ConnectIQ Simulator - Diagnosing performance

Former Member over 10 years ago

Hi there,

I have written a relatively complex application and while it seems to run well, Connect IQ simulator seems to take a while when closing, causing it to be terminated by MacOS. I am also concerned about performance as there doesn't seem to be a way to see what is going on in the VM. CPU usage is low and it is responsive but I would still like to know how the system is handling it.

Let me know if there's any strategies

Thanks

jim_m_58 over 10 years ago

You'll likely not see anything valid as far as performance testing in the simulator. Some things happen much faster, for example. It's not an emulator - it's a simulator. Stuff doesn't terminate in the same way in the simulator, and to end something you may have to do something like a "ctrl-K"

for stuff like this it's best to push it to a real device and see what happens, and use Sys.println() to catch stuff to the <appname>.txt (precreated) in the device's "\garmin\apps\logs" directory. BTW, you can side load a .prg to a real device by just copying it to the \garmin\apps diectory on the device.

Former Member over 10 years ago

Thanks again Jim

I am getting to the point where I am side loading the app and it seems to run well. Am just a little worried it might get kicked back by Garmin due to performance issues even though I cannot identify any using what I have. Is it a real thing to worry about or am I being facetious?

Thanks

jim_m_58 over 10 years ago

Test as best as you can - it probably won't be the app store folks that complains about performance - it will be the people using it, and then it will be public in the comment section

One gauge of performance is battery usage, and I've been testing my stuff to see how long the battery will last when running my stuff. The va is rated "up to 10hrs" with GPS on, (which probably means 8 or so in the real world. :) ). Run your app starting with a full charge, and see how long it can run. If it's far less, you have a performance issue. If the screen is slow in responding, you probably have a performance issue.

And look at your own code. If you are updating the screen too often, you can cut back on that. You don't need to update the screen much faster than the data changes, and even then, is it ok if the data is over a second or two old? You got to figure that most times no one is constantly looking at their watch.

Former Member over 10 years ago

Test as best as you can - it probably won't be the app store folks that complains about performance - it will be the people using it, and then it will be public in the comment section

One gauge of performance is battery usage, and I've been testing my stuff to see how long the battery will last when running my stuff. The va is rated "up to 10hrs" with GPS on, (which probably means 8 or so in the real world. :) ). Run your app starting with a full charge, and see how long it can run. If it's far less, you have a performance issue. If the screen is slow in responding, you probably have a performance issue.

And look at your own code. If you are updating the screen too often, you can cut back on that. You don't need to update the screen much faster than the data changes, and even then, is it ok if the data is over a second or two old? You got to figure that most times no one is constantly looking at their watch.

That's great advice, thanks for the tip! I have noticed the battery life takes a hit with the app open. I'll see how long it takes to burn down.