InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by David_H on 2015/03/25 23:56

Currently I am using DropBox to sync my main database file across two computers.

For the Users file I just copied them across computers. Am I likely to experience any problems/corruptions if I were to just put all the (portable USB version) files in the DropBox folder so that the Users file (and all other IQ files) also sync?

Thanks

Comments

No issue whatsoever with putting all IQ program folder in Dropbox.

There is a performance issue with putting your IQBase on dropbox however... each and every change you make will trigger a Dropbox update

To work around this, you can put your IQBase in a non-Dropbox folder and have only the backup in Dropbox.

You would then manually check (or write a script) and copy over if the backup is newer.

In v0.9.26PreRel48, on opening a file, the date stamps are checked and a dialog is shown if the backup is newer. User can select to copy the newer file.

[quote=Pierre_Admin]In v0.9.26PreRel48, on opening a file, the date stamps are checked and a dialog is shown if the backup is newer. User can select to copy the newer file.[/quote]

that will be very helpful Pierre

I'm working on something a little bit more extensive.

The idea is to provide decent support for editing on more than 1 computer (not at the same time of course)

FYI, IQ already support simultaneous multi-users but this is limited to a LAN configuration. Nowadays, a more disconnected approach is needed. This would be the first step in that direction.

About a year ago I did some experiments with concurrent, multi-user access to a Microsoft Access 2013 database on cloud-hosted databases. This turned out to be possible. However, Access tended to get confused with AutoNumber fields. In any event, Microsoft does not formally support such concurrent access(!) across the cloud. A technical issue is the long and variable latency experienced across the cloud when compared with fast LAN infrastructure. In any event, these experiments were with Microsoft Access. The database "engine" used in InfoQube is Microsoft Jet; that used in Access 2013 has I think moved on from Jet. True concurrent update – which Pierre does not seem to be planning in any near future – would only be possible by moving to more modern database technology such as that underlying Microsoft Azure. It only makes sense in IQ version 3!

I currently host all my IQ bases on Google Apps infrastructure – in other words they are hosted in the cloud – but I ensure that I do not use an IQbase on more than one computer at one time. This works fine, and has the advantage that Google Apps synchronises the IQ bases between my computers. That synchronisation is very rapid.

Mark GREGORY, Redon, France - GMT +1/+2; EST +6

I agree that JET was not designed to be a hosted server. It was designed with a LAN environment in mind and, as such, can server many concurrent users (not 100's of course). IQ can and has been used as such too.

Apart from the "quick and dirty" method which I'm working on now, to allow work on multiple computers and sharing of content between users, there are 2 other ways which are planned (and much before v3.0 !)

Dropbox-like small scale sharing between users
Large-scale Azure based online service with local replicas

Pierre_Admin

Option two sounds particularly interesting. I hope that Azure will get round the problem of non-unique auto-numbering – it is certainly something to take into consideration when designing this feature.

Mark GREGORY, Redon, France - GMT +1/+2; EST +6