data not syncing

[TEIB]

Data is not syncing from one computer to the other. I will input data on one computer and it doesn’t show on the other computer when it will say that it is syncing – and this is days later.

We are using Tap Forms 3.0.1 with the same iCloud user on two 2013 iMacs with OS 10.10.1. Both devices are showing as registered and as synced recently.

Here is what we have tried already:
Unchecking enable iCloud Sync and clicking reset iCloud Sync on both computers. Disconnecting computer from iCloud Drive in Apple Preferences. Restarting, reconnecting, re-enabling, and re-syncing. It will say it is syncing but doesn’t take long and then the data continues to not show on the 2nd computer. We have done steps like these several times.

Please let us know how we can get the data to sync. Could it be because of a slow internet connection? Because we have two downloads of Tap Forms for Mac under the same iCloud account and username? Is there a way to sync with Dropbox? What are your insights so that we can use this for two computers?

Thank you!!

[Brendan]

Hi TEIB,

Can you try again with version 3.0.2?

Do you see the list of Registered Devices showing both your Macs on both devices? Or does each Mac only show itself in the list of Registered Devices?

Thanks,

Brendan

[TEIB]

Hi Brendan,

Thanks for your reply. We updated to version 3.0.2 now. Then we tried the process again. Both computers show on the list of Registered Devices and both devices say they are synced. However, the data isn’t showing on the other machine.

Are there guidelines available on the minimum speed of internet connection required for iCloud Sync to work?

Please let us know your suggestions to get this to work on two computers.

Thanks!

[Brendan]

It all depends on how many files you have that need syncing. For example, I brought a new computer online yesterday for testing sync and it took almost an hour for everything to sync. The date for one of the devices updated on the new device, but the new device hadn’t synced yet. Eventually it did, but it took a while. That’s because I had many many photo files that had to sync first.

Try typing the following command into the Terminal application window:

brctl log -w

It will tell you if iCloud Drive is doing any uploading or downloading. I also noticed that when my computer went to sleep, it stopped downloading, so I had to wake it up a bunch of times and that took a bit longer of course. But eventually it all went through.

Thanks!

Brendan

[TEIB]

Here is the results in terminal for one of the computers. This is the computer that has most of the data and is working best.

[CRIT] 0.000 [2014-12-18 10:11:19.342] NSXPCConnection.user.305 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
[WARN] 10.940 [2014-12-18 10:11:30.282] sqlite.clientTruth fs.notifs.pipe BRCNotificationPipe.m:864
Path /Users/bogda/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~TextInput/Dictionaries/.cdmetadata/metadata.nosync/bogda~709FB3A4-93F3-53B8-9AB4-D5C86C5A227D/UserDictionary/metadata.store is not an existing container
11.784 [2014-12-18 10:11:31.126] cloudkit.operation.callback sync-down.container-metadata BRCContainerMetadataSyncDownOperation.m:199
fetched 0 containers metadata from the cloud
[WARN] 12.311 [2014-12-18 10:11:31.653] sqlite.clientTruth fs.notifs.pipe BRCNotificationPipe.m:864
Path /Users/bogda/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~TextInput/Dictionaries/.cdmetadata/metadata.nosync/bogda~709FB3A4-93F3-53B8-9AB4-D5C86C5A227D/UserDictionary/F01475B5-DF75-4959-AF5C-F759000C86CB.cid is not an existing container
14.293 [2014-12-18 10:11:33.635] cloudkit.operation.callback sync-down BRCSyncDownOperation.m:245
received 2 items from the cloud for FXLPHZS84D.com.clickspace.tapforms
15.783 [2014-12-18 10:11:35.125] brc.downloads/FXLPHZS84D.com.clickspace.tapforms version.downloader BRCVersionDownloader.m:394
scheduled 1 items for download in FXLPHZS84D.com.clickspace.tapforms
20.384 [2014-12-18 10:11:39.726] download-content version.downloader BRCVersionDownloader.m:192
downloaded item “TFSyncDevice-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3.tfs” id:C57F78F2-C1F8-4509-91E8-038D7CB7238C
[CRIT] 672.654 [2014-12-18 10:22:31.996] NSXPCConnection.user.413 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
[CRIT] 672.654 [2014-12-18 10:22:31.996] NSXPCConnection.user.413 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
[CRIT] 672.741 [2014-12-18 10:22:32.083] NSXPCConnection.user.413 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]

[TEIB]

To be more specific about the first computer listed above, this computer has most of the data entered on it and has received some data from the other computer. However, it is not sharing its data with the other computer successfully.

