Best MANUAL Sync Method for TF5???

[Tyson Schoeber]

I am one of those people who could never get the old sync function to work for long with the previous version of TapForms. That said, I was able to keep my Macs at home and school in sync using the old Backup and Restore functions and a folder on Dropbox. I started each session with the RESTORE command and ended each session with a new BACKUP.

With TF5, I have not found time to figure out the new Cloudant system but the Restore function has been removed from the new version! So my question is: “What is the BEST way to manually keep two Mac versions of TapForms 5 in sync?” Any suggestions?

[Brendan]

Hi Tyson,

Well in version 5 restoring is just a matter of double-clicking on the .zip file in the Finder. However, in a forthcoming update, I’ve put the Restore command back, but really all it does is unzips the backup file you select.

So if you want to continue that way you can.

Tap Forms databases are now just documents. Think of them like a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet file. How would you manage having those types of files on multiple devices? Do the same with Tap Forms documents.

[Brendan]

It’s really quite simple to get Cloudant working though.

This video shows you how in just a few minutes:

[Tyson Schoeber]

Hi Brendan! The manual sync method worked well when the old Dropbox and iCloud sync kept failing. I certainly plan to try the new sync system but these major changes took place right at the start of a new teaching year for me — and I just don’t have time to dedicate to figuring it out right now.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, TapForms is now central to the running of my special education classroom. I’ve tried lots of other programs but have never found anything that worked even half as well for my purposes. So, thank you again — and keep up the good work!

[Tyson Schoeber]

Hi Brenden,

One sentence you wrote got me thinking: “Tap Forms databases are now just documents. Think of them like a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet file. How would you manage having those types of files on multiple devices? Do the same with Tap Forms documents.”

If the new databases are “just documents,” then why does Tap Forms bury them deep in nested folders on the hard drive? Using the Locate in Finder button on the Open Documents window, I found my databases stored at:

/Hard Drive/Users/tyson/Library/Containers/com.tapzapp.tapforms-mac/Data/Documents

Whew! Maybe it would be better (for most users, anyway) if Tap Forms stored these documents in an easy-to-access location (i.e. such as the Finder’s DOCUMENTS folder)?

That would make file-management simpler!

[Michael Grusby]

+1 !

[Brendan]

It has to do with permissions for sandboxed apps. That’s the folder that Tap Forms has access to write its files to. Although I haven’t had time to investigate it, I may be able to add a preference to let you tell Tap Forms to look in a different folder by default for all your documents. But you can just store your documents anywhere you like and double-click on them in the Finder to open them up.

[Tyson Schoeber]

Most programs seem to have a default location for saving documents yet still provide an easy way to customize that choice. Apple may want Tap Forms to save internal files in places like:

/Hard Drive/Users/tyson/Library/Containers/com.tapzapp.tapforms-mac/Data/Documents

but I think most of us would much rather save to the Desktop or the regular Documents folder. Could you add an option to the install process that says something like:

“Tap Forms databases are just documents. Think of them like a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet file. Where would you like Tap Forms to save your data?“

Hope that helps!

[ArsAstronautica]

Tyson,

Two thoughts:

1) I have yet to step up to claudant, so I am currently manually syncing several Macs and my iPhone & iPad. I do this with the built in “Sync with Nearby Devices”. It works very well and would seem to be an easier method than exporting and re-importing on the other device. It also works both ways. Just have the DB open on both (or all in my case) and initiate the sync from one device. It will then propagate the changes across all the open devices. Not hard really.

2) If you are brave, and know the command line, you could make a link from where TF places its files and your Drop Box folder. It make take a bit of fiddling, but I bet you could get it to sync with Drop Box.

[Tyson Schoeber]

Thank you for the suggestions! I tried to “Sync with Nearby Devices” between the two Macs in my house several weeks ago (5.01?) and it did not work. Perhaps it was meant mainly for the Mac to/from iOS device situation. Then again, maybe it was just a bug in that early version of the TF5 that prevented the sync from succeeding. Yet my primary need is to reliably shuttle my database between the Mac in my home office and the school where I teach, so that feature won’t really help all that much.

As for your second suggestion, it sounds like that would work but I do not know the command line way to do that. Any suggestions? Your idea gets me thinking that there might also be a way to use Automator to perform most of the work of a manual sync, too.

[Tyson Schoeber]

My Mac just updated to Tap Forms 5.07 and, while the Restore function now appears to be there, it is greyed out and I have not yet found a way to make it work.

[Brendan]

Hi Tyson,

Click on the main Database Documents window and then the Restore button will be active. Tap Forms will only restore if the file is not in the list of Database Documents there that you’re trying to restore. In reality all it’s doing is unzipping your backup file and putting it into the list of Database Documents. It won’t overwrite an existing file.

[Tyson Schoeber]

Thank you for the tip, Brenden! I followed your directions and, while I can now see how the restore function was intended to work, I think this part of TF5 still needs some work.

From the Database Documents window, the Restore command is black but the Backup command is grey (unavailable). Inside a document, it is the other way around. That makes little sense to me, logically speaking!!! If you have to be OUTSIDE of a document to Restore a file, then you should also have to be outside a document to back it up, too. Alternatively, if you can back up a file inside a document, then you should also be able to restore it there.

Perhaps a better approach would be to make BOTH commands context-sensitive. If the user was inside a database, those commands would work with the current file. Overwriting of the existing data during a restore would be possible in this case. If, on the other hand, the user was at the Database Documents window, then the backup and restore commands would both work on ANY document in the list. Overwriting of data there would not occur.

To me, that seems to me to be a MUCH better way of handling the whole issue. It would also likely solve the vast majority of the backup/restore problems for those who haven’t set up (or don’t want to use) the Cloudant sync service.

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