Custom data types

  • Develop custom data types to capture unique fitness data specific to your app, ensuring the data type name reflects the data and uses your app's package name as a prefix.

  • Create custom data types in Android using the ConfigClient.createCustomDataType method and in REST by creating a new data source with a unique name and defined fields.

  • Use the ConfigClient.readDataType method in Android or send a GET request to the REST API to access your custom data type for inserting and reading data.

  • Insert custom data by creating a dataset with data points corresponding to your custom data type's fields and specifying the associated data source.

  • Read custom data by specifying the data source linked to your custom data type when retrieving data points from the Google Fit platform.

If your app needs to capture information that isn't already covered by one of the existing data types on the Google Fit platform, you can create a custom data type.

Creating custom data types

Create, or specify, a custom data type to capture custom data. When you create custom data types, make sure:

  • The data type name accurately represents the underlying data.

  • The prefix of the data type name matches your app's package name.

Android

To create a custom data type for the first time, use the ConfigClient.createCustomDataType method:

val request = DataTypeCreateRequest.Builder()
    // The prefix of your data type name must match your app's package name
    .setName("com.packagename.appname.custom_data_type") // Add some custom fields, both int and float
    .addField("field1", Field.FORMAT_INT32)
    .addField("field2", Field.FORMAT_FLOAT)
    // Add some common fields
    .addField(Field.FIELD_ACTIVITY)
    .build()

Fitness.getConfigClient(this, account)
    .createCustomDataType(request)
    .addOnSuccessListener { dataType ->
        // Use this custom data type to insert data into your app.
        Log.d(TAG, "Created data type: ${dataType.name}")
    }

REST

Data types are a property of data sources, in the REST API. To capture custom data, you need to create a data source and then specify the data type:

  1. Call the REST API to create a new data source. For example, FlexibilityMeasure.

  2. Give the data type a unique name, that closely represents the data it's capturing.

  3. Specify the fields of the data type, and their formats.

HTTP method

POST

Request URL

https://www.googleapis.com/fitness/v1/users/me/dataSources

Request body

{
  "dataStreamName": "FlexibilityMeasure",
  "type": "raw",
  "application": {
    "detailsUrl": "http://recoveryapps.com",
    "name": "Stretch Flex",
    "version": "1"
  },
  "dataType": {
    "name": "com.recoveryapps.stretchflex.flexibility",
    "field": [
     {
      "name": "ankle_range_degrees",
      "format": "integer"
     },
     {
      "name": "wrist_range_degrees",
      "format": "integer",
      "optional": true
     }
    ]
   }
}

Response

If your data source was created successfully, you'll get a 200 OK HTTP response status code. The response body contains a JSON representation of the data source, including a datasource.dataStreamId property. Use this ID as the dataSourceId to add data.

Using custom data types

Android

Convert your custom data type's name from a string (com.packagename.appname.custom_data_type) into a DataType object using the ConfigClient.readDataType method. Use the returned object to insert and read custom data.

Fitness.getConfigClient(this, account)
    .readDataType("com.packagename.appname.custom_data_type")
    .addOnSuccessListener { dataType ->
        // Use this custom data type to insert data into your app.
        Log.d(TAG, "Retrieved data type: ${dataType.name}")
    }

REST

To add or read custom data using your custom data types, you need their data sources. To check the data sources of a custom data type, send a GET request to the REST API.

Adding custom data

To insert custom data, create a dataset with new data points. Specify the data source you created for your custom data type. The data points need to have all the correct fields and formats specified in your custom data type.

Reading custom data

To read custom data, specify the data source you created for your custom data type when you retrieve data points from the Google Fit platform.