Problem with resolving conflicts

[Jan Tarnovski]

Hi,

 

I have problem with resolving conflicts when syncing. Initial sync went OK, then, I did first record enter some data and also have picture in container field entered. Sync went OK (exept picture was not synced - which is another matter) and after that every time I would sync (sometime even without any changes on client DB) a dialog would show saying "Records were modified on both sides" and I would have choose Automatic or Manual conflict resolution. In this situation I don't understand why there would be changes on server DB. It runs in FM Server 12 Demo on Windows Server 8 virtual private server. MirrorSync version is 1.4301 with licence. I would perform sync from FM Go and no other machine. Also no one else accessed DB via fmnet or otherwise. Now, if this is normal then is there a way to tell MirrorSync server to remember my choice. Because this DB is going to be used by user that have limited knowledge about computer systems and I would like to minimize or eliminate if possible that kind of "system" questions.

 

Maybe I'm not using sync right - please advise,

 

Thanks.

[sarah360works]

Hello Jan,

 

Records were modified on both sides would trigger when the modification timestamp indicates there has been a change since they last synced. If you sync at 8:00 am, then make changes on either the client or the server so that the modification timestamp updates after that point, MirrorSync will treat that as a conflict. It would look at that modification timestamp- let's say at 10:00am- and show that as a conflict, even if the data was the same. It looks at every timestamp AFTER 8:00am.

 

This might also happen if you sync in different time zones. For example, if you synced at 8am on your server's time, but 9am on your iPad, then MirrorSync might see that change as if it happened after the sync. 

 

If you submit a bug report, we can look at exactly why MirrorSync is showing conflicts, and if it might be a bug. You can do this by going to your server's address slash MirrorSync page, and clicking the link at the button.

 

As for containers not syncing, there are a few reasons this might happen. The first is that MirrorSync opens the hosted file as a guest to upload container data. If you are behind a firewall, you may need to open port 5003 to allow the container data to stream. The second problem might be with your script and data sources. Take a look at the MirrorSync script and the external data sources. Make sure there are no <unknown> script steps, and the data sources are correct.

 

I hope this helps! Please let me know if you need any clarification on the above, and please keep me updated on how things progress. 

Thank you,

Sarah Mulligan

360Works

[Jan Tarnovski]

Thanks for reply Sarah!

 

Perhaps there is problem with time zone, my iPad is set to +1GMT and server is set to EST and when I looked at conflict report (where you see two tables local and server as web page) at the bottom sometimes says that server side has been changed after local side, which is impossible since iPad was only one that has synchronized with server and nobody else touched DB, except if FM Server and/or MirrorSync didn't do something on there own. So what I did is initiated first sync at 1:00pm then did some work and wanted to sync at 1:30pm and all is OK after that added some pictures and text and did another sync at 1:45pm and would got conflict. And I had to resolve conflict two times before it would sync properly. Is there any way to tell MirrorSync server to remember my choice - always use local version?

 

Is there any way to "convert" time to single time zone, because DB would primarily be used in Australia on +9GMT and server would definitely be in different time zone.

 

As for containers it is amazing that when I did sync two days ago it would sync container with picture up to 50Kb after that I would get time out. Now it just skips containers. Should I try with different types of files? And shouldn't MirrorSync report error when unable to perform complete sync?

 

I will also check port 5003 on my side and server.

 

And as soon as I got conflict issues I'll report bug so you can see the problem,

 

Thank You for Help!

[Jan Tarnovski]

I guess time zone did the trick for conflicts, but still got error with syncing records. Got same error again:

 

Error from server: Unable to perform edit operation into node: Client node Sync Light Details on jan@binne, java.io.IOException: Client did not respond to request within 60 second timeout period. There were 2 messages. First message: MessageToClient{command='insert', tableName='Sync Light Details', values.size=2}

 

Also got error from iPad when trying to upload data:

 

Error from server: Failure while getting list of changes from Client node Sync Light Details on jan@kershia: java.io.IOException: Client did not respond to request within 180 seconds timeout period. There were 1 messages. First message: MessageToClient{command='getModificatinosSince', tableName='Sync Light Details', value.size = 5}

 

I got this error twice and then third time said that it was successful, but record was transferred partially, picture is still missing.

 

I played with XML located in:  ...Program FilesFileMakerFileMaker ServerWeb Publishingpublishing-enginejwpc-tomcatconfCatalinalocalhost called "MirrorSync" but no luck, still got time out message. It seems that almost every time it stucks on "Looking for changes" before I get an error.

 

I could send you bug report when this happens again, but it would be the same bug again.

 

Your help is appreciated!

[sarah360works]

Ah! I have the bug report here, and will look into it, but it might take me some time to read through. 

 

As far as the time zone issue, it's actually not that difficult a fix-  take a look at our documentation's section on how to account for users in time zones:

 

http://docs.360works.com/index.php/MirrorSync#Q:_I_have_users_in_different_time_zones._Does_MirrorSync_account_for_that.3F

 

Auto selecting local or server conflict resolution is a feature we would like to have in a future version, but don't currently support. 

 

I'll set you know once I read through the bug report with more information. Thank you!

 

Sarah Mulligan