Tag Archives: watch

WKInterfacePicker Attributes Illustrated

The WatchKit Framework’s WKInterfacePicker has some level of customization in Interface Builder.

As of this time of writing, there are 4 main attributes to configure:

Style
Focus
Indicator
Enabled

Style is the most important attribute since it heavily influences the type of Picker. The options for Style are List, Stack, and Sequence. List is the standard iOS-style 3d list of text. Stack allows you to flip through images as if it were a deck of cards. Sequence lets you move between images without any intermediate transition effect. For a good look, I’d recommend Big Nerd Ranch’s blog post.

Focus presents an outline around the currently focused/selected Picker. This is helpful if you have multiple WatchKit pickers or multiple elements for selection (think “Customize” for your watch face). The options are None, Outline, and Outline with Caption. The last option, “Outline with Caption”, comes into effect if your Style is Stack (or possibly Sequence), see an example here.

Plain, without focus

Left picker is focused

Indicator has two options: Disabled or Shown While Focused. The documentation wasn’t very clear: “A value indicating whether the picker uses an indicator to convey context about the number of picker items and which item is selected.” As far as I can tell, Disabled means the standard look, and the “Shown While Focused” adds a scroll bar helper on the right side of the watch.

Indicator – Shown While Focused

Enabled is a helpful option that is either on or off. Enabling it or not doesn’t affect the view. When the picker is enabled, it allows the user to use the picker. This attribute can be set or unset programmatically with -setEnabled.

Hopefully this quick explanation of the different WKInterfacePicker attributes helps you out. The digital crown (AKA dial) & the WKInterfacePicker provides an extremely powerful, convenient input method for your watch app users.

Logging during development with Apple Watch hardware

Inserting breakpoints or logging statements (such as NSLog) is relatively straightforward with an iPhone-only iOS app. But how do you log from the WatchKit Extension (aka Watch app)?

The good news is that logging isn’t filled with many complicated steps. The bad news is that the logging works intermittently.

Add your NSLog statements in your WatchKit Extension. This is probably your InterfaceController.m
Run the watch app on iOS Device + watchOS Device (in the WatchKit App scheme)
Select Debug > Attach to Process > (click on your watch app name)
Profit! You should see your NSLogs when they are triggered in the app lifecycle in Xcode

debug

If logging isn’t working, try typical Xcode debug steps such as:

deleting the app on your phone & re-running it in Xcode
restarting the phone and/or watch devices
clean Xcode (cmd + shift + k) and re-run the app
quit & restart Xcode

Setup Apple Watch for Development Guide

While working in Xcode and running my watch app on my actual hardware watch for the first time, I ran into this error on my watch the first time: “Failed to install [app], error: Application Verification Failed.” This stack overflow answer provides the solution, but I wanted help illustrate the steps I took to fix the error. Disclaimer: this worked for me, but there are probably more optimal ways of fixing the error.

In Xcode, get the UDID of your Apple Watch (WIndow > Devices). The UDID is labeled “Identifier” and you can double click on the Identifier device hash to select & copy it.
Visit the Apple Developer Portal at https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/index.action and click on “Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles” in the right sidebar.
Click on Devices > All in the left sidebar.
Click on the Plus Sign (+) in the top right.
In Register Device, provide a Name (whatever you want) and your watch UDID (from step 1 above).
Submit the form to register your watch device.
In “Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles”, locate your .watchkitextension Provisioning Profile for your app. Select & download this profile.
Locate your downloaded profile file on your computer & double click the Provisioning Profile.
Restart Xcode.
Build your project and you will encounter a iOS Development Certificate alert.
Warning, this step may be dangerous (proceed at your own risk). This worked for me. Click on “Revoke and Request”. This will revoke your current certificate and request a new one. You will probably get an email notifying you that “Your Certificate Has Been Revoked”.
Run your Xcode project. Your watch app should now load the development build on your actual watch hardware.