I will send you data from the second computer soon.

Please let me know how to read the results of the terminal.

Thanks for your help!!

[TEIB]

Here is the text from the second computer:

Last login: Thu Dec 18 10:10:54 on console
iMac-1:~ bogda$ brctl log -w
[CRIT] 0.000 [2014-12-18 10:11:00.284] NSXPCConnection.user.209 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
[CRIT] 0.000 [2014-12-18 10:11:00.284] NSXPCConnection.user.209 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
[CRIT] 0.007 [2014-12-18 10:11:00.291] NSXPCConnection.user.209 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
4.758 [2014-12-18 10:11:05.042] brc.system-resources resources BRCSystemResourcesManager.m:199
Network really becomes reachable
28.766 [2014-12-18 10:11:29.050] cloudkit.operation.callback sync-down.container-metadata BRCContainerMetadataSyncDownOperation.m:199
fetched 0 containers metadata from the cloud
[CRIT] 87.711 [2014-12-18 10:12:27.995] NSXPCConnection.user.413 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
[CRIT] 87.711 [2014-12-18 10:12:27.995] NSXPCConnection.user.413 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
[CRIT] 87.760 [2014-12-18 10:12:28.044] NSXPCConnection.user.413 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]
[WARN] 87.913 [2014-12-18 10:12:28.197] sqlite.clientTruth fs.notifs.pipe BRCNotificationPipe.m:864
Path /Users/bogda/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~TextInput/Dictionaries/.cdmetadata/metadata.nosync/bogda~CE4EBA58-3DCA-5413-8EB3-D244D81A7D00/UserDictionary/metadata.store is not an existing container
[WARN] 87.983 [2014-12-18 10:12:28.267] sqlite.clientTruth fs.notifs.pipe BRCNotificationPipe.m:864
Path /Users/bogda/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~TextInput/Dictionaries/.cdmetadata/metadata.nosync/bogda~CE4EBA58-3DCA-5413-8EB3-D244D81A7D00/UserDictionary/7B8E9204-EABF-4C8E-A5A7-6D4C8EAE346B.cid is not an existing container

[Brendan]

Well your second computer doesn’t look like it’s downloading anything from Tap Forms. You should see some entries with com.clickspace.tapforms in them.

For example, in your first post:

downloaded item “TFSyncDevice-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3.tfs”

The TFSyncDevice file is the file that contains the device name, the last time it was synced, the device icon, and some other information about which other devices sync files that device last synced with.

I would suggest trying a test and dragging something into the iCloud folder in the Finder on the first Mac… say for the Preview app folder. Drag in a .pdf file in there and then watch the output of the brctl command on your second computer. See if it downloads that file. It’ll let you know if iCloud Drive is working right or not.

But it seems like either you didn’t capture a part of the log output which contained any of the Tap Forms files or there were none.

Thanks,

Brendan

[TEIB]

Thanks for this info. We captured the log output, so there were none for Tap Forms.

Sounds like the computer that has the data is uploading it but the second computer that isn’t receiving the data isn’t connecting to download anything?

Looking in the iCloud Drive folder (in favorites), I don’t see anything in general for Tap Forms, including on the computer that might be uploading. I just see a folder for TextEdit and a folder for Numbers. Where do we look for Tap Forms?

We will start testing this post-holiday. Appreciate your help!

