Display alert and temporary notification banner

1) DataField.showAlert() — displays a full-screen alert — the dev is responsible for rendering the view. 

Notes:

- See also:

https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/core-topics/native-controls/#alerts (scroll to Alerts)

https://developer.garmin.com/connect-iq/user-experience-guidelines/data-fields/#alerts (scroll to Alerts)

- there have been a few bugs reported with this feature — not sure which ones have been fixed. This one is worth noting — there’s an undocumented exception that’s thrown if you call showAlert when the current CIQ data field is already showing an alert or settings:

https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/i/bug-reports/exception-thrown-by-datafield-showalert-when-settings-alert-already-displayed-not-documented

So you have to be sure to catch exceptions if you’re going to call showAlert()

- the alert can either be dismissed manually by the user, or it will time out automatically (just like a standard alert)

- users have to manually opt in to alerts for your app in the activity settings.

- requires the DataFieldAlert permission in the app manifest

2) WatchUi.showToast() — displays a toast-style notification — on my fr955, this is a black overlay in the top 1/3rd of the screen 

- dev provides mandatory text and optional icon (if no icon is provided, the app launcher icon will be used)

- user can manually dismiss toast, or it will time out automatically

Simone85 said:

Most important: my DataField is going to take just one block of space (the smallest one available in the available layouts) and I would like to understand if a DataField can show alert/banner/messages outside its space. 

Yes (using an alert or toast). A CIQ datafield doesn’t even have to be visible to trigger an alert or toast, as described above.