GoZync

<html><head></head><body><p>FileMaker Go solutions that are installed&nbsp;<em>locally</em>&nbsp;on the iPhone or iPad provide a better over-all user experience because they are faster than hosted solutions and can work even when you don’t have a good connection. Once you decide to go down this path, you are faced with two problems. First how do you exchange data with the hosted FileMaker Application? Second, how do you deploy new versions of your solution to your users in the field? &nbsp;These turn out to be fairly complex problems. <a href="http://www.seedcode.com/gozync">GoZync</a>&nbsp;was designed to solve them!<br>
<strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Deploying New Versions</strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.seedcode.com/gozync">GoZync</a> handles sending out updated solution files to your users. When you create a new version of your FileMaker Go application, you can use GoZync’s scripts to upload a copy &nbsp;to the GoZync file on the server. People in the field can then check to see if a new version of the FileMaker Go file they are using is available and with a single button press download and install the new version. The end user experience is seamless and folks don’t need to return to the office or plug in to get new builds. Crucially, this means you can continue developing and enhancing your FileMaker Go solution&nbsp;<em>after</em>&nbsp;you’ve deployed it to your users in the field.</p>
<p>As a developer you just need to decide under what conditions you want allow downloading and installing of the new file. You might decide that they have to upload any new data first before downloading the new version or you might decide they can only get new versions on Tuesday. Its really up to you and you control this logic using normal FileMaker techniques. &nbsp;There are no plugins, or anything else extra. Its just plain FileMaker scripts, and calculations.</p>
<p><strong>Exchanging Data&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>Exchanging data with the hosted version has to be done in a transaction safe way, so you can be sure that your data is uploaded or downloaded correctly even when there is a shaky interent connection. &nbsp;GoZync provides a framework for mapping tables and fields from the hosted version to the mobile version and back again. &nbsp;It handles repeating fields and container fields as well. &nbsp;Again, the logic that describes this mapping is all done with straightforward FileMaker techniques. Following the step by step instructions, you create and edit relationships, layouts scripts and tables. &nbsp;Once the mapping is inplace, GoZync handles the transaction-safe data exchange.</p>
<p>As the developer of the solution, you do need to decide what found set of records get exchanged and when. &nbsp;Exchanging all records all the time is almost certainly going to be problematic. Exchanging data does take some time, so exchanging thousands of records all the time is going to frustrate your users. You’re also going to have issues of conflict resolution to deal with. Whose changes are saved when two users edit the same record on their iOS device? &nbsp;You are better off if you give your mobile users just the data that they need. No more, no less.</p>
<p>Again coding that logic is done with just plain old FileMaker techniques. You tell GoZync what records to send up to the host or down to the mobile device, by writing some FileMaker Script Steps that produce a found set of records. For example, you could find all the “pending” orders for the logged in user. Given that found set, GoZync takes over from there and peforms the exchange. &nbsp;You can also add your own logic to the system by setting a field to mark a record as “Checked Out” &nbsp;vs “Pending” after the record has been downloaded. The business logic is up to you.</p>
<p>GoZync provides the framework for doing the hard parts and you, as the developer, teach it about your solution using normal every day FileMaker techniques. &nbsp;GoZync has excellent&nbsp;<a href="http://www.seedcode.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=GoZync.GoZync">documentation</a>&nbsp;to help you get through this. Some of the documentation is even auto generated using your table names and field names to make it even easier.</p>
<p>However, If you need some help, we can do the integration for you. We can inject GoZync into your solution files and setup the data exchange for you. If that’s enough we can stop there and let you finish coding what records to send and when. Or we can take it all the way and code the entire process for you.</p>
<p>For more infomation on GoZync please visit the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.seedcode.com/gozync">GoZync web page</a>.<a href="http://www.seedcode.com/gozync"><br>
</a>.</p>
</body></html>

GoZync: Architecting For Mobile

FileMaker Go solutions that are installed locally on the iPhone or iPad provide a better over-all user experience because they are faster than hosted solutions and can work even when you don&#8217;t have a good connection. Once you decide to go down this path, you are faced with two problems. First how do you exchange data with the hosted FileMaker Application? Second, how do you deploy new versions of your solution to your users in the field?  These turn out to be [&hellip;]

