Add FIT Files to Dropbox - or fix TCX Files?

Feature Requests
1

Hi,

I’m not sure if it is a bug, or a feature request.

I used the TrainerDay App for some workouts and the sync to Strava works great.
I also connected Dropbox to get the TCX Files in a handy folder to upload them to Garmin Connect … but Garmin Connect refused the TCX Files with an error.

When I download the FIT Format from the website everything uploads fine.

So I’m not sure whats easier :wink:

Cu
Frank

2

Strange. I think Garmin changed their file requirements. We will modify our TCX asap or add fit to Dropbox. Probably the later

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3

No real rush there - I can work it manually at the moment :slight_smile:

I found the TCX files from various sources don’t work (Kinomap is one I remember)

Best
Frank

4

You know what is interesting Frank is that my developer downloaded your TCX and uploaded to his GC account with no problem. He did it from both web and dropbox. He said if you could provide the error it would help

See example below.

image
image1116×960 119 KB

5

@Alex Is there a particular reason why TCX rather than FIT activity files are sent to Dropbox?

I use Dropbox to send activities to Intervals.icu and they have a neat function to extract the workout structure from FIT files to create a workout in Intervals. It needs a FIT files and the workout data (as in structure) is stored in the file.

I’m not sure if this is something you are interested in doing or not, but no harm in asking the question.

6

We did TCX first before fit. We can consider this. David might be faster than us. Ask if he can do interval detection from fit files :slight_smile:

7

Just putting a note here as this is not just our fit files that David would need, he would also need the original planned workout added to the fit file which we currently don’t do.

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8

Fit files for Dropbox would be really cool as importing the .tcx files from trainerday results in a loss of distance in Garmin Connect. There is also a trackpoint entry in the .tcx file with only zeros, which makes no sense and destroys charts/metrics depending on the importing service.

zeroValue

importCompare
importCompare2938×176 24 KB
zeros
zeros1043×1407 71.5 KB

9

Okay i found the last bug in the tcx file preventing garmin connect from having distance, etc. The following needs to be fixed:

  1. Remove the trackpoint entry (last one) with only zeros
  2. Before the <Track> tag is used there must be a <DistanceMeters>x</DistanceMeters> entry which specifies the distance. There also other tags missing btw
  3. By adding TrainerRoads or a Garmin device, such as a watch or edge, as Author/Creator Garmin Connect will also contribute the distance to challenges / badges and maybe also calculate training stress
10

This is the best. We will fix the last right away… I don’t think we want to automatically add TrainerRoad as the device :slight_smile:

Can you send me an example of of your TCX with Garmin info? support@trainerday.com

11

Yeah. I uploaded the original tcx file + a fix for distance and graphs + a garmin spoof (vivoactive as example (UnitID needs to be replaced with a garmin device though)) for badges, etc
Fixes for distance:

  • The last trackpoint entry needs to be removed since it only contains zeros
  • The <DistanceMeters> value can simply be extracted from the last correct trackpoint entry.

I also found following:

  • Garmin also adds a <MaximumSpeed> tag below the <DistanceMeters> e.g: <MaximumSpeed>8.550999641418457. But i think it isnt needed since garmin automatically extracts max speed from the trackpoints
  • <TotalTimeSeconds> is off by 2 seconds (in comparison to trainerday website and the provided trackpoints). Correct would be x - 2 for correct avg calculations by garmin connect
  • Garmin and the Tacx Training app also provide following after the trackpoints:
    <Extensions>
    <ns3:LX>
    <ns3:AvgSpeed>7.612491716368456</ns3:AvgSpeed>
    <ns3:MaxBikeCadence>69</ns3:MaxBikeCadence>
    <ns3:AvgWatts>114</ns3:AvgWatts>
    <ns3:MaxWatts>183</ns3:MaxWatts>
    </ns3:LX>
    </Extensions>
    but i dont think it’s needed
    distance_graph_fix.tcx (594.9 KB) garmin_spoof.tcx (595.3 KB) original.tcx (595.5 KB)
12

I just found another bug in the tcx exports: when doing a workout with multiple intervals the total stats of the workout are only based on the first interval. for example if i had a warmup of 5 minutes, only the stats of this warmup would be represented in the total stats and the remaining intervals wont be included in the total stats (e.g. 50km in total but only the stats of the 2km warmup are given in the total stats (e.g. 5min, 2km, average heart rate, etc))

13

Thanks so much… I don’t think we have changed this in a long time, surprising no one caught it. We will try to fix the main issues here soon. We could probably inject everything but faking the device although in the future we could see if we can read someones device info or add them to add it, and then we could automatically add it possibly. The someone just needs to build a simple process to import from dropbox to Garmin. Cloud based would be nice.

14

Since Garmin doesn’t provide any api the process/program would have to have access to the login information (username/password) to login into garmin connect and upload the activity.
I don’t think a cloud based solution would be good considering that it would need the password in plain text.

Maybe a garmin iq app would be an option which curls done-activities from trainerday and then saves them as regular garmin activities. I haven’t looked into the garmin iq docs though, so i don’t know if activities from iq apps count for badges, etc

15

Yes, other apps do this now but I agree it’s not good and we are not willing to do this, due to both security as well as our reputation. But if someone else did it, I don’t mind telling people it is a solution :slight_smile:

That’s a fun/interesting idea with Garmin IQ. Then you solve what I assume Garmin’s biggest problem is, which is people using their platform without using their hardware or very old expired hardware. I think Garmin needs to approve IQ apps so if you were transparent what it does they might block it. Seem worth researching though.

16

Okay, i just checked. It seems like activities recorded with Connect IQ Apps count towards badges, etc.

I will see if I will find time in my semester break to develop an prototype.
I dont think the approval will be a problem since other apps like Connect IQ Store | Free Watch Faces and Apps | Garmin are getting approved and harm garmin’s revenue (this app in particular enables all activities of high end devices on almost every device (even low end))

17

+1 for .fit to dropbox automation option. I know very little, but I think GPT told me that .fit includes more/better data, or is otherwise superior, in some way?

I’ve been using .fit to analyze segments in other software (which I could do this natively in TD!), but feel free to let me know if .tcx is literally as good or better and GPT got it wrong.

18

Our .fit and .tcx have the same data. Fit can support more data but there is no additional data that we have that tcx does not support.

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19

Ahh, great to know.
Thanks, @Alex!

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