Can powerbook run database when not on server?

[Jason Goldsmith]

A followup to my prior question: Can a powerbook running as a client go "off-line" and continue to run the database and collect data when not within airport range, and then synchronize its new data with the server when back "on-line"?

[BobWeaver]

The files have to be located on the server. If you keep a copy of the files on each powerbook, you will have a really ugly synchronization problem. Plus having multiple copies of files floating around is a recipe for disaster in Filemaker.

[Paolo]

In reply to Jason's question:

NO.

As connection gets lost the files on the client side are closed instantly.

To do what you want to do you have to:

1) Have a client side Database to collect data on each PB.

2) Have a server side Database to store data from all clients running on the server with FM Server.

3) Setup a syncronization procedure to transfer data from the client database to the server database and vice-versa.

It should work like this:

when the PB is in the airport range the user run a script on the client-side DB.

The script connects to the server application and exchange the data.

How data is exchanged to syncronize the data depends on the data and the structure of your application.

I warn you, syncronization is quite complex!

Good luck