FitContributor :nativeNum functionality

There are not many posts on the functionality and/or any documentation concerning the FitContributor and :nativeNum.
My goal, I would like to write to the main 'distance' in the fit file, but I cannot. I'm successfully writing to a custom distance field as a workaround.

Is this nativeNum functionality broken in SDK 2.2.4 or am I misinterpreting the nativeNum functionality?

I've tried this as a Fit.MESG_TYPE_RECORD (snip below) and as Fit.MESG_TYPE_SESSION (total_distance :nativeNum=>9)

relevant code snips

// initialization of dist, the id is unique
dist = DataField.createField("distance", 1,Fit.DATA_TYPE_FLOAT,{:nativeNum=>5, :mesgType=>Fit.MESG_TYPE_RECORD, :units=>"m" });

...
//later in code
dist.setData(distance_m); // in meters as a float

FitContributor XML
<fitField id="1"
displayInChart="false"
displayInActivitySummary="false"
sortOrder = "0"
precision="2"
dataLabel="@Strings.distance_label"
unitLabel="@Strings.distance_unitsm" />

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greg.cordier over 1 year ago in reply to flocsy🤠

It is a post ride modification. Power and heart rate take the place of native power and heart rate. Example : Strava displays developer fields when they are supposed to override power bur not heart rate. The app makes it possible to visualize heart rate on Strava's graphs if you download the original .fit file, update it with the given executable, and upload back to Strava (after deleting the original activity)

Alex0007 over 1 year ago

Inability for IQ apps to write into Garmin native fields makes me shift out of Garmin software into side apps like Strava. I just don't understand this decision (obviously it's made to sell more expensive watches, but this approach sucks)

flowstate over 1 year ago in reply to Alex0007

Yeah, unlike a general-purpose smartwatch like Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy, 3rd party Garmin apps are severely restricted, bc like you said, they want you to pay for the extra software features that come with the more expensive watches.

For the specific case of FIT fields, Garmin employees have also said that the main reason 3rd party nativeNum fields won't be recognized by Connect is to avoid user complaints of bad data. I'd also guess another reason is to avoid making it too easy to cheat on things like distance/steps challenges, since Garmin has corporate employee wellness partnerships for that kind of thing.

tate_fischer 7 months ago

So, F3b Software (Brian), I’m about to purchase a Sole F95 elliptical and was curious if this has ever been resolved?

MuzicMan 1 day ago

I am requesting that you do not block distance in Elliptical, Dance, StairStepper, SwimSports, work, any step based distance or non-GPS distance. I would have expected a Garmin Fenix 8 Garmin HRM-Pro Plus chest strap that supports running dynamics would track my steps and floors accurately when using a Stairmaster when using the Garmin native apps.

I have resorted to trying StairStepper+. This too has problems. U understand this is do to Garmin blocking access to data. This is highly unsatisfactory!

The shortcomings on Garmin's part will have strong bearing on my watch selection in the future. I would be inclined to get a Galaxy!

Thank you for the consideration.

Ray Muzic

@AlphaMonkeyC

flowstate 8 hours ago in reply to MuzicMan

MuzicMan said:
I am requesting that you do not block distance in Elliptical, Dance, StairStepper, SwimSports, work, any step based distance or non-GPS distance. I would have expected a Garmin Fenix 8 Garmin HRM-Pro Plus chest strap that supports running dynamics would track my steps and floors accurately when using a Stairmaster when using the Garmin native apps.

If you are referring to the (recently changed?) behaviour where distance/pace from a compatible Garmin chest strap are only used for certain activity types (like running activities), instead of all activities and apps:

I know this won't be what you want to hear, but I think a workaround would be to use distance/pace from a foot pod (like an old discontinued Garmin foot pod or Stryd), although I don't know how accurate those metrics would be for the activities you're talking about.

MuzicMan said:
I would have expected a Garmin Fenix 8 Garmin HRM-Pro Plus chest strap that supports running dynamics would track my steps and floors accurately when using a Stairmaster when using the Garmin native apps.

- While you wear the watch, steps and floors should be tracked by the watch (regardless of whether you use a native Garmin activity, CIQ app, or no activity/app at all).

- While you are not wearing the watch, the HRM-Pro Plus chest strap will track steps (not floors), but you have to pair it with the Connect app on your phone so steps can be synced to your Connect account and back to your watch.

- While you are not wearing the watch and not recording a timed activity, the HRM-Pro Plus chest strap will also track all-day heart rate, intensity minutes, and calories.

Ofc this doesn't guarantee that steps or floors will be tracked *accurately*.

MuzicMan said:
I am requesting that you do not block distance in Elliptical, Dance, StairStepper, SwimSports, work, any step based distance or non-GPS distance.

This part - which is related the actual subject of this thread - has nothing to do with wearing a HRM-Pro Plus chest strap (or foot pod) or using GPS (or not). It also has nothing to do with whether distance is calculated via steps or not.

The subject of this thread is about how OP is an app developer and wants to the distance calculated by his apps to be used as if it was "natively" recorded distance (which, btw, does *not* have to be based on distance - native distance can certainly come from the wrist accelerometer, compatible Garmin chest strap, or footpod).

In other words, the only distance that is "blocked" is distance from Connect IQ apps. Even Garmin's own Connect IQ apps cannot record distance in the same way as a native (built-in) activity.