Starting an app in a menu

The top view in a widget doesn't allow up/down keys or up/down swipes by default You can get around it in glance view, but that isn't available on all devices and on others it's configurable.  You'd have to push a view to navigate your menu, and you'd be in the exact same state as with Menu2.

for example like Spotify widget :-)

That's not a widget.  It's a music provider app.

Here's some simple code that show you two options (controlled by useDelegate).  If false, it's similar to what you are doing, but instead of trying to do the pop, it puts up a screen.  That screen can be used for something like a summary based on what your widget does.

If true, the widget starts with a screen, instructing the user to press menu or back and uses a delegate for this.  Menu brings up the menu.  But there, when you leave the menu, instead of just exiting, the user has the option to go back to the menu.  Again, might be useful depending on what your widget does. Again, it could also be used for something like a summary.

using Toybox.WatchUi;
using Toybox.Graphics as Gfx;
using Toybox.System;
using Toybox.Application;

//use delegate or not
var useDelegate=false;

class M2WApp extends Application.AppBase {

    function initialize() {
        AppBase.initialize();
    }

    function onStart(state) {
	}
	
    function onStop(state) {
    }

    function getInitialView() {
    	//use this if you want to allow returning to the menu
    	if(useDelegate) {return [new M2WView(),new M2WDelegate()];}
        else {return [new M2WView()];}
    }

}

class M2WView extends WatchUi.View {
	var width,height;
	var shown=false;
	
    function initialize() {
       View.initialize();
	}
	
	function onShow() {
		if(!shown && !useDelegate) {
	   		var myMenu=new WatchUi.Menu2({:title=>"Items"});
			myMenu.addItem(new WatchUi.MenuItem("item 1","","i1",{}));
			myMenu.addItem(new WatchUi.MenuItem("item 2","","i2",{}));	 		
	 		WatchUi.pushView(myMenu, new M2WMenuDelegate(),WatchUi.SLIDE_IMMEDIATE);
	 		shown=true;			
		}
	}
	
	function onLayout(dc) {
		width=dc.getWidth();
		height=dc.getHeight();
	}
	
	function onUpdate(dc) {
		dc.setColor(Gfx.COLOR_BLACK,Gfx.COLOR_BLACK);
		dc.clear();
		dc.setColor(Gfx.COLOR_BLUE,Gfx.COLOR_TRANSPARENT);
		if(useDelegate) {
			dc.drawText(width/2,height/2,Gfx.FONT_SMALL,"Hit Menu for Menu\nBack to Exit",Gfx.TEXT_JUSTIFY_CENTER|Gfx.TEXT_JUSTIFY_VCENTER);
		} else {
			dc.drawText(width/2,height/2,Gfx.FONT_SMALL,"Hit Back to Exit",Gfx.TEXT_JUSTIFY_CENTER|Gfx.TEXT_JUSTIFY_VCENTER);
		}
	}
}

class M2WDelegate extends WatchUi.BehaviorDelegate {
    function initialize() {
        BehaviorDelegate.initialize();
    }
      
    function onMenu() {
	   	var myMenu=new WatchUi.Menu2({:title=>"Items"});
		myMenu.addItem(new WatchUi.MenuItem("item 1","","i1",{}));
		myMenu.addItem(new WatchUi.MenuItem("item 2","","i2",{}));	 		
	 	WatchUi.pushView(myMenu, new M2WMenuDelegate(),WatchUi.SLIDE_IMMEDIATE);	    	
    	return true;
    }
}

class M2WMenuDelegate extends WatchUi.Menu2InputDelegate {

    function initialize() {
        Menu2InputDelegate.initialize();
    }
    
  	function onSelect(item) {
  		var id=item.getId();
  		if(id.equals("i1")) {System.println("item 1");}
  		if(id.equals("i2")) {System.println("item 2");}  		 	  	
	}    
}	

If this is your first CIQ widget, another thing to note is in the sim, widgets don't time out, but on watches they do after 30s-2m depending on device.  If you start a widget and don't interact with it, you'll be returned to the watch face after the timeout.

i'am doing exactly the same :-) just for IPTV

jim_m_58 said:

What I do is I have an extra screen at the end telling the user to press back

Sorry, but it boggles my mind that Garmin thinks this kind of thing is a good UX for the users of widgets.

In my case, I had to push a second view (maps), but in most of my widgets, I just use a single view, with a "page number" to display different data.  Single view, no problem.

At the Oct Conference, it was discussed that widgets are going away on CIQ 4.0 devices, and glances would be added to device apps

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/garmin-developer-virtual-conference-2020/

I think it was in the Monkey C presentation in the Connect IQ Track.

Maybe you should just convert your widget to a device app?

jim_m_58 said:

At the Oct Conference, it was discussed that widgets are going away on CIQ 4.0 devices, and glances would be added to device apps

Yeah, I noticed that. That's probably a huge step in the right direction.

The app in question is a stopwatch, and I have it in both Widget and Device App form. The former for convenience (and usage during an activity), and the latter for usage without timeout and with full features (e.g. activity recording.)

The problem is I want to use the Back button to take laps and reset the stopwatch, so I need a different way to exit the "full UI view" of my stopwatch while it's running / not reset. In non-glance mode I have a landing page as my initial view which is fine. But in glance mode my glance view is the landing page and I don't want to have a second landing page just because I'm not allowed to programmatically exit a widget.

Thanks!