[Brendan]

Hi TEIB,

Apple hides the folder for Tap Forms. You can find it here:

~/Library/Mobile Documents/Tap Forms HD

There’s a folder there called SyncDocuments which will contain all of the files that Tap Forms generates during the sync process. You can watch that folder when you click the upload to iCloud button. You’ll see TFSyncDoc files being generated.

[TEIB]

Hi Brendan,

Appreciate your response. In the ~/Library/Mobile Documents folder, I only see folders for TextEdit and Numbers. Tap Forms HD doesn’t exist here… maybe this is the issue?

How can I get to/create Tap Forms HD so that I can see if TFSyncDoc files are being generated?

Thanks!

[Patrice Hof]

Hi Brendan,
First of all, I wish you and every TF users a happy new year!

I still experience iCloud sync problems with one of my macs, and it seems similar to TEIB’s problem. I clearly suspect a problem with iCloud Drive.

I have a look at the SyncDocuments Folder on the unsynced mac, and nothing have change for 2 days (see attached screenshot).

Moreover, Numbers and Pages documents don’t sync either on the mac (but the sync works between iDevices and the 2 other macs…)

The terminal displays a lot of errors like:

[ERROR] 5856.191 [2015-01-06 09:46:03.640] cloudkit.operation.callback sync-down BRCSyncDownOperation.m:274
Unable to perform successfully the second fetch stage (<CKError 0x7fc0a9de4230: “Partial Failure” (2/1011); “Failed to fetch some records”; partial errors: {
documentStructure/00000000-0000-3000-000A-0000000002CC:(com.apple.Numbers:__defaultOwner__) = <CKError 0x7fc0a9f52d20: “Service Unavailable” (6/2022); “Fetching asset failed”; Retry after 3.0 seconds>

And there isn’t any sign of TF (nor clickspace) in the terminal lines.

I go on with my investigations.

A question however:
My TF database weighs about 150 Mo.
The first TFSyncDoc weighs 300 Mo.
The second TFSyncDoc weighs 600 Mo.
Is it normal?

Thank for your help.
patrice

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[Brendan]

TIEB, you should see a lot more folders than just TextEdit and Numbers. If you just go to ~/Library/Mobile Documents, Apple does some trickery in OS X 10.10 and basically just shows you the contents of the iCloud Drive folder that you have direct access to in the Finder.

You either need to go further than that by adding Tap Forms HD to the folder path or use Terminal to navigate into the Mobile Documents folder. But if you just enter in

~/Library/Mobile Documents/Tap Forms HD

into the Finder’s Go to Folder dialogue, then you should see the SyncDocuments folder. Take a look at the screenshot Patrice posted. You can see the SyncDocuments folders and also another Tap Forms HD folder. Apple used to call that the Documents folder. But with all this Finder trickery going on in OS X 10.10, they’re no longer showing you a view of reality, but instead they’re hiding things from you and showing you different folder names. So Documents is now “Tap Forms HD”. I don’t know why they’re doing this, but it makes it more difficult to navigate into the right folders from the Finder now. The only way to get there is by using the “Go to Folder” command.

Also, you don’t have to create that folder. It will already have been created for you by iCloud Drive.

[Brendan]

Patrice,

I would suggest you logging off iCloud and logging back in again.

If that doesn’t fix it, then make sure you have a backup and follow the instructions in this thread:

Deleting Documents & Data to help with iCloud Sync

Thanks!

Brendan

[Patrice Hof]

Thank you Brendan.
Yes I can try this, but I can’t run a iCloud logoff and delete doc&data every month. I expect a more robust syncing.
If iCloud drive is not reliable enough, it’s perhaps time to envisage alternative options like dropbox.

A new problem occurred yesterday. TF 3.9.2 crashes at startup on both iphone and ipad. Perhaps it is related to syncing as TF automatically download changes from iCloud at startup. Anyway, here is what happens:

ipad: I added a new record in one of my forms, I launched the manual upload of changes (sync) and after a while, TF crashed. From that moment, TF crashes at every startup, after having displayed the startup screen (white with the TF icon in the center) for a while. Rebooting the ipad doesn’t fix it.

iphone: After that, I opened TF on my iphone to see if the new record has been taken into account. TF launched the automatic download of changes and displayed a countdown (beginning at 66824) at the very top of the screen, and after a couple of minutes stayed blocked at 1824, and than crashed. I repeated it several times, always with the same conclusion, even after an iphone reboot.

By the way, this countdown occurs regularly, but not always, and only on iphone, never on ipad, lasts between 2 or 5 minutes depending I guess on the connexion speed. When I’m on the road with my iphone and I need a piece of information, I can’t wait several minutes for accessing TF. Can I browse the forms during this countdown? Or during the sync in general?

Thanks for your help and for your perseverance in providing the best DB app!!!

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[TEIB]

Hi Brendan,

When I copy this text ~/Library/Mobile Documents/Tap Forms HD into “Go to Folder,” I receive the message “The folder can’t be found.”

The results of terminal commands are pasted above. Is there another command you recommend in terminal? Or instructions on how to use terminal to navigate to a folder?

Please advise on next steps.

Yes, agreed, thanks for your help and perseverance in providing the best DB app!!

[Brendan]

Hi Patrice,

I am actively investigating Dropbox sync now. It sounds like the database operations did not complete during a sync operation. The numbers displayed at the top of the view is a count-down of the number of records in the database being updated. It’s a number independent of the number of records within a form.

When you see the message appear at the top of the screen just let it finish. Don’t try tapping around on the screen. It’s currently updating the database and it’s not possible to do other operations on the database while it’s doing this, so that’s why the screen freezes during this time.

[Brendan]

Hi TIEB,

What language do you have your system running in? Maybe it’s not “Library”. For example, in French it’s Biblioteque instead of Library. Unless you use the command-line.

See the attached images.

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[Patrice Hof]

Hi Brendan,
I come back with the question of the size of my different TFSyncDocs.
As you advised, I reset iCloud Sync and deleted Documents&Data from iCloud. (Not having time yet to make a full iCloud logoff).

After having re-enabled iCloud Sync on Mac 1, TF uses 200 Mo of my iCloud space, according to iCloud preference panel.

After having launched a new sync from Mac 1, TFSyncDoc-Mac1-[0] = 600 Mo
After having launched a new sync from Mac 2, TFSyncDoc-Mac2-[0] = 600 Mo as well
After having launched a new sync from Mac 3, TFSyncDoc-Mac3-[0] = 1,76 Go

TF uses now 3 Go of my iCloud space, according to iCloud preference panel.

Why are these docs so heavy, since my DB is about 150 Mo (size of backup)?

Will an iCloud full logoff really reduce the size of TFSyncDocs?

Thanks
patrice

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[TEIB]

Hi Brendan,

English – we are U.S. based.

Is there a command in Terminal? What do you recommend as the next steps?

Thanks!

[Brendan]

Patrice,

To reduce the size of your database files, use the Vacuum Database command in the Database Maintenance screen on each of your devices. You’ve got some pretty big ones there I see. SQLite database files just grow and grow as you add more data and then delete data, they will never shrink unless you perform a Vacuum Database. Making a backup will compress the SQLite files since they contain a lot of text which compresses nicely. So that’s why the backups would be smaller.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Brendan]

TIEB,

I can’t see why you’re not able to get into the proper folder like I demonstrated.

Yes, you can use Terminal to navigate into the folder too.

cd ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/FXLPHZS84D~com~clickspace~tapforms/SyncDocuments

ls -lrt

Those two commands will first change into the Tap Forms SyncDocuments directory. The second command will list the contents of the folder sorted by date.

You see that’s the real folder name. But for some reason Apple decided to make it look like ~/Library/Mobile Documents/Tap Forms HD in the Finder.

[TEIB]

Hi Brendan,

Not sure why the folder isn’t there either – I even had my coworker follow your instructions on her machine.

Here are the results to inputting the commands in terminal. Please let me know what this means:

Last login: Mon Jan 12 10:19:16 on console
iMac-2:~ bogda$ cd ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/FXLPHZS84D~com~clickspace~tapforms/SyