When you install HanDBase Plus, HanDBase Professional or HanDBase Enterprise
to a desktop computer, the default installation location is C:\Program Files\HanDBase4. If you specifically chose to install HanDBase to a
different location, you will need to substitute that location as your install
location when referring to the rest of the information in this article. That
is, if you chose to install to C:\HanDBase4 instead of C:\Program Files\HanDBase4 then you will want to refer to that location when looking for
the files.
We recommend you install to the default folder. If you have issues where you need to contact Support it will be easier to assist you if the files are in the default location.
When you set up a partnership in Microsoft ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC), Vista and Windows 7 users, between the desktop computer and a handheld, that
particular handheld is assigned a partnership name on that desktop PC. By
default, the partnership name for a handheld is simply Pocket
PC or Pocket_PC and for a Standard/Smartphone device is Smartphone. However, you have the option of
changing the partnership name to something unique, like your own name. When your
handheld is connected to your desktop computer, open the Microsoft ActiveSync
window to see the partnership name for your device. This is normally listed in
large grey letters just above the word connected in the
ActiveSync window. The rest of this article uses the partnership name of
Pocket PC in the examples. If you have a different partnership
name for your device, keep in mind that you will see that name instead of
Pocket PC.
When you choose the option to synchronize Files in Microsoft ActiveSync or WMDC, a folder is created on your desktop PC that is essentially
a mirror image of the files on your handheld device in the My Documents folder. This is called the Briefcase, and this is normally found in the
My Documents folder on your desktop computer. Open the
My Documents folder on your desktop computer, and you will see
a folder that has a name like Pocket PC_My Documents. That is
the Briefcase, and under normal circumstances, that will be an exact
duplicate of the files that are in the My Documents folder on
your handheld. This is a special folder that MS ActiveSync essentially retains
all control over.
Because this folder is a duplicate of the My Documents folder on your device there will be a copy of the HanDBase folder and all of your databases and forms files there as well. In most circumstances, you will want to ignore the HanDBase database files that are found in the Briefcase and just consider them an extra backup.
When you first use
HanDBase on the handheld, a folder called HanDBase will be created in the My Documents
folder on the device. When you create a HanDBase database on the handheld or install a database from the desktop, the database will be saved
automatically to the folder called HanDBase inside My Documents.
If you create a custom form for a database using HanDBase Forms Designer, the
custom form will also go into that same HanDBase folder.
Custom form files have the same name as the database file, but have
_HDF in the file's name.
Please note that at this time, if you create custom forms in the Desktop Forms Designer you will need to have the ActiveSync or WMDC Files Conduit enabled in order to install those files automatically when you save changes. If you don't want to have the Files conduit enabled you will need to manually copy the forms file to the HanDBase folder in the My Documents folder on your device.
When you see the databases in the HanDBase folder on the
handheld, you will also notice that when the handheld is connected to the
desktop computer, you will see those same files in the HanDBase folder in the Briefcase. In most circumstances, you will want to ignore the
HanDBase database files that are found in the Briefcase.
When you synchronize the handheld using the HanDBase Conduit, a copy of each
database file is kept in a folder outside of the Briefcase. This is
done for a few reasons, but mainly because ActiveSync itself keeps very strict
control over the files in the Briefcase.
The HanDBase Conduit maintains a copy of the database file in a separate
location. With the current version of the software this location is in a HanDBase folder within your Documents
(Vista and Windows 7) or My Documents (older versions of Windows) folder. In that HanDBase folder you'll find a WindowsMobile
folder. Within that you'll find a folder with the name of your device partnership, or WindowsMobile### if ActiveSync or WMDC didn't
properly assign the name in the Registry. You should therefore be able to find these files somewhere like ..\My Documents\HanDBase\WindowsMobile\PocketPC\
If you aren't using the most current version of the software then this location will be different. To find this location:
Find the folder on your desktop PC where you installed your HanDBase 3
software. As mentioned above, this is normally at c:\program
files\HanDBase3.
Look in that folder, and you will find a folder called
ActiveSync.
In that folder, you will find another folder named after your partnership
name for your device. In most cases, this will be c:\Program
files\HanDBase3\ActiveSync\Pocket PC
Here, you should see a copy of each of the database files that are
synchronized by the HanDBase Conduit.
HanDBase Desktop and the location of files
In HanDBase Desktop, when you use Open from the
File menu or you open your databases from the DB Browser, the list of databases for a partnership name will be
listed. The list of databases shows the databases that are in the standard
sync folder maintained by the HanDBase Conduit. If you have a copy of a
database stored outside of this location, that copy will not show up
automatically when you look at this list of databases.
When you open a database from your list of databases, and then make a change
to the records of data, just use Save or Close from the File
menu to save the changes. Then synchronize with the HanDBase Conduit. This
will merge the changes you made with the copy that is in the HanDBase folder within My Documents on your device.
If you have a copy of a database that is not in the standard sync location
for the HanDBase Conduit, then you do have the option of using the
Browse Files button in HanDBase Desktop to open the database
from that other location.
If you open a database in HanDBase Desktop from somewhere other than the
standard sync location by using the Browse Files button, then
you will be given the option of installing the database to a handheld device.
Under normal circumstances, any time you open a database from a location other
than the standard sync location for a handheld device, you will be given the
option to install the database to a handheld when you use Save
or Close from the File menu.
