared what I can and cannot reproduce on three different devices (Huawei, Samsung and Sony devices). The devices were rebooted, the respective cache was deleted, etc., without any effect .
    Whether it makes sense for Garmin to get to the bottom of it or not, I have no influence on that. I have now also found a way to continue using the old functionality on my smartphone with Ver. 4.30. This may help one or the other user, maybe not :-)

    PS: Sometimes there are several things that software can get out of step. These can be bugs that hit some users and sometimes broken configurations. Yes, that's the IT world.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to wrpsoft
    wrpsoft said:
    Yes, that's the IT world.

    Yes, of course, I know that better than most. And that's exactly why it is a bit premature to blame Garmin. From what I saw till now, it looks more like the problem is not really on their side, and it is not excluded they cannot do anything abou it. 

    BTW, what file manager and what Andorid version do you have on the Samsung you tested? I tested it on Samsung with Andorid 10, and the Samsung My Files app v11.1. It worked without any hitches with all versions of GCM.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to trux

    Sorry, I haven't blamed Garmin, but pointed out, that after updating to Connect 4.30 the *.gpx import on my device didn't worked as before. That's all!
    I can reproduce this with 4.30 at any time but downgrading to 4.29 (or alternatively using another file manager as I mentioned) is working for me (at my phones). Where in my posts you have read that I'm trying to blame Garmin?
    By the way, I have been working as a professional software developer for over 20 years now and I (myself) am thankful for every (bug) report that contains more than a stupid  'works or works not' phrase.
    Often a more precise description helps, because sometimes there are small details that can cause issues in the IT world. Even if it is a bug within a file manager, there could be a special reason why it works with versions <= 4.29.

    This one isn't working with 4.30 anymore for example (with 4.29 it does!):
    - Total Commander (from C. Ghisler)

    But after your positive posts I've checked four other file explorers - I haven't noted - that have trouble with 4.30 too (incl. the embedded file tool of an older Samsung Android 8.x phone).

    These three are working on my phones (I didn't check more file manager, cause it works now):
    - File Commander (from MobiSystems)
    - Dateimanager (from Flashlight + Clock)
    - the internal File Manager tool of an older Huawei Android 7.x phone (I no longer use this phone, only for testing purposes)

    So please do not deduce an attack from my posts, it's just an observation and I'm out of this thread now, cause I have found a working solution for me. But you can hopefully see that I try to be constructive and blaming is not my aime.

    PS: Don't know if it's allowed to post URLs to apps here in the forum, therefore only mentioned the app names plus the developers.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to wrpsoft
    wrpsoft said:
    So please do not deduce an attack from my posts

    Don't worry, just trying to narrow down where the problem might be. That's why I asked about the Samsung version and file manager, to compare with mine.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to wrpsoft

    Yes thos is the solution: use the default file manager!

    The problem is the permission of read/write (the owner) the file from unauthorised file manager.

    For example try to create a directory on sdcard from.total commander and then delete it: probably isn't possible.

    The issue is from android and app permission.

    Thanks 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Tarta

    Due to the fact that I couldn't solve the problem 100% at my current smartphone and because I have stored many GPS-based files (*.gpx, *.tcx, *.kml/kmz and *.fit) on my smartphone, which I want to pass on to the Garmin Connect app on-the-fly, I now have developed a small Android GPS Viewer app that offers a simple browser functionality and can forward the files to the Connect app via share function.

    A special feature is that the app converts these formats internally into a simple * .gpx file when the share function is called, which is then passed on to the Connect app.
    This way I can, for example, also transfer * .fit activities as a route to the Garmin Connect app, which the Connect app does not support natively as far as I know.

    I don't know if I can post a link here, so I'll limit myself to the name of the app: search for WRPElevationChart at the Google Play Store if you are interested in such a tool.

    The app is free (also ad-free) and not malicious in any way, so I hope this post will be okay.

    PS: The problem does not seem to be a bug in the Connect App either, but the cause of these transfer problems is probably the many changes with regard to file handling that Google makes over and over again :-( The Garmin Connect App seems to adhere to the current requirements of the Android Specs -> therefore the sharing must now take place via a fileprovider in this case, but many older apps still do the transfer on a native file basis, which the Garmin app developer seems to have cut off - probably with Vers. 4.30 - and therefore is only supporting the current fileprovider sharing.
    My app does the sharing fileprovider based and that seems to work trouble-free.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    FYI:
    Garmin seems to have fixed the problem* with the Android Connect App Vers. 4.41.
    * I don't want to call it a bug, I have written something about at my last comment at this thread and it seems that the many file handling changes Google has introduced to Android again and again has been the reason).

    With the Connect App 4.41 I can again transfer GPX files to the Connect App with all file managers - including my favorite Total Commander - without any problems.
    Cause there weren't any further updates on my used phones, but only the Connect App has been updated to 4.41, it seems that Garmin implemented the old file based handling as a kind of fallback. I double checked this. So all is fine again now:-)