How about CouchDB

[Helmut Janetzko]

Hi,

is CouchDB Sync still available in Tap Forms Pro?

Helmut

[Brendan]

Hi Helmut,

No, CouchDB is no longer included in Tap Forms Pro. There are a couple reasons for this. First, the version of CouchbaseLite that I was using inside Tap Forms 5 was no longer supported by the company that made it. They wanted everyone to move to a new version which only supported their own back-end sync server software. It no longer supported the standard Apache CouchDB server software, which would also have excluded the IBM Cloudant software. Plus that version of CouchbaseLite was Intel based and I wanted to move to Apple Silicon.

So two years ago I went on a hunt for a different database solution that would still let me sync to other devices. I ended up using Apple’s CoreData database along side a regular SQLite database file. For syncing, I bought a license to Ensembles, which was written by the people that write the Agenda app.

But Tap Forms Pro does offer a WebDAV solution for syncing now. Which means instead of setting up your own CouchDB server you can setup your own WebDAV server an it will sync to that.

So that’s my reasoning for this change.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Helmut Janetzko]

Hi Brendan,

sorry to hear that.
I’m using Apache CouchDB V 3.2.2. on my Silicon Mac and it still works fine.
V 3.4.3 didnt work, so I switched back to V 3.2.2. :-)

The iCloud-Sync was not working as it should, so I choosed CouchDB.
Maybe I will try WebDAV.

Thx

Helmut

[Cornelius Fischer]

Hi Brendan

That’s to bad with CouchDB. I’m using TapForms 5 to organise my business and created a big CRM database which is synced using CouchDB with my team.

Is there a way to use WebDav instead of CouchDB using a NAS system? As I have all my clients contact data stored in my TapForms database, I do not want to use a public cloud system to sync like iCloud or Dropbox.

[Cornelius Fischer]

Hi Brendan

Just read a bit more about WebDav. So the sync – using a Synology NAS server – should be no problem, right?
Do I understand this right, I will have a TapForms Database File like mydatabase.tfpro stored on my NAS and the clients connect with WebDav to the directory on the NAS for the sync?

How about working simultaneously with several clients on the same database? Is this working? Right now with CouchDB several users can edit the same database at the same time. Just with the limitation, that it’s not possible to edit the same field entry. Which is absolutely fine. I just need a sync where e.g. my wife can edit a client entry while I edit for example a job entry within the same database at the same time.

[Brendan]

Hi Cornelius,

No, you won’t store your .tfpro document on your NAS. You will login to your NAS via the Tap Forms Sync Service screen and let Tap Forms write the sync data to the chosen location on your NAS.

Yes, you should be able to collaborate on the same document and sync. WebDAV is a bit of a manual sync though. Although it will upload automatically when a change is made, getting the changes would required you to click the Sync Now button. Or when the document opens it will get the changes made to the server. WebDAV just doesn’t have a notification system to let Tap Forms know when there’s changes on the server. Although when you do make changes and Tap Forms syncs, it should also get the changes made on the server at the same time.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Cornelius Fischer]

Hi Brendan

Thanks for that explanation. To bad you skipped the CouchDB support. This was quite a sweet spot for collaboration with TapForms. Especially with hosting the CouchDB on own local NAS server.

Currently I’m not sure if I will switch to the new TapForms Pro, as the sync with WebDav sounds okay, but not optimal. And using iCloud is currently no option for me, due to privacy concerns.

[Daniel Leu]

I’ve been using WebDav on my NAS (Qnap) without any issues. I would have preferred to have CouchDB support, but at least there’s still a local synchronization option available.

[Author]

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