New Feature: BLE sensor about gpslogger

[GrazianoCapelli]

There are lots of cool features that could be implemented on the app, but our intent is to keep the app simple and basic.

Do One Thing and Do It Well

I think the proposed feature must be evaluated, thought and planned very well, in order to avoid intrusive and bloating functions.

It isn't a small feature to implement: it needs a lot of code (implementation of tcx format in Exporter and Settings, BLE routines, DB modification, User Interface relayouts, and so on).

I think we need some ideas about the User Interface implementation and a code proposal:

• Here is a good place for some graphic mockups;
• A fork could be a good start point to begin an implementation proposal;

[gion86]

Hello Graziano and thanks for the answer.

You are right it's not a trivial task. I've started an app on my own to see if I could to any point, but than I found your app which I think is very well made, and I thought I could implement what I need in your app (of course in a fork with pull request eventually).
My application is here if you want to have a look:

https://github.com/gion86/BikeTrack

It's very simple and "just started' but it can:

• read the GPS with a foreground service
• scan for BLE devices
• read the heart rate from my sensor (tested!!)
• export a simple track to TCX format (I've found the TCX exporter code in the Google MyTracks app..)

So, I might try to "move" these features in your app.
In any case I'm not an expert Android programmer so this is going to take time...
Regarding the UI mockups, I have attached some screenshots... really basic stuff but just to give an idea :)
Let me know what you think!

[JLJu]

Intriguing,
"read the heart rate from my sensor (tested!!)"
Is it possible to see the sensor schematics? How can be replicated?
That info is useful for application testing.

[gion86]

I am using a "commercial" sensor:

https://hmm.info/products/smartlab-hrm-w-heart-rate-monitor-with-ant-bluetooth/

So I think we will never find the schematics..... But I guarantee that works with my application (and many others...)

[GrazianoCapelli]

@gion86
unfortunately the link to your repository is broken (a 404 is returned), no way to explore your code.

Like I said, the inclusion of the proposed feature must be first evaluated.
To evaluate the inclusion, I think we need some ideas about the User Interface implementation and a code proposal:

• A fork could be a good start point to begin an implementation proposal. Regardless of the inclusion of the feature in GPSLogger, you can fork the repo anytime and start to try the implementation. It is free software :)
• Here is a good place for some graphic mockups of the implementation of the BLE functions on the user interface of GPSLogger. But the forked repo is a good place too.

[gion86]

OK, sorry for the link, this is the correct one:
https://github.com/gion86/BikeTrack

I will try to fork and implement this feature, but it's going to take some time.

Anyway now I have upgraded my phone (Huawei P10 LIte) to Android 8.0.0, and I'm having many problems with "always on" applications.. They don't stay "active".
Even GPSLogger seems to just stop logging after an amount of time.
If I have time I could try to open a new issue and debug it, but I think from what I read on the Internet, that this a really common Android problem, and there is nothing to do at application level. Am I right?

[GrazianoCapelli]

Anyway now I have upgraded my phone (Huawei P10 LIte) to Android 8.0.0, and I'm having many problems with "always on" applications.. They don't stay "active".
Even GPSLogger seems to just stop logging after an amount of time.
If I have time I could try to open a new issue and debug it, but I think from what I read on the Internet, that this a really common Android problem, and there is nothing to do at application level. Am I right?

@gion86 yes, a new issue will be perfect.

We already have a couple of feedbacks about this behaviour, thus we already started to look around in order to fix the problem in the next app update.

[tomlayg6]

Rather than incorporate the BLE sensor code into GPS tracker, why not add a way to co-operate with an external app?