Sync Problem and questions

[arturox]

E series Nokia Smart phone. Nokia PC Suite Sync running on Win XP-SP3 connected to phone via USB.

Problem 1:
When I've edited a DB file on the PC in HanDBase Desktop, if I do/click Menubar File- "Install to handheld or Smartphone" it doesn't do anything.
If I do a Nokia PC Suite Sync that file is not transferred.
Why?

Problem 2:
On the Nokia (E series) how do I configure HanDBase to Read the DB file from a specific directory, rather than the arbitrary one it now uses?

Thanks
Arturox

[dhaupert]

Hi there,

Thanks for your questions. Please see below:

1. The Install to Smartphone/Handheld option will show all users configured in HanDBase. There is a way to make a custom user manually. Try this:

Go to File|Open and select the Manage users button.
Create a new user.
Point to the path where the mounted memory card would be on your computer. In other words, if you plug in the Nokia and mount it as a drive, it will show up as a drive letter, eg, Drive L: Browse to there and then the HanDBase data folder on that memory card.
Choose the S60 user type and give it a name.

Now in the future, to install to that device, it must be mounted and then you can select that. The file will be copied to it at that time.

2. The folders for HanDBase databases are fixed, so you'd have to copy the file there before HanDBase can see it.

Hope this helps!

[arturox]

Thanks for the info in your reply, appreciated.

Can I expand on my Q2 please, just to make sure I have this set in my mind, as it appears, unlike an other DB app I used on my Palm this one HDB doesn't do a full sync, PC directory to Phone HDB directory. (Just a clarification, nothing pejorative intended).

My Question 2:
"On the Nokia (E series) how do I configure HanDBase to Read the DB file from a specific directory, rather than the arbitrary one it now uses?"

"Your reply Q 2. The folders for HanDBase databases are fixed, so you'd have to copy the file there before HanDBase can see it."

Take as a given I've modified a DB file on the PC.

This is usually saved on the PC to C:\Directory\Briefcase
After a Sync it is sent to the phone and arrives in E:\Briefcase (E: being the memory card drive).
There doesn't seem to be any way to reconfigure that aspect in the Nokia PC Sync app, in that it's either Phone memory\Briefcase or Memory card E:\Briefcase.

And for some days I couldn't fathom why HanDBase on the Phone had no databases, couldn't see the DBs, except the couple installed by default in the directory E:\HanDbase4
Yesterday out of frustration, I manually copied the DB files from Briefcase to the E:\HanDBase4 directory, and we then had an app with databases.

So to get this quite clear in my old brain. With regard to auto Sync by the Nokia PC Sync app.
This is the only Auto Sync way it works... Syncs of HDB files go to Briefcase, then I always have to manually copy them to the Directory HDB uses?

The other way I did it during my frustration moments was use the Filer facility in Nokia PC Sync App to open the E:\HanDBase directory and drag 'n drop the files from C:\Directory\Briefcase to E:\HandBase4 but of course no auto Sync...

Thanks
Arturox

[dhaupert]

Hi again,

Sorry I wasn't more clear in my response. On every other version of HanDBase, we have a two way synchronization conduit. The S60 version is the only one that does not offer this at this time. It is not impossible to offer, but was when HanDBase for S60 was first written. Since this flavor of HanDBase has not been very popular, we don't spend a lot of development time adding to the program and have instead focused on versions that have been more popular. Hope that makes sense!

Regarding the file paths- the briefcase syncing is a file sync that can cause data loss since it will automatically take the newer file without regards for the changes to the records. So that is why we store outside the briefcase folder. When you plug in your device, if memory serves, you're asked on the phone whether you want Nokia Desktop Suite, Mount the device as a drive, etc. In our case, the option to mount as a drive is the one you'd want, and the Briefcase syncing won't sync the files we store in that folder.

Hope this info helps!

[arturox]

Thanks again for the additional info.
I appreciate your reasons for the first paragraph, and understand the second.

Thanks
Arturox

To be quite honest, the Nokia PC Sync App is quite flakey, sometimes it finds a phone, other times not, and then occasionally quite arbitrarily drops the connection... And this is on a USB cable connection, dread to think what it'd be like on BlueTooth... Sorry, totally OT, just venting. ;-/
D.