Keeping Data Bases Consistent

[dspedersen]

Actually, one could also just use a backup/sync program as ChronoSync, or some other program capable of syncronizing folders within your HD. I syncronize my attachments folder into dropbox, eventhough it means I have all attachments in two places. Currently it is appr. 355 MB times two; I can live with that and it means that all my pdfs are backuped (and even shared with a colleague) in dropbox. It may not be the most elegant way of syncronizing and so far it is only the attachments I share. However, it must be possible to do the same with the entire BE-folder.

[Tony Higgins]

if you google

symlinks "os x"

help does not seem far! If I read the search results correctly, the third hit of this generic search for symlinks seems to refer specifically to using symlinks to get things to work in Dropbox… I suggest you take a look at that!

Thanks for the tip ozean! I followed your advice and found the Dropbox tutorial for using symlinks created with Automator: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/87620/Dropbo ... mlinks.pdf

The process looks very straight forward. However, the tutorial document mentions a few Automator files that I did not have. But I was able to find another solution--creating symlinks using Apple Script's Script Editor. Here's a link to the page that describes the process: http://www.macworld.com/article/58177/2 ... links.html

Here's the script to paste into Script Editor:

on run
open {choose file with prompt ¬
"Choose a file to create a symbolic link:" without invisibles}
end run
on open the_files
repeat with i from 1 to (count the_files)
try
set posix_path to POSIX path of (item i of the_files)
if posix_path ends with "/" then set posix_path to ¬
text 1 thru -2 of posix_path
do shell script "ln -s " & quoted form of posix_path ¬
& " " & quoted form of (posix_path & ".sym")
end try
end repeat
end open

Using this script, I was able to create an Apple Script application with which to create symlinks. I then moved my Bookends documents file back to it's original location. Next, I created symlinks of, both, my BE documents file and application support file (which includes my custom formats, filters, etc.). Finally, I moved both of these symlinks to my Dropbox folder . . . AND IT WORKS! I now have a fully accessible copy to my database and custom formats stored on the web.

What's more, in theory, I should be able use Dropbox to store another copy of the symlink of these files on another BE and Dropbox enabled computer (or on a thumbdrive). Then, if I edit my BE database from a remote location, the database will be synced back to Dropbox (ie like a cloud), and then synced to any other computer that I have linked to my Dropbox account. And as long as I'm okay with the free 2gb, then this is all a free solution. Pretty sweet!

One more thing: Dropbox also has an iPhone app. I don't have an iPhone so I can't test anything related to using an iPhone in concert with Dropbox and BE. In any case, the possibilities seem evident.

[Tony Higgins]

Actually, one could also just use a backup/sync program as ChronoSync, or some other program capable of syncronizing folders within your HD. . . . Currently it is appr. 355 MB times two . . .

I don't understand exactly how symlinks work, but using symlinks instead of synchronized folders saves this disc space. Both syms are on 4kb.

[Jon]

I found this straightforward explanation on the Mac OS X Hints web site of how to use symbolic links with Dropbox:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php? ... 9052128498

Jon
Sonny Software

[laup]

I'd recommend any server that you have access to at your institution or workplace. You can even sync to a db you keep on a thumb drive. Thats faster than exporting/importing references, and will sync deletions and groups as well (which exporting/importing won't).

Jon
Sonny Software

I don't have an accessible server at work and I am already paying for iDisk storage, so I've reached the following procedure after a discussion with Apple and some back-and-forth with Jon:

1. Use thumb drive for synchronization. Very fast (seconds). The biggest problem I have is insufficient usb ports at work, requiring me to make a temporary substitution.
2. As a synchronization-related backup procedure (since it's easy to forget to bring the thumb drive): put a zipped data base into my iDisk by going to me.com and uploading the file; then copy the file to my other machine's desktop and unzip.
3. As a separate matter, I do automatic backups to my computers via Bookends and I have TIme Machine for backup to an external hard disk.

Some explanation is warranted. Moving a Bookends data base into iDisk by drag and drop is very very slow (more than a minute for me, even with top-flight web connection). However, going to mobileme.com and uploading the file (click on the iDisc icon at the top, and then click on the upward pointing arrow to upload something) is an order of magnitude faster (!). Further, zipping makes things much faster.

One might consider operating Bookends from the mobileme cloud. In my limited experiments that works fairly well while writing (assuming good connectivity). However, upon trying to close the Bookends window, I watched a beach ball spin for about a minute before everything was complete. I hate that stuff. Thus, I would not recommend this approach even though cloud computing is beginning to be fashionable. By the way, I'm using Snow Leopard. Experience may be worse with Leopard.

[dspedersen]

Just wanted to share this, speaking of symlinks: Via Macupdate you can downloade SymbolicLinker 2.0, which add a contextual menu to your right-click, allowing you to make a symlink to any file in Finder, put it in Dropbox and voila, you have an "artificial" file (which is just a link but DB thinks it's the right file), which will then get synchronized by DB.