trans data from a palm into a 6 db

[Paul in Boston]

This question is the result of lack of info in the documentation that came with FM Mobile, or could also be beyond the scope of the products I am using; please advise/help-

I installed FileMaker Mobile 2.0 earlier this week, and was in the process of creating a simple 3 field database, no calculations or anything special. I set it up on my desktop with the intention of doing most of the d/e on my Tungsten T2 (I have a long commute), as that is where I would be using the db...did 8 records on the desktop, put the db on the Palm w/no problems, then entered about 80 more on the Palm. Enabled Mobile Companion plug-in (along with auto update & local data access companion) under preferences as well as under sharing. In the settings dialog specified the fields to be transferred to the handheld, chose 'all records' be transferred to the handheld, and under synchronization set conflict resolution to 'handheld overwrites desktop'.

As I said before, had no trouble transferring the original database over from my desktop to the palm...but when I did a hotsync the records I had entered on the Palm didn't transfer to the db on the desktop; they still resided on my Palm though. Sooo I tried changing the conflict rule to 'duplicate records', with the result being I now had 8 records only in both places! So I switched back to handheld overwrites, entered another record on my Palm, and took out the fields to be transferred to the Palm....this time it transferred the new record onto the desktop, however I now have a database on my Palm that can't be opened because there are no fields.

The documentation talks a LOT about the ability to take information on the go with you and eludes to being able to modify same, however in my time spent reading through it very little if anything was said about sending new records to the desktop from the Palm. It would seem like a natural extension/ability of the program, and honestly in purchasing this I had aspirations to making significant modifications, adding new records etc to more core databases that permanently reside on the desktop, where I can't afford to have any info vanishing or anything beyond being simply updated. Fortunately I've only lost an hour or so of actual work and the info lost isn't irretrievable...but would like to know if I am simply missing a tick somewhere or am I looking beyond the capabilities of the software?

[ESpringer]

More advanced Mobile users should jump in, but...

I now have a database on my Palm that can't be opened because there are no fields.

Is it because there are no fields, or no *records*? I notice in the FMM7 documentation (I know you're using earlier if you're on FM6: 2.1?) that the three options there are bi-directional, upload to desktop only, and download to handheld only. Oddly, the "Upload to desktop only" option specifies that "All records are deleted on the handheld database." Presumably this is supposed to help you keep the handheld memory "lean" but if you want to be accumulating records even while you upload, the bi-directional would seem to be the only option, even if you're not doing modification to desktop records.

One thing you didn't confirm: when you tried bi-directional and the Palm records didn't upload right: did you have FM running while you did the HotSync? I believe that the conduit won't work unless FM is running. (There are also issues about what the Found Set is at the moment of HotSync, which affects synchronization.)

As far as the "Duplicate Records" option goes: I think this option name was misleading: it only applies when the *same* record has two variations (one on mobile, one on desktop), and it has the conduit generate a double-record on the desktop so that comparisons between old and new (or home and field) can be made "by hand"... So, you should not have expected that this option, by itself, would have caused the new Palm records to copy themselves over to the desktop when the desktop doesn't already have those records.