If you install a database by selecting the handheld device to install to,
then this process will overwrite the copy that is on the device, already. This
is not the same as a merge/synchronization. If you are using the HanDBase Conduit to synchronize your HanDBase databases, you will want to open the
databases from the list of databases that are shown when you use
Open from the File menu, or open from the DB Browser, in HanDBase Desktop.
When you open a database that way, and save it, you will not be given the
option to install the database to a handheld. Then, the next time you sync with
the HanDBase Conduit, that copy you just saved will be merged with the copy on
the handheld.
HanDBase Form files
HanDBase form files created by HanDBase Forms Designer will also be backed up into the standard sync folder. This
copy of the forms file is the one the HanDBase Desktop uses to display the proper forms. However, at this time, when you create a new forms file or edit an
existing one the installation of that file is handled by the Briefcase folder. Therefore, if you are creating forms on the
desktop you will need to have the Files conduit enabled in Activesync or WMDC for those files to be able to be installed manually. If you do not have the
Files conduit enable then you will need to manually copy the forms file to your device to be able to use the Forms there.
Sync Exchange and the location of files
Please note that you will want to ignore the HanDBase database files
that are found in the Briefcase
when adding files to Sync Exchange.
When you add a HanDBase
database file to Sync Exchange, that file (with the .pdb file extension) will
remain in the folder it was in when you added it to Sync Exchange. For
example, if you like, you could move/copy your HanDBase database files from the
standard sync location to a folder called C:\My Databases.
Then you could add the .pdb files (the HanDBase database files) to Sync Exchange
directly from that location. If you did so, then when you sync with the HanDBase Conduit, the database files will remain in that folder rather than moving to
the standard sync location for your handheld device.
If you move a database to a different location, and then add it to Sync
Exchange from that other location, then that particular database will no longer
automatically show up in the list of databases in HanDBase Desktop to select from when you use
Open from the File menu or open from the DB Browser. In order to not be prompted to install this database every time
you make changes on the desktop you will want to add a Custom User to the HanDBase Desktop so you can open them and not be prompted to install. Knowledgebase Article 356 describes how to set up a Custom User.
The location of the custom form files will also be affected by the location of
a database that has been added to Sync Exchange. If you move your database files to a differnet folder you will also need to copy your Forms files to that same folder as well, to be able to use them with the HanDBase Desktop.
By default, the HanDBase Conduit makes additional backup copies of your
database every time something is changed in the database. The default number of
backup copies is 10, but you can control that number in the preferences of the
HanDBase Conduit.
The normal location for the additional backup copies of a database will be in
a folder actually called Backup in the folder where that
database is found.
In most cases, this would be ..\My Documents\HanDBase\WindowsMobile\Pocket PC\Backup.
The additional backup copies have the date and time of the backup in the name
of the file. If your database file's name is mydata.pdb then the backup copy
for that database would look something like mydata # desktop 1-1-2010
13-15-29.pdb. This means that the particular backup copy was made on
1/1/2010 at 1:15pm (13:15:29), and the change to the database was made on the
desktop. There will generally be two copies of the same file, one labeled desktop and one labeled handheld.
If, for any reason, you need to revert back to a previous copy of a file, you
can find the last 10 previous copies of that database in the additional backup
location. You can then use any of those previous versions of the database file
to restore your data or overwrite the copy that is on the handheld, etc.
An example of this is if you delete a record on the handheld that you did not
intend to delete. If you have already performed a synchronization so that the
record has also been deleted from the desktop copy, then you can restore the
file from the most recent additional backup copy:
In HanDBase Desktop, use File, Open, then Browse
Files
Browse to the location of the additional backup copies (normally at ..\My Documents\HanDBase\WindowsMobile\Pocket PC\Backup)
Open the copy of the database with the most recent date and time in its file
name.
If that copy has the record that you wish to retrieve, you could open that
record and use the Move record to... option on the
Actions menu
to move that record to the normal copy of the database.
If you just wish to replace the handheld copy with this particular backup,
you can use Install to Handheld/Smartphone from the File menu to
select your user and queue the file to overwrite the copy on the device the next time you synchronize.
If you added a database to Sync Exchange from a location other than the
normal backup location, then the Backup folder for that
particular database will be found there. Using the example of adding a database
to Sync Exchange from a folder at C:\My Databases
The additional backup copies for that database would be at C:\My Databases\Backup
Any databases that were not added to Sync Exchange would still be in the
normal backup location for the HanDBase Conduit, and the additional backup
copies would be in that normal location.
Using HanDBase Desktop without the use of the HanDBase Conduit
If you purchase a copy of HanDBase for Windows Mobile rather than
a package like HanDBase Plus, then you will have
a free copy of HanDBase Desktop, but you will not have the HanDBase Conduit
for synchronization.
In that case, you will only see databases in the list of databases when
you use Open from the File menu or in the DB Browser in the HanDBase
Desktop if you have the Files conduit in ActiveSync or WMDC enabled. Please note though, that without the HanDBase Conduit the Files Conduit in Activesync or WMDC only allows you to backup or install files. It is not a two way synchronization. If you have not enabled the Files conduit then you would need to use the Browse Files button to open
the database directly from the Briefcase. This is one of the only
circumstances in which you would want to open the HanDBase databases directly
from the Briefcase.
If you do not have the HanDBase Conduit installed, then you will also not
have the additional backup copies of the databases described above. | 