[Visual Studio Code] Watchface - Font updates: simulator vs build

~o√ 5 months ago

Hello,

I moved from Eclipse to Visaul Studio Code several months ago.

I am experiencing a weird behavior in VS code.

I am used to manually create/update fonts (.png) by using paint.net.

I refreshed the files in explorer and cleaned the project.

The simulator shows the updates.

But when I (successfully) build the program (.prg) and copy the file in the watch (garmin\apps), the font of the watchface is not updated; the watch shows the "old" version.

Has anyone already experienced the same issue and has found the fix?

0 ~o√ 5 months ago

jim_m_58 FlowState flocsy🤠 peterdedecker

I tried all your suggestions but it did not change anything unfortunately.

So far, what worked for me is to copy and give the fnt files new names.

I noticed that if I rename the new fnt files with the old names, I get the old fonts (even if they do not exist anymore in the png file!).

It is like fnt files are associated to a font graphic and that association is saved and kept forever (?).

Again I am not an expert but it is like the issue is in Visual studio code during the build process (history, cache, ?)

0 flocsy🤠 5 months ago in reply to ~o√

Wrong assessment, because if the bug was in VSC then it would show the old font in the simulator as well. It's more likely what Jim wrote, though if it still keeps the old font after restarting the device, it might be (also) something else involved

0 FlowState 5 months ago in reply to peterdedecker

peterdedecker said:
delete the app via Garmin express

You don’t need Garmin Express to delete a sideload.

You can use:

- Connect IQ (iOS) (the android version still may have the bug where sideloads can’t be deleted)

- The Connect IQ store app on the device itself

Granted, not everyone has an iOS device, and not all Garmin devices support the CIQ store app (but newer ones do).

I only mention this bc whenever this comes up, most ppl forget about the CIQ store app on the device itself. (I almost never use it myself, but it’s actually pretty decent for deleting sideloads.) And also bc Garmin Express has a bad habit of messing up ppl’s settings (e.g. glance order / folders), and in one reported case, pushing an update that wasn’t asked for (someone claimed that they got an unwanted firmware update when they used Express to update maps.)

Also, device apps can be deleted on some devices (e.g. 955) as follows:

- open the activity/app list (e.g. press START from the watchface on 5-button watches)

- scroll to the app

- hold UP or long press to open the context menu

- select Delete from Device

Sadly this doesn’t work for watchfaces or data fields.

0 flocsy🤠 5 months ago in reply to FlowState

I wish the android connect IQ not being able to delete side loaded apps was a bug.... I tried to convince the customer support about that, but they refused :(

About the store on the device: well, believe it or not Garmin managed to screw even that up: the store app is "gone" from my edge explore 2. It's not listed under the Connect IQ menu any more. It is shown in Garmin Express, but it can't fix it, because Connect IQ is an undeletable app... And even when there was an upgrade for it didn't fix it...

0 FlowState 5 months ago in reply to flocsy🤠

flocsy🤠 said:
I wish the android connect IQ not being able to delete side loaded apps was a bug.... I tried to convince the customer support about that, but they refused :(

You mean the same Garmin support that tells everyone to uninstall all CIQ apps whenever they complain about crashes or bad battery life? As we have all noticed, regular product support doesn't exactly talk to the CIQ team (or endorse CIQ). (*)

On the contrary, someone from the CIQ team confirmed it was a bug (in a thread you started, no less).

Kyle.ConnectIQ said:
Looks like there's a bug in the Android app (iOS lets you delete side loaded apps) and I've filed a ticket for it to be fixed.

Further anecdotal evidence that it's a bug: obviously Connect IQ iOS originally had the ability to delete sideloads, then at some point, that ability went away, but eventually it was brought back again. This suggests that someone noticed it was broken and fixed it (unless of course it was just randomly broken, then randomly fixed, which also isn't too hard to believe.)

But to me it's pretty obvious that at least the CIQ team thinks that the CIQ apps (on iOS and Android) are supposed to be able to delete sideloads.

flocsy🤠 said:
About the store on the device: well, believe it or not Garmin managed to screw even that up: the store app is "gone" from my edge explore 2. It's not listed under the Connect IQ menu any more. It is shown in Garmin Express, but it can't fix it, because Connect IQ is an undeletable app... And even when there was an upgrade for it didn't fix it...

