2 Mar 2015
Tutorial – Remotely Sync HanDBase Database for Android with Desktop PC via Cloud. Using Dropbox or Google Drive
Activate Remote, Automatic Syncing On Demand
With all of the setup now complete you can enable Remote and Automatic syncing of the databases on your Android device with your desktop or laptop computer whenever you like. This is especially useful if you have someone at your computer also entering or editing records. If you are doing that, just make sure that the person on the computer has Saved and Exited the database on the computer before you synchronize. You could even enhance the AutoHotKey scripts to perform other actions, eg calling the HanDBase Desktop from a command line to automatically import data before the sync happens, or at a certain time of day. If you have the Professional or Enterprise Add-ons you could also use the command line options of Data Exchange or Sync Exchange to first synchronize with MS Access or your ODBC database before the Conduit portion runs.
When you are ready to synchronize remotely all you will need to do is first Sync your Android using FolderSync. Then you will need to upload the RemoteHDBSync.ahk file back to Dropbox or Google Drive. You will do this using the Dropbox or Google Drive app on your Android device, not using FolderSync. Upload it like you would any other file to your Cloud storage. Because the RemoteAction.ahk script is on a 5 minute loop you will need to wait at least 5 minutes after uploading the RemoteHDBSync.ahk script file to make sure that it makes it to your Desktop so that the RemoteAction.ahk script running there can call it. After waiting you can verify that it ran by opening Dropbox or Google Drive on your Android device and making sure that the RemoteHDBSync.ahk file has been moved to the remoteAction_ran folder and been renamed with the Date and Time of the Sync. Once that is verified you will need to Sync your Android device using FolderSync again, to make sure any changes made on the Computer make it back to your device.
WARNING: During this process DO NOT open HanDBase on your Android device to edit your databases or you may encounter data loss.
DISCLAIMER: This sync method solution is not endorsed by DDH Software or any of it’s employees. This Tutorial has been written by a Former employee of DDH Software who is now just a Fan of HanDBase. If you decide to proceed with setting up and implementing this solution you do so at your own risk. It is recommended that you backup your databases prior to syncing until you are sure it is functioning as described and desired. Please DO NOT contact DDH Software support to resolve any issues arising from use of this solution. The support staff at DDH Software will not be able to help you with any problems you encounter. You can post questions or comments to the DDH Software Forum thread that this Tutorial was originally posted in but please don’t ask DDH Software employees to help with setup or to solve any problems that might arise from use of this solution.
Posted by LordDewi on 02.03.15 at 3:17 am
After completing this Tutorial I decided to take it a little further. I saw some posts on the DDH Software forum from users who couldn’t or didn’t want to use Cloud Storage. Since FolderSync supports FTP also, I started to set up this type of sync also. I’m in the testing phase for this and I will be posting another tutorial specific to FTP syncing since there are some things that are more specific to this. I’ll also include instructions on setting up your own FTP server.
In addition, I figured out a way to use AutoHotKey to automatically select the user in the HanDBase Conduit, rather than requiring it be the first user in the list. This should also allow remote syncing for multiple users to the same computer.