I still haven’t finished getting syncing working with the entire PARP:PS database. The testing and troubleshooting phase of this is taking longer than I thought. But since I have worked out the basics, I decided to upload a demo file that explains the technique.

Sync_Trenches.zip

This file contains only a Trench table, not the full suite of tables used in the field. But by doing so, I was able to cut everything down to the basics to explain the parts of the database that are necessary for creating the audit trail and for syncing. In order to get everything to work there is a new table, changes to two fields, and the addition of a few fields. This file also uses Script Triggers and Conditional formatting to help create the audit trail and resolve sync issues.

There is a readme in the file. That text is reproduced below.

Special thanks to Chris Motz at Tufts for helping me with the scripting.

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The good news is that I have syncing working with FileMaker. Creating a syncing strategy turned out to be a bit trickier than I thought. Most of the difficulty involved the overall workflow if the data and the iPads. For instance: we will have two iPads per trench this year and I needed to work with the trench supervisors to figure out just how they intended to use the two together. Since we will have four trenches open this year, I needed to know if I was going to have to sync eight iPads or just four, or if the two for each trench had to be in sync with each other. I think we have worked out a strategy for the two iPad use, but I will write about that separately. Right now I want to write about the rationale behind the syncing strategy that I chose and how this was implemented. The files will be uploaded soon. Read the rest of this entry »

You can download the latest version of the PARP:PS database structure here.

I finally got around to altering the PARP:PS database to run on FileMaker Go almost as it ran on FMTouch. I added the iPad layouts to the main database and altered the opening script so that it now determines which type of device it is opening upon. If it is an iOS device, it opens to the iPad layout. If a desktop machine, it opens to the normal layout. I also had to add an extended privilege to the document so that leaving the FileMaker Go software doesn’t close out the database and force you to re-enter your password when you need to open it again. Read the rest of this entry »