Project feasibility - CIQ datafield capabilities

I am a fairly experienced programmer, but new to Connect IQ. I am working on an IQ app and I am currently at the stage of reading through all the available docs. Before I get too involved, I would like to ask more expeirenced people if what I want to do is at all possible. So here goes:

I have an indoor bike. It transmits some fitness data such as speed, cadence, distance over BLE. It's an undocumented proprietary protocol. Nonetheless, I've been able to reverse-engineer some parts of it to a degree which allows me to see meaningful data using an app running on a PC. Now I would like to write an IQ datafield which does the same, and which I would like to use as one of datafields of the built-in indoor bike profile. My questions are:

1. Can IQ datafields receive raw data over BLE (assuming connect iq version >= 3.2)?

2. Can an IQ datafield "replace" some of the standard data provided by the activity? What I mean is, can a custom datafield write - for example - speed into a fit file in such a way, that it would show as normal speed in garmin connect, and not as custom IQ data?

I've read some docs and I think I know the answers, but I'd like someone to confirm, in case I misunderstood something.

Any help will be appreciated.

Top Replies

flowstate over 4 years ago +2 verified

1. I don't know much about it first hand, but as of 3.1, apparently yes:

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/b/news-announcements/posts/connect-iq-3-1-connects-you-to-the-world

2. Theoretically…
jim_m_58 over 4 years ago +1 verified

1. Yes. See the NordicThingy52CoinColletor sample in the SDK. It's simple, in that it just writes data to the thingy every couple seconds, but shows the concept. CIQ BLE goes back to version 3.1

2…

All Replies

+1 flowstate over 4 years ago

1. I don't know much about it first hand, but as of 3.1, apparently yes:

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/b/news-announcements/posts/connect-iq-3-1-connects-you-to-the-world

2. Theoretically: yes, using the FIT "native num" functionality. Practically: no, because Garmin Connect and every other platform will ignore the fact that you wrote native num data. You'll still see the data IIRC, but it won't replace the standard fields you wanted it to replace.

+1 jim_m_58 over 4 years ago

1. Yes. See the NordicThingy52CoinColletor sample in the SDK. It's simple, in that it just writes data to the thingy every couple seconds, but shows the concept. CIQ BLE goes back to version 3.1

2. User/fitcontrib data is written in addition to the standard data and isn't used to replace the std data. It won't work with GC, but may work on some 3rd party sites.

0 tmk2 over 4 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Thank you, guys, for your input.

So if I understand correctly my quest is futile. What I wanted to achieve is to feed speed data (among others) from the bike into an activity recorded by a garmin watch, so that it would be indistinguishable from data comming for example from a normal speed sensor. But as I understand, this is not possible.

Thanks anyway. Looks like you helped me save some time on research and experimentation.

0 Nikeow over 4 years ago in reply to tmk2

you could make it as a 2 step process. Tho it would defeat the purpose of having such a app/field.

0 cmehmen over 4 years ago in reply to flowstate

So what's the point of ever writing a native num field?

0 flowstate over 4 years ago in reply to cmehmen

cmehmen said:
So what's the point of ever writing a native num field?

That's a great question for Garmin....A few devs have brought this up.

Ironically, apps running outside of Garmin's platform can easily write any data they want to FIT files.

Actually, for a while Stryd PowerCenter accepted nativeNum power data from 3rd-party data fields, but they put a stop to that a while back.