Tapforms is quite broken.

[Joel Blackwell]

So after adding in products for a new business, Tapforms decided to sync with iCloud. When I looked on iOS, I noticed a number of areas had been erased. I was about to post here about things not appearing on iOS (like calulations), when I noticed on my Mac the number forms for some products had been erased.

There’s a lot to like about Tapforms, but it’s so unreliable I’m just going to look elsewhere. If you do anything with Tapforms, please increase its stability so people can rely on it.

[Brendan]

Hi Joel,

I’m sorry for the trouble you’ve had.

When you say “Tap Forms decided to sync with iCloud”, do you mean it did that without you enabling iCloud sync?

Have you tried one of the other sync services to see if that works better for you?

Thanks,

Brendan

[Joel Blackwell]

Sorry, what I mean is this happened after being connected to iCloud for a while (a week or so). I’m not sure the sync to the cloud from my Mac was the cause – possibly after I opened Tapforms on iOS.

iCloud has been the most robust up until this point.

[Karen]

Hi Joel, I’ve used Tap Forms for some time now and have built quite an extensive Db for our Bakery Business, including inventory, purchases, hours worked, recipes, and so forth. We use Tap Forms on both the Mac and iPad every day … and it works great. I also have Dbs for Website Design and graphics collections.

Based on my own experiences, I don’t believe the issue you’re having is necessarily a Tap Forms issue but more an iCloud issue, (syncing) — even though iCloud performs well for the most part.

Initially, I also synced w/iCloud and at times had (hair-raising) issues such as you’re having. I’ve been using the ApacheCouchDb app (free) for while now and it has been working GREAT!

In TF preferences I have it set to do x # of backups and as an added measure, because I’m overly paranoid about losing anything that I’ve worked so hard on (no matter which app), … I manually create a backup copy of my databases and use Backblaze for my entire computer (vs. Time Machine).

Granted, initially I needed some assistance setting it up … it can seem rather intimidating (depending upon your level of ability/expertise) – but Brendan was very helpful and I’ve had zero issues with it (at times you just need to remember to ‘reopen’ the app whenever you’ve done (OS) updates and sometimes after restarts).

Good luck!!
Karen

[Joel Blackwell]

Thanks Karen! I appreciate the honest detailing of how things have worked for you! I’ll have a look into the database you mentioned. Just because of time available I’ve had to move what I’m doing to another system, but I’ll check it out down the track. It is interesting to hear you have something working that’s solid… I’ve only had nightmare syncing scenarios with Tapforms.

In my opinion, syncing system so should be tested so they’re as close to bulletproof as possible. I have other apps that work via iCloud (database style ones) that somehow manage to work okay without exploding. But, if because of the way Tapforms works means it can’t do that, iCloud should just be removed. That’s my two cents, anyway.

A broken option shouldn’t be an option.

[Karen]

You’re welcome Joel! Over the years I’ve used a few Db apps and in my humble opinion, have found this one to be the best one. Now, with that said … iCloud sync can be tricky and sometimes you have to go thru steps to fix sync issues. But, iCloud has also done some funky things on my Mac OS, e.g. removed Thumbnail images (of some image files), completely removed the folder ‘branding’ (of many of my graphics collections folders — which I am now putting them up into a TF Db that I just put together…), but true, iCloud is generally very reliable.

I do understand where you’re coming from, especially when you’re trying to get something done when you don’t really have a lot of time to do it and it can be very frustrating.

…. What I’ve found with Tap Forms is a very engaged developer (Brendan) who really takes great pride in his work, is very proactive, and has been extremely helpful whenever I’ve needed help, have questions, etc. Now, if only I could figure out scripting/JavaScript (but that’s on me :-)

Good luck and I encourage you to try working with the app again in the future and remember to ask for help if you need it! Karen

[Eddzo]

Hi Karen,

I’m trying to setup CouchDB on Amazon Web service.
I used Bitnami to set it all up.
It set it all up but I cant seem to be able to log in.
I set the incoming port to (Http) and (80)

Did you have any issues setting it up?
I cant seem to figure this out.

Tapforms says to setup port 5984, but there’s no instructions on how to do that?
Any ideas?

[Brendan]

Hi Eddzo,

I’m not sure how AWS handles port mapping or even opening up different ports in their firewall. Have you tried just appending :5984 to the IP address you have?

Thanks,

Brendan

[Joel Blackwell]

Just on the topic, I’ve set up a Cloudant account and this seems to be working well so far.

Is Cloudant comparable to CouchDB? I got the impression it was…

[Brendan]

Hi Joel,

Yes, Cloudant is mostly just Apache CouchDB but running on IBM’s servers, with some of their own changes. But they’ve made it so that it’s fairly easy to get setup with it right out of the box so to speak. Ya, it’s not Apple easy, but it’s not as complex to setup as CouchDB is.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Joel Blackwell]

Thanks Brendan… I appreciate the confirmation on that!

[Joel Blackwell]

Okay, I tried to use Tapforms. Syncing was a lot beter, but then when viewing the multi column split view, half of my product names disappeared. Confused, I started to add them back in. But then, I noticed in the other views the names were still there.

It turns out, at some point, Tapforms thought it’d be a good idea to show some of them as white, even though there’s no setting enabled to make that happen. And, now I can’t fix the problem (I’ve tried) except put all of the names back in again.

Sorry, there’s just too many bugs. I’m going to bang on that stability drum again… and I realise an app like Tapforms has a lot going on. But it’s just unstable as far as apps go. Too unstable for any serious work in my mind.

[Joel Blackwell]

I’ve come back to say – I was wrong. I imported my data into another application and found the same thing was happening there. Turns out, the names of a few of my products were on a second line. So, in each case, the blank first line was being displayed!

Fooled by a low-key problem… oh wells.

[Brendan]

Hi Joe,

No worries. It happens. I’m glad it wasn’t a Tap Forms bug. :)

Thanks!

Brendan

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