Yeah, I can believe it.

(*) Side note: support also seems to tell people that CIQ apps have to be constantly rebuilt with new SDKs otherwise they will magically stop working - as a rule. A support person even said as much (in not so many words) in the forums. So it's another example of general support being out of touch with various facts about CIQ. This leads to ridiculous threads in the forums where someone asks why a watchface isn't working anymore, and another person replies "that watchface hasn't been updated since 2021, of course it's crashing!". (The actual problem was that the OP's user profile data was somehow corrupted, which caused apps which used that data to either crash or calculate nonsensical values in some cases.)

0 FlowState 5 months ago in reply to flocsy🤠

flocsy🤠 said:
the store app is "gone" from my edge explore 2

Stupid question but can you re-download it from here:

https://apps.garmin.com/apps/7cd38736-510a-4480-8801-0dfe2f5944af

Clearly the CIQ store app is "special" bc it's undeleteable and it obviously uses some internal APIs that aren't available to 3rd-party CIQ devs, but it is listed in the store.

(I'm guessing re-downloading will probably fail since your device will probably act as if the app is still installed, but it's worth a try.)

0 flocsy🤠 5 months ago in reply to FlowState

Yeah, that's what I wrote, that from the Connect IQ/Garmin Express' point of view it's already installed

0 FlowState 5 months ago in reply to flocsy🤠

Yeah, I just thought there might a (slight) possibility that trying to re-install it a different way (e.g. from the website) might work, but I guess not.

I assume if you ask Garmin support for help they will either disavow all knowledge of CIQ or suggest that you perform a factory reset (which I’m guessing you don’t want to do *)

(* Sure it’s possible to manually backup and restore a few things, while Physio TrueUp will probably restore a few other things, but some things would have to be re-done manually.)

0 flocsy🤠 5 months ago in reply to FlowState

Indeed, they recommended to do factory reset. To tell you the truth, this on-board store app is useless anyway. I mean I had multiple bugs reported about it in the past. It's really useless on edgeexplore2 because of the slowlyness (I guess it has some very cheap, slow bluetooth HW). In this particular case it might help though (to delete side-loaded apps)

I'm not sure about the true-up neither. I reported some other problem 2 weeks ago and in the correspondence I asked whether I should record my bike rides on the Edge Explore 2 (as I did until now) or on my Forerunner 965. To my surprise they told me that I'd better record it on the watch:

The benefit of recording it on your 965 would be that the watch and Garmin Connect would line up Training Status-wise. You used to be able to toggle between different device's Training Status's, but that's no longer the case. The goal of that change was to make your Training/fitness data more seamless and unified. If you record an activity on the Edge, the Training Status that shows on the Edge won't be the same as what is displayed in Garmin Connect.

IF you had an Edge that was compatible with Extended Display, you could have started an activity on the watch and then used Extended Display to show the data fields on the Edge. This FAQ explains how it works and lists the compatible devices: What is Extended Display Mode?

Since you unfortunately don't have Extended Display, it makes things more limited. You could technically start activities on both devices and then just delete the one recorded on the Edge like you were thinking...otherwise you may get some strange information in Garmin Connect with double activities. You could also perform the activity on the Edge only and broadcast your heart rate from the watch....but then you'd be recording the activity on your non- compatible Unified Training device.

0 FlowState 5 months ago in reply to flocsy🤠

flocsy🤠 said:
To tell you the truth, this on-board store app is useless anyway. I mean I had multiple bugs reported about it in the past. It's really useless on edgeexplore2 because of the slowlyness (I guess it has some very cheap, slow bluetooth HW). In this particular case it might help though (to delete side-loaded apps)

Yeah it's slow to the point of uselessness for actually browsing apps (which is why I never use it), but it's decent for deleting sideloads. Probably objectively faster than using Connect IQ (iOS), although perhaps subjectively more annoying (due to perceived latency / sluggishness in enumerating apps, although the iOS app isn't exactly buttery smooth either.) I'm sure I would prefer the on-device store to Garmin Express for deleting sideloads.

People always talk about various tradeoffs that Garmin devices make to achieve great battery life, but I think it's often overlooked how there's a real impact on UX / usability. Yes, faster CPU, GPU, Wi-FI, Bluetooth, etc. are all "unnecessary", but the user experience of Garmin vs Apple Watch is like night and day.