Need some advice for a MultiTimer App

Former Member over 7 years ago

With my old pebble watch I used a MultiTimer app which allowed multiple simple count down timer. I'm really missing this app on my vivoactive hr and haven't found anything like it in the store, so I'm thinking about writing one myself.

One of the most important requirements of this app would be that it is able to be active in the background and generate an alarm when a timer expires. This should be possible regardless of the currently active app, very much like the builtin timer app is working.

Now I need some advice if this is possible at all and how such an app should be set up. From what I've read and tried so far, a app with a background service seems to be a feasible way to do it. One thing that worries my is that the smallest timer interval of a background service is 5 minutes.

So, what would be the best way to make sure to bring the app into the foreground at a set time when a timer expires?

Thanks in advance for any pointers.
Bernd

jim_m_58 over 7 years ago

The only way to do that in CIQ is to use requestApplicationWake in a background process. Set the timer, exit the main app, and when the timer expires, the background process runs. It will display a message asking if you want to start the main app, and on some devices vibrate or beep. There are cases when the running of the background could be delayed due to available resources.

Former Member over 7 years ago

Does the 5 minute limitation apply to this?

Does that mean that I would get a dialog which asks the user if he wants to start the app and then the app could show the expired timer and vibrate?

For me the vivoactive hr would be the main target.

jim_m_58 over 7 years ago

A min of 5 minutes, but you could set the time for a temporal event to anything over that.

Former Member over 7 years ago

Ok. That 5 minute restriction might not be such a problem. For short timer intervals, the app would have to stay in the foreground and otherwise it could be started by the background service.

Do you know if it would be possible on the vivoactive hr to start the app directly from the background service to show the expired timer and vibrate or would there be a dialog and the user would have to confirm to start the app?

asandweech over 7 years ago

Do you know if it would be possible on the vivoactive hr to start the app directly from the background service to show the expired timer and vibrate or would there be a dialog and the user would have to confirm to start the app?

On all watches that support backgrounding there is a native prompt/dialog and the user would have to confirm in order to start the app.

Former Member over 7 years ago

Thanks for the info. This would make a timer app quite pointless.