How does backgrounding work?

Former Member over 1 year ago

Hi everybody,

I'm new to monkeyC and i've encountered some troubles with backgrounding.

I wanna create an app which runs in the background as soon as the watch starts : how can I trigger its startup in the background without launching it the first time in foreground ?

I've also some troubles bc I wanna recover the data from the sensors at regular intervals (the objective is to prevent stress) but I found that the background app cannot run for more than 5 minutes in a row, so all the data collected by the sensors during this time are not accessible?

And how can I switch the app from foreground to background when exiting it (with back button) ?

If you have any advice I would be very grateful!

Thanks

0 jim_m_58 over 1 year ago

A whole thread about backgrounding

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/f/discussion/5287/very-simple-sample-of-a-watch-face-with-a-background-process

and a blog post

https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/connect-iq-faq/how-do-i-create-a-connect-iq-background-service/#howdoicreateaconnectiqbackgroundservice

When you first install your app, the main app need to run once so you can do the registerForTemporalEvent. Say you set a time of every 5 minutes, and then it will run at most every 5 minutes, so if you power cycle the watch, it won't run until 5 minutes after it last ran - not when the watch first boots up.

Background and foreground are very different. For one the memory for a background service is far less than for the main app. You can't just have the main app run as a background service.

If you want the sensor data all the time, you need to do everything in the main app, meaning that's running and visible all the time.

0 Former Member over 1 year ago in reply to jim_m_58

okk thanks

0 Former Member over 1 year ago in reply to jim_m_58

and is that possible from the watchface ? to avoid launching an application in the background

0 jim_m_58 over 1 year ago in reply to Former Member

There are a number of things you can't do in a watch face, but can do in the background service for a watch face

What you might consider is a device app that looks like a watch face. And before you ask, no, you can't have a device app automatically start when you power on a watch.

0 Ondrej 4 months ago in reply to jim_m_58

So when I register bacground service on watch, it wil run forever even if I power cycle the watch? Only ways how to get rid of this repeating bacground proess is:

Unscheduling it in the app

Uninstalling the app

Hard reset of the watch

Correct?

0 flocsy🤠 4 months ago in reply to Ondrej

I'd like to see the answers as well, but can you clarify "power cycle" vs "hard reset"?

0 FlowState 4 months ago in reply to flocsy🤠

Can't speak for who you're replying to, but depending on the context, "hard reset" can either mean (forcibly) turning the device off and on, or factory reset / reset to default state.

If I had to guess, I'd say they were referring to the "factory reset" meaning (just from the context of their post).

Unfortunately, device vendors propagated this ambiguity by:

- creating devices that that are rarely (or never) actually turned off or restarted, so the simple concept of "turning it off and on" doesn't have as much meaning as it used to

- using vague terms like "soft reset" and "hard reset" inconsistently (at least across vendors, if not within the same vendor)

For example, Google says that a "factory reset" is also known as a "hard [reset]", in an Android support article: https://support.google.com/android/answer/6088915?hl=en

Apple doesn't use the term "hard reset", but if I search for "apple hard reset", I get results for *both* forcibly restarting the device and for resetting the device to factory state.

0 jim_m_58 4 months ago in reply to flocsy🤠

Power cycle is just turning the watch off and back on.

Hard(ware) reset is when you press the light button for about 15 seconds and the watch turns itself off, and the hardware is reset when you turn it on. It can fix a bunch of issues. You don't lose any data, re-pair with your phone, etc.

The background service will pick up where it left off.

Note that if you have more than one WF with a background service, only the background for the active one (the one you see running on the watch) runs.

0 FlowState 4 months ago in reply to jim_m_58

jim_m_58 said:
Hard(ware) reset

"Hard reset" isn't short for "hardware reset". The word "hard" is clearly meant to distinguish that kind of reset from a soft reset (which usually refers to a normal, non-forced power cycle, or a reboot).

"Hard reset" is more forceful than "soft reset" (regardless of which meaning of "hard reset" is being used.)

0 jim_m_58 4 months ago in reply to FlowState

Try the long press of light on your own watch. I never liked Garmin calling it a hard reset, because it's not. You lose no data and don't need to do anything like re-pair with your phone.

It's useful when you get new FW, and things like battery drain are off.