<html><head></head><body><p>When FileMaker Go first shipped, I <a href="/blog/2010/07/filemaker-go-whole-new-platform">wrote about it</a> being a whole new platform. The opportunity that it presented was so big that I thought FileMaker Go would be come the first Platform that I would build for. But in the months after the release, I didn’t even use it much myself. I was curious about this but I didn’t have an answer. Then at <a href="http://www.pauseonerror.com/">Pause on Error</a> I got my answer. Here is the story.</p>
<p>FileMaker Go worked as advertised. I could connect to my databases on my server. I could build interfaces that fit the iPhone or the iPad. But when it came time to actually enter data, I didn’t do it on my iPhone. I waited until I got to my laptop. &nbsp;Why?</p>
<div>
<div>I had a choice. I could wait to use a much faster machine, better keyboard and probably a better network connection. So I waited. This was not a conscious decision. It was just what I did. As a result I used FileMaker Go less and less.</div>
<div></div>
<div>All that changed at pause on error. &nbsp;I attended a session coordinated by John Sindelar of <a href="http://www.seedcode.com/">SeedCode</a>. &nbsp;During that session we heard from J. Sciarra and James Wesolowski from <a href="http://www.colibrisolutions.com/">Colibri Solutions</a> about a system that they built for FileMaker Go. Through trial and error they had come up with a architecture that worked in the real world. And it turns out that the real world doesn’t just involve slower network connections and slower devices. It involves fragile connections and or no connections. &nbsp;They needed something that worked in all of these scenarios.</div>
<div></div>
<div>So what was their solution? Go Local. &nbsp;They created a FileMaker Go application that was designed to work on the local iOS device, completely disconnected from any Filemaker server. If you want to know more about why they did what they did, you can check out their <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l1kdE3G7sI">DevCon preview video</a>, and or attend their session at <a href="http://www.filemaker.com/developers/devcon/2011/index.html">FileMaker DevCon 2011</a>.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Now at first, I thought, “Yeah, but then you have to manage the data exchange back and forth from Server File to Local File. Thats too much work”. But as they talked about how they did it, it started to occur to me that the solution they had come up with was one that many *native* iOS apps used. I started looking at the apps on my iPhone and I found that if it was an app that had a server component, it was almost always caching the data locally. Here are just a few:</div>
<ul>
<li>TripIt</li>
<li>MiniBooks</li>
<li>Runkeeper</li>
<li>Contacts</li>
<li>iCal</li>
<li>Mail</li>
<li>Twitter</li>
</ul>
<div>All of these cache some or all of the data locally until it needs to be refreshed or sent back. They do it so you can still use them when you have a bad connection or no connection. And they do it for speed and responsiveness. &nbsp;Their UIs are richer and snappier as a result.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Once I realized that Joe and James had independently found the same solution that iOS developers had found I realized that they were almost certainly on to something. My brain literally began to buzz. It just made sense. &nbsp;Building the best FileMaker Go Apps requires building specifically for the device, using best practices that made sense for the device. This is a very different approach then trying to morph a model that works for desktops on a LAN to one to what that works on iOS devices out their in the real world, which is what i had been doing. &nbsp;I was convinced, the answer was to GoLocal.</div>
<div></div>
<div>But there are lots of challenges that have to be over come for this to be a viable method for building FileMaker Go Apps. Some are obvious, like exchanging data and deploying local files. &nbsp;Some are not so obvious, like dealing with shaky 3G connections. &nbsp;This turns out to be quite tricky to do well. &nbsp; The guys at Colibri had decided to use us only iPod touches so they could ensure that the users never had to deal with shaky 3G connecting while exchanging data with the server. &nbsp;This made it easier for them to use import records to exchange data and images with the hosted solution.</div>
<div></div>
<div>I felt that at generalized framework for Going Local would have to work over 3G and be able to gracefully handle sudden disconnects, even in the middle of data transfer. &nbsp;As the discussion continued at pause, a plan began to form in the back of my head. &nbsp;I was pretty certain that I new how to handle the 3G connection issue. I couldn’t wait to try it out.</div>
<div></div>
<div>I left pause convinced that this was the way to build awesome FileMaker Go Apps, and that the challenges could be over come with a well thought through architecture. I had some ideas about how to do it, but I needed some help. &nbsp;So I turned to my long time colleague and collaborator, John Sindelar, and together we have been cooking up some awesome sauce!</div>
<div></div>
<div>Stay tuned for whats next!</div>
<div>And thanks again to the guys from&nbsp;<a>Colibri Solutions</a>&nbsp;for inspiring me to “go local”.</div>
</div>
</body></html>

Why Go Local?

When FileMaker Go first shipped, I wrote about it being a whole new platform. The opportunity that it presented was so big that I thought FileMaker Go would be come the first Platform that I would build for. But in the months after the release, I didn&#8217;t even use it much myself. I was curious about this but I didn&#8217;t have an answer. Then at Pause on Error I got my answer. Here is the story. FileMaker Go worked as [&hellip;]

Blogs tagged with: GoZync

GoZync: Architecting For Mobile

Why Go Local?

RECEIVE THE OCCASIONAL UPDATE.

NEW PROJECT OR COLLABORATION?

FOLLOW US.