wff-validator: `Variant` as a child element of `TimeText`

[pacjo]

Hi,
I'm trying to change TimeText color in ambient mode, but I'm running into some issues with validator.

With the following xml everything passes:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<WatchFace width="450" height="450">
    <Metadata key="CLOCK_TYPE" value="DIGITAL" />

    <Scene>
        <Group x="0" y="0" width="450" height="450" name="background">
            <Variant mode="AMBIENT" target="alpha" value="0" />
            <PartAnimatedImage x="0" y="0" width="450" height="450">
                <AnimationController play="ON_VISIBLE" repeat="TRUE" resumePlayBack="TRUE" />
                <AnimatedImage resource="jimball" format="AGIF" />
            </PartAnimatedImage>
        </Group>

        <DigitalClock x="150" y="125" width="150" height="200">
            <!-- two TimeText elements, since a format like `hh\nmm` isn't supported` -->
            <TimeText x="0" y="0" width="150" height="100" format="hh" align="CENTER">
                <Font family="balatro" size="100" color="#FF9800" />
            </TimeText>
            <TimeText x="0" y="100" width="150" height="100" format="mm" align="CENTER" tintColor="#FF9800">
                <Font family="balatro" size="100" />
            </TimeText>
        </DigitalClock>
    </Scene>
</WatchFace>

adding Variant as a child of any TimeText in the following way gives an error:

<TimeText x="0" y="100" width="150" height="100" format="mm" align="CENTER" tintColor="#FF9800">
    <Font family="balatro" size="100" />
    <Variant mode="AMBIENT" target="tintColor" value="#FF000000" />
</TimeText>

INFO: WFF Validation Application Version unspecified. Maximum Supported Format Version #4
SEVERE: [Line 22:Column 80]: cvc-complex-type.2.4.d: Invalid content was found starting with element 'Variant'. No child element is expected at this point.
INFO: ❌  FAILED : /home/kamil/AndroidStudioProjects/WearWatchfaces/wff/jimball/src/main/res/raw/watchface.xml is NOT valid against watch face format version #1

It's worth mentioning that this specific watchface fails to change the color, but a Variant like:

 <Variant mode="AMBIENT" target="alpha" value="0" />

placed in the same TimeText works just fine.

TimeText's Docs specify following allowed inner elements:

Variant
Allows for changing attributes of this element when the Wear OS device is in ambient mode. More information is available in the Variant reference.
BitmapFont
A BitmapFont to use for rendering the time.
Font
A Font to use for rendering the time.

So either I'm misunderstanding something or validator or docs are incorrect. It's quite possible I missed some details so if there's a reason for this behavior I'd be happy to learn it.

[amoledwatchfaces]

Hi @pacjo, did you try placing Variant before Font?

[pacjo]

Hi, I tried and noticed it didn't work, but it does make the validator happy. I also tried modifying Font's color instead of tintColor but it didn't change anything (either as a child of TimeText after Font or as a direct child of Font)

[amoledwatchfaces]

Hi, I tried and noticed it didn't work, but it does make the validator happy. I also tried modifying Font's color instead of tintColor but it didn't change anything (either as a child of TimeText after Font or as a direct child of Font)

That could be DigitalClock specific issue. I may test later.
What you're trying to achieve should be working just fine with PartText. (tested on Wear OS 6).

[pacjo]

Alright, is there any disadvantage to using PartText instead of TimeText?

[amoledwatchfaces]

Alright, is there any disadvantage to using PartText instead of TimeText?

DigitalClock should be more 'battery friendly' in theory. From my testing it does not really matter if you use DigitalClock or PartText. Only difference would probably be in a really simple AOD where only single clock element is used. There, showing simple DigitalClock instead of simple PartText with hh:mm could probably give more battery life. It's just theory.

[pacjo]

Awesome, thanks for the help.

Regarding this issue as a whole, should it be left open?

[pacjo]

Ok, turns out I can't get PartText working on Wear OS 4 too, but it doesn't work on Wear OS 6 as you said. Interestingly the initial code also works just fine on Wear OS 6.

So, working code for future reference:

<TimeText x="0" y="100" width="150" height="100" format="mm" align="CENTER" tintColor="#FF9800">
    <Variant mode="AMBIENT" target="tintColor" value="#AAAAAA" />
    <Font family="balatro" size="100" />
</TimeText>

... and I guess this makes it a bug in DeclarativeRuntime?