Get Data to Complication: ExtensionDelegate not Called

Question

(It looks like this issue has been encountered by others in previous weeks, but there haven't been any solutions that I've found.)

I'm trying to do a really basic thing: Get data from either my iOS app or my Watch app to my Complication Controller.

I am turning out to be way less capable of getting this done than I thought. watchOS 2 Transition Guide indicates that I should "[fetch] the needed data from the extension delegate" using the following code:

ExtensionDelegate* myDelegate = [[WKExtension sharedExtension] delegate];  
NSDictionary* data = [myDelegate.myComplicationData objectForKey:ComplicationCurrentEntry];

Great. Except, I haven't been able to figure out how to get this to work on the extension side. Though even more importantly, I can't seem to even get the extension delegate code to run at all from a complication controller launch. When I run the complication, I get this message: "Extension received request to wake up for complication support." However, none of the code within any of the extension delegate's methods seems to run. I've also set breakpoints within every method and none of those breakpoints are hit.

It also looks like "transferCurrentComplicationUserInfo:" is also suggested to be used for complication updates, though it's unclear precisely how it's used. As much as I've gathered, it's used to wake up the watch extension so that ExtensionDelegate can store the new data for the next time the complication controller runs, but due to the previous issue I haven't been able to confirm.

I've got one maybe workaround (pinging the server from the complication controller and hoping that session variables persist so I can send relevant data), but there's every chance that if I can't get this worked out my complication work will be hosed. Any help here would be tremendous.

By the way, here's the code I have for "getCurrentTimelineEntryForComplication", if that's helpful at all.

- (void)getCurrentTimelineEntryForComplication:(CLKComplication *)complication withHandler:(void(^)(CLKComplicationTimelineEntry * __nullable))handler {  
    NSDate* entryDate = [NSDate date];  

    ExtensionDelegate* myDelegate = [[WKExtension sharedExtension] delegate];  
    NSString* data = [myDelegate.complicationData objectForKey:@"meow"];  
    NSLog(@"complication data: %@", data);  

    CLKComplicationTimelineEntry* entry = [self getTimelineEntry:@"2015-08-25 00:19:42" entryDate:entryDate complication:complication];  

    handler(entry);  
}

Answer 1

I've been working with Complications in WatchOS2 since Xcode 7 Beta 4. I'm now on the latest, Xcode Beta 6. I've had a number of issues as in both Beta versions running on the Watch, running on the iPhone then installing to the Watch, and running on the simulator frequently give false negatives due to what appears to be buggy APIs and OS releases. I have been able to get data to show on complications in the following way.

• Ensure that your primary Interface Controller implements the WCSessionDelegate protocol.
• Implement both the didReceiveMessage and didReceiveApplicationContext methods in your Interface Controller.
• In your iPhone app, attempt to send a message using the WCSession to the Watch.
• If the message fails to send from the iPhone app, send the application context.
• Back in the Interface Controller, when you receive a message -or- a context, update the values in your Extension Delegate.
• Still in the Interface Controller and still after receiving a message -or- context, get a handle to the CLKComplicationServer and for each complication in activeComplications call reloadTimelineForComplication.
• In your Complication Controller's getCurrentTimelineEntryForComplication grab the data you set in the Extension Delegate and set the values in your CLKComplicationTimelineEntry.
• This will work usually when the App is already open on the Watch, the app is still resident in memory, but backgrounded on the Watch, or you start the app and their is context waiting which it consumes.
• I have not been able to get the historical timeline entries to function (or the future ones). Nor, I have I been able to get the timeline to update independently of the Watch app.

If you are having trouble, here are some debugging things to try. As I stated above, the API and OS appears to be very buggy. The steps below do work (sometimes).

• In the sim, use the Reset all Settings option on both the iPhone and Watch sim.
• On the device, restart the Watch. If necessary, unpair and repair the Watch, although this takes a really long time to do.
• On the iPhone, delete the app (which will also delete the Watch app if installed) and reinstall.

I hope that helps!

Justin