Major Issues with Custom Fonts after latest Device FW-Updates

Hi, the last weeks I had increasing numbers of strange reports of bugs (crashing apps) on most of my apps. It became more and more clear, that mostly it happens after latest FW updates on devices, but I was not able to locate based on log files. On simulator I have absolutely no issue.

This week I updated also my devices and had the same issue. Even on old devices like FR645M (yes, there was also a FW update !!!) after this update I've the same issue.

After many hours it seems to be, that some of the customer Fonts I set up with BMFont64 lead to the crash:

Error: System Error
Details: 'Failed invoking <symbol>'

At code customFont = Ui.loadResource(Rez.Fonts.icons);

I did not change the code, and not all of the fonts are affected. I cannot find any rule if BMFont64 setting is leading to the bug. Already tried to play with BMFont64 settings with no success.

Again it only happens based on devices with the latest FW-Update. And on simulator everything is ok.

Has anyone the same issue and maybe any idea ?

Top Replies

a1234.garmin over 1 year ago in reply to jim_m_58 +1

All of this means only one thing, they don't control the code. They had the guts and courage to go through the whole process of building the firmware, compile it, publish it, get negative feedback in tech…

All Replies

jim_m_58 over 1 year ago in reply to forandy

forandy said:
What do you mean by era error?

In the command palette in VS C. use "Monkey C: Open ERA Viewer"

See this for details on ERA - https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/b/news-announcements/posts/exceptional-crash-logging

forandy over 1 year ago in reply to jim_m_58

ah, ok, had a look some months ago, was not really helpful.

Now checked again not so many entries in there ...

jim_m_58 over 1 year ago in reply to forandy

In this case, with the fr645 and 7.20 FW, it pointed right at it for me. Instead of seeing "pc:" in the crash log, those vaules are decodes to show file and line. You also see things that users don't bother to report.

The ERA reports do reset when you upload a new version of an app.

jim_m_58 over 1 year ago in reply to flocsy

With an older device like the fr645, "ASAP" can be months for a FW fix (devices go to quarterly updates after a certain amount of time), so it's always good to look for a work-around.

_psx_ over 1 year ago in reply to forandy

I don't have to define 0 for icons but removing 0 from normal fonts means changing a lot of code showing real numbers!!! Brandon.ConnectIQ

s = num.toString/format;

s = replace('0', toNotCrashingCharRemovigFromFNT);

can you see this error in era?

VAW.BE over 1 year ago in reply to _psx_

I'm having lots of complaints from users at the moment as this firmware is continuing to roll out. This is not ok Garmin... And not having a 0 in custom fonts is just not doable. I use custom fonts for showing the time, steps,... a 0 is required for me I'm afraid. Hope to somehow find another fix for this.

VAW.BE over 1 year ago in reply to VAW.BE

There was no bug report of this yet, so I've created it: https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/i/bug-reports/fr645-and-others-since-fw-7-20-major-issues-with-custom-fonts

jim_m_58 over 1 year ago in reply to VAW.BE

I added an example of what is happening that demonstrates the crash. It works in the sim and crashes on a real fr645 with 7.20 FW. It's the standard WF template in 4.1.7 with an added custom font and 1 line of code to load that font.

_psx_ over 1 year ago in reply to jim_m_58

Is if you remove form FNT line

char id=48....

crash still exist?

forandy over 1 year ago in reply to _psx_

no, if there is no definition for id=48, everything is ok. Or you assign to a different id, e.g. char id=49 is a workaraound.

It is not a rule. Some custom fonts the "0" is working. I've many watchfaches with big fonts for clock, where the "0" is working. Bad for us developer is, that's it not reliable ...