MUSIC CONTROL - Edge 820

If you want to do the fit recording, it's got to be a device app. A widget could access the data from a native app while the native app is running, but getting to the widget is different than just changing data screens. Why not just do a full screen data field?

To do the music bit, if it could be done would require doing companion app(s) for the phone(s) that interacted with the music player(s)

If you want to do the fit recording, it's got to be a device app. A widget could access the data from a native app while the native app is running, but getting to the widget is different than just changing data screens. Why not just do a full screen data field?

To do the music bit, if it could be done would require doing companion app(s) for the phone(s) that interacted with the music player(s)

Hi Jim, thanks for the feedback! Getting to a Widget is pretty easy on the 820 at least. Swipe down to get the status view, then swipe left/right to see the Widget. I'd start an activity and let that do all the sensor capture and FIT recording. And my Widget would just display computed metrics from the activity counters. What I don't know is if, when I go back to the data field screens, the Widget would continue to run in the background. So when I return to the Widget my local variables are retained. Do you know? (of course you do LOL).

I would prefer a full screen data field IF I can fit all that logic into the limited memory footprint of a data field. I will try that first and see.

My Fenix 5X Plus watch can control Spotify and the native music player on my iPhone without a companion app.... Maybe via Garmin Connect Mobile? So I was hoping there were API calls that provide for this. Sounds like maybe not.

The widget ends when you leave it. Any data it generates or variable state will be lost unless you save it in Application.Storage, and then you want to load it when the widget starts but also make sure it's for the current activity and not a previous one.

I believe with a native widget app it goes through GCM to control the music player on the phone, and I don't believe that interface is published/known and may not even be available in CIQ if it was.

Oh, by the way. With a widget, things are different on Edge devices than others, in that on an Edge, they don't time out. On watches, the timeout might up up to 2 minutes. And not all watches give access to the widget loop while in an activity.

Oh, by the way. With a widget, things are different on Edge devices than others, in that on an Edge, they don't time out. On watches, the timeout might up up to 2 minutes. And not all watches give access to the widget loop while in an activity.

Great insights into how all this works. Thanks again Jim! It does sound like a Widget on the Edge device might just work for me if a Data Field doesn't give me enough memory. Since they don't time out, and I can store/retrieve state locally. I do that in my DataFields already to survive a device reset mid-Activity, which unfortunately happens, thankfully rarely.

Dave...

Just caught up with this discussion and wondering if you ever made any headway on the music control on your Edge 820.

I'm not a coder, but would be happy to contribute to any usable efforts!

I'm in SoCal, and looking for ways to keep the cold weather rides more enjoyable, so better control of my music would be a big plus.

Thanks,

Ken C.