Adding data to the fields shown in garmin connect

I have an app in the store for surfers, until recently the garmin connect and garmin connect mobile seemed to just give a generic summary for activities marked as surfing', including stats like elevation which are irrelevant to surfing. In the last few weeks it seems they've updated it and now shows useful stats like number of waves ridden, longest ride and surf time etc however these fields are blank. My app is using fitcontributor fields already for these stats but I (and the users who've been emailing me) would prefer them to show in the main summary view instead of just being blank. I've looked through the latest .fit SDK and can't find any mention of any fields which correspond to these stats and can't work out how to fill them from the app, I've sent a few emails to garmin but had no responses so was hoping someone here could point me in the right direction?

Thanks

0 jim_m_58 over 5 years ago

In Garmin connect, nothing you add with fitcontrib will show along with the main stats. The fitcontrib data is always separate.

0 aledthomas79 over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Oh? I was under the impression you could add fields that are supported in the .fit file format by using the nativenum option in session.createField and they would be added to the saved .fit file correctly?

Either way, as there is no fields which match these listed in the fit SDK there is no nativenum to match to. But if Garmin have decided to add this data to the summary on GC then it must be looking for it in the file somewhere, but I can't find it documented anywhere or find anyone at Garmin who'll reply to emails about it.

0 jim_m_58 over 5 years ago in reply to aledthomas79

Lets say you use fitcontrib to add your own distance field with the correct nativenum. In GC, you'll still see the distance saved by the firmware, and your distance will be shown but separate.

using something like fittocsv in the fit SDK will show the data, or you can use monkeygraph. There's info in the programmer's guide.

To see the data in GC, you have to have installed from the app store (you can make it a beta app so only you can download it)

0 aledthomas79 over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Yes but distance already exists in the file and you're trying to over ride it, which GC doesn't allow, the data fields I see on there are blank and there is no message type or nativenum that equates to them so where is GC trying to populate these values from? As far as I'm aware there is no Garmin device which natively supports surfing as an activity.

0 jim_m_58 over 5 years ago in reply to aledthomas79

You'll typically see distance in one of two ways. If the app uses GPS, it uses that. If it doesn't it uses steps and stride.

If you're not using GPS and not taking steps you'll see a distance of zero.

What SPORT_* (or Number value) are you using when recording? GC will vary what it displays based on the sport.

0 aledthomas79 over 5 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

I'm using surfing as its a surfing app and that's why I get the new surfing stats they've added in GC (although they don't show anything). Connect iq SDK didn't have a sport_ constant for surfing so I use the number value defined in the FIT SDK to save the activity with the right details.

The fit file format allows for a lot more sport types than Garmin connect supports, until very recently activity saved as surfing had just the generic icon and generic stats displayed. The same activity uploaded to Strava for example would show the correct stats. It seems like Garmin's typical approach is to only half document everything, offer no real support, but still expect that people will code useful apps for their devices for free. I've grown tired of answering user emails about Garmin bugs which users think are faults caused by my app, and getting bad reviews from users who can't find the app settings where Garmin have hidden them 4 menus deep in their connect app. It would be nice if they at least answered emails themselves or gave a point of contact which offered useful support for developers who are largely taking their own time to make apps available for Garmin's customers. /rant

0 aledthomas79 over 5 years ago in reply to aledthomas79

Anybody have a contact at garmin regarding this? I eventually received a reply to one of my emails (after 2 weeks) telling me I should use the developer contact form . I filled that in again but don't expect much anytime soon but could really do with an email address for someone who could help.

I'm currently getting several emails every single day from users complaining about this which they see as a bug in my app, the only solution I can see at the moment is to take the app off the Garmin store entirely until Garmin release some info on these new stats (possibly never) which would be a shame because the app still works fine.