Synchronizing Datafiles via Dropbox

Synchronizing Datafiles
via Dropbox

iData Pro provides two methods for synchronizing datafiles on the Mac with datafiles on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. (To keep things simple, we will just refer to the iPhone below.)

If you need to synchronize when the iPhone is outside the range of the WiFi network, you can subscribe to Dropbox, which is a commercial file storage service. iData Pro can synchronize to datafiles stored in an iData folder in the Dropbox Apps folder. This option is particularly useful when one individual is using iData Pro on the Mac, while another is using iData Mobile Plus on the iPhone, because it requires that actions be taken on both platforms.

NOTE: The old iData Mobile app has been discontinued. It is recommended that users of iData Mobile switch to iData Mobile Plus (which is free). To learn how to convert existing .idm datafiles to .id3 format, click here.

Things to Avoid When Beginning to Use Dropbox with iData Pro

There are a couple of factors that need to be addressed for new users of Dropbox.

1. Dropbox places a Dropbox folder in the Users folder of the Mac. After the first time iData Pro is used to save a new sync file to Dropbox, a iData folder will be added to the Apps folder in the Dropbox folder.

    This Dropbox > Apps > iData folder is a local representation of files that are stored on a Dropbox server. So, if you open a datafile that is in the Dropbox > Apps > iData folder and attempt to sync it through Dropbox, you are essentially synchronizing it to itself.

    In addition, because the Dropbox sync process involves iData Mobile Plus writing its copy of the datafile to Dropbox, there is a danger that the iData Mobile Plus copy will simply replace the iData Pro copy, or vice versa, resulting in the loss of the changes that were made to one datafile or the other.

2. The iData Pro synchronization process relies, in part, on the addition of a Sync ID to a datafile the first time it is written to Dropbox. If you move a datafile directly to the Dropbox > Apps > iData folder, this step will be skipped, and the Synchronize Datafiles... menu item will never become available. So:

    a. Do not set the Dropbox > Apps > iData folder as your regular Datafiles folder. Instead, use something like Documents > iData > iData Pro Datafiles.

    b. Do not drag datafiles to the Dropbox > Apps > iData folder.

    c. When you create a new datafile in iData Pro, do not save it to the Dropbox > Apps > iData folder. Save it to your regular Datafiles folder.

Creating a New Sync File on Dropbox

A datafile that was created on the Mac must first be moved to the iPhone using the Save As New Sync File function.

1. Open the datafile to be synced in iData Pro. If this is a datafile that does not already contain a Sync ID, iData Pro will assume that you want to create a sync file to match it.

NOTE: Memory is extremely limited on the iPhone. We strongly recommend that you do not try to use datafiles any larger than 5 MB in size. If you start to create a sync file that is larger that 5 MB, you will see a warning notice, and will have a chance to cancel the process. Then you can try to reduce the size of the datafile. iData Pro provides a function to split a datafile into two smaller datafiles, but if you are creating datafiles from scratch, you are probably better off just being careful not to exceed this file size.

2. Choose Create A New Sync File... from the File menu, read the text in the dialog sheet that comes up, and click the OK button.

3. Next you will be asked how you want to create the sync file. When the following dialog appears, click the Sync Through Dropbox button. When the following dialog appears, you can enable the Always use this synchronization method checkbox to avoid this dialog in the future. (This option can be changed at any time in the Special tab of the iData Pro Preferences dialog.)

4. At this point, a "Synchronizing" progress sheet will open at the top of the datafile window. When the sheet closes, your datafile will appear in the iData folder within the Apps folder in Dropbox.

NOTE: The first time you do this, the Dropbox sign-in page will open in your Internet browser, and you will be asked to sign in to Dropbox. Then the following dialog will come up:

Click the Allow button and the following dialog will come up:

Click the Allow button in this dialog and iData Pro will come back to the front.

Synchronizing a Pair of Sync Files via Dropbox

When synchronizing a datafile stored on Dropbox, iData Pro and iData Mobile Plus perform different roles. If it is to be successful, careful coordination between the Mac user and the iPhone user is required.

The workflow is as follows:

    1. The iData Mobile Plus user must save the datafile to Dropbox.

    2. The iData Pro user then synchronizes the Mac version of the datafile to the one on Dropbox.

    3. Finally, the iData Mobile Plus user downloads the synchronized version of the datafile from Dropbox.

Here are the steps involved.

    1. If the iData Mobile Plus version of the datafile has been changed since the last sync, save it to Dropbox. See the iData Mobile Plus User Guide for instructions.

    2. Open the Mac version of the datafile in iData Pro.

        Note: If the current (frontmost) datafile does not have a Sync ID, then both the Synchronize Datafiles... and Remove Sync ID... items under the File menu will be disabled.

3. Choose Synchronize Datafiles... from the File menu. When the following dialog appears, click the Sync Through Dropbox button.

4. At this point, a "Downloading" progress sheet will open at the top of the datafile window. The message will briefly change to "Synchronizing". If there are no cases of the same record having been modified in both datafiles, the message will then change to "Uploading". When the sheet closes, the datafile on the Mac and the one in Dropbox will be identical.

See the article on Manual Synchronization to learn how iData Pro allows you to resolve those cases where changes have been made to the same record in both datafiles.

5. Once the synchronization process has been completed, the iData Mobile Plus user must read the modified datafile from Dropbox. See the iData Mobile Plus User Guide for instructions.