Data Field Layouts and Dimensions for Fenix 6

Hi, I am working on a complex datafield (that uses Layouts). It works fine on all devices I want to support except for Fenix 6. The text is not displayed at the proper place and gets cut when using multiple field layouts. It seems the Fenix 6 renders text and graphics completely different than the other devices I've tried (Fenix 5, vivos, Edges), or is it a sim issue? I have not tried my data field on a real Fenix 6 yet.

When looking at the UX guide, there is no information for the layouts and field dimensions for Fenix 6 devices. I'm using SDK 3.1.9.

Best regards

Fredrik

0 9635560 over 4 years ago

Fsallstrom said:
I'm using SDK 3.1.9.

Well, first, maybe update? 3.2.2 is the latest one, and that was out almost a month ago.

Which Fenix 6?
The 6x allows up to 8 field layouts, the 6 and 6s allow only up to 6 fields. Not sure how the fonts vary between them.

I don't use layouts much myself, but it occurs to me the fonts would need to be dynamically chosen to cater for the vast range in field sizes. I do this with my scripted layout fields, not sure how to do it with layout layouts.

0 Travis.ConnectIQ over 4 years ago

Fsallstrom said:
When looking at the UX guide, there is no information for the layouts and field dimensions for Fenix 6 devices. I'm using SDK 3.1.9.

The new documentation (generated for the 3.2.2 SDK) has a greatly improved UX guide section. It has fenix6 layout information.

https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/reference-guides/devices-reference/

0 Fsallstrom over 4 years ago in reply to Travis.ConnectIQ

Thank you Travis, indeed the new UX guide has the info I looked for.

I am using FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM for the value field in the layout and according to the UX guide, this font differs vastly in size between Fenix 5 and Fenix 6 (36 vs 72). I want the value to be as big as possible for readability and while FONT_NUMBER_MEDIUM works for all other targets the UI on Fenix 6 gets broken. I don't want to create different layouts for each device, is there a best practice work-around solution to this problem?

I cannot use simple datafield as I also want to be able to present bitmaps in the datafield.

best regards

Fredrik

0 jim_m_58 over 4 years ago in reply to Fsallstrom

Fonts vary by devive, and in the case of number fonts, there is a big variation on the amount of white space above and below.

Not seeing your layouts, it may be a simple thing like not just using Gfx.TEXT_CENTER, but combining it with Gfx.TEXT_VCENTER

0 Travis.ConnectIQ over 4 years ago in reply to Fsallstrom

Fsallstrom said:
I don't want to create different layouts for each device, is there a best practice work-around solution to this problem?

As jim_m_58 said, you can get better results by centering the text vertically, but that requires some kludges if you want to do multiple rows of text or line anything up with the top/bottom of the text.

Other than that, your options are to

Use device-specific layouts where needed
Use device-specific custom fonts so that each device gets a font that the same height relative to the screen size

0 Fsallstrom over 4 years ago in reply to Travis.ConnectIQ

Thank you. Yes, I will try to use VCENTER alignment to see if that helps with the positioning of the text. Is there any secure ways to identify the device as a Fenix 6 other than checking the screen size? So that I can either load a Fenix6 specific layout, or change the font of the value field to something smaller.

0 jim_m_58 over 4 years ago in reply to Fsallstrom

Use jungles or resource overrides

0 Fsallstrom over 4 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Thanks Jim, I will read up on resource overrides.