Possible to enable the "Toybox::Attention" module with Watch Faces?

Hi.

This is my first post here on this forum :).

I was previosuly developing apps and watch faces for Pebble until their demise...

With Pebble there was possible to vibrate when needed for Watch Faces (for example Hourly). With garmin watches the vibration API is defined within the "Toybox::Attention" module that is not available for Watch Faces.

I really miss the ability to get a short hourly reminder (either by a single vibration or by a single chime).

I understand if this module was enabled also for watch faces then this could sometimes be abused which could result in worse battery life.

As a former app & watch face developer for Pebble devices I really miss this feature...

Hope this would be something to be added at a later date :)

But despite this missing feature I just LOVE developing apps and watch faces for Garmin Watches!! (So much easier to code and design than for Pebble). Great that it is so easy to use custom fonts with just the glyphs you need (e.x.: Use icon fonts like FontAwesome and/or Material Design Icons with just the symbols needed by the app!).

- Alexander_Nilsen

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

It's "all about the battery" with watchfaces. You also can't do things like fire up the GPS, HRM or temperature sensor, or even display seconds all the time (only for 10 seconds after a gesture). And no Comm. And no way to do input (swipes or buttons). But the result is you can easily go days (and in some cases, well over a week) without charging the watch,

One thing that's done if you want to use features not available with watch faces, is to do them as a watch-app instead. Just one that looks like a watch face. But they will burn more battery.

Alexander_Nilsen over 8 years ago

Hi, thanks for the reply!

I now understand (and appreciate) better why some API features are disabled for watch faces. I also now understand that I cannot expect the same kind of API implementations from one SDK for a product to another (.NET vs Java for example...).

I will become more familiar with different kind of "apps", like Apps, Watch Faces, Widgets and Data Fields, down the line :)

- Alexander_Nilsen

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

If you click on my sig, you'll see both "Simple Walk" and "Tempe and Tempe". From the screen shots, they look like watch faces, but in the case of Simple Walk, it's a full blown activity recording app, and with Time and Tempe, it uses the Tempe Sensor to get the temperature as examples.

Alexander_Nilsen over 8 years ago

Hi, and thanks again for a reply! :)

I have now checked out the "Simple Walk" and "Time and Tempe" apps. It has now become a bit clearer what is possible when using the "app"-type VS "watchface"-type.

What I have figured out so far:

Watch Faces only have access to basic API features
Apps have full access to all API features
Design-wise there are no difference
Watch Faces are "none-interactable"
Apps can use buttons and/or touch screen for interaction
Since watch faces cannot be interacted with they need to be user-configured by for example the Garmin Connect app
Apps can be user-configured directly inside itself

Thanks again for helping me!!

- Alexander_Nilsen

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Since watch faces cannot be interacted with they need to be user-configured by for example the Garmin Connect app
Apps can be user-configured directly inside itself

While you can do some of the configuration in a watch-app or widget itself, you likely will still use app settings for a couple reasons. One, the app doesn't have the overhead of of the code to manage the settings (menus, etc), and two, you can have quite a number of settings.

If you look at Simple Walk, there are app settings for the colors of individual items, you can select what you want to see on the bottom line of the main screen, set auto-lap distance, how lat/lon is displayed, etc. Trying to handle that on the watch itself would push me past the max memory (on 1.x devices), but with app settings all I have to to is use the property values.

There of course can be a mix, where you can allow for changing things in the app that would be useful while using the app. In the case of Hike2, I use app settings for most things (you can still change them while the app is running by way of app settings on the phone if you have your phone with you), but there a couple of things you can do without having a phone. For example, I have two color schemes on that one. One with a white background, and one with black, and if you're using the app there are times one or the other might be easier to read, so I allow toggling the scheme right on the watch. Also, I allow switching between recording a walk or a hike right on the watch.

Alexander_Nilsen over 8 years ago

Hello again!

I did not know that app types other than "watchface" could use app settings. But now I do! Thanks!!

- Alexander_Nilsen

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

App-settings can be used in any app type - watch-face, watch-app,widget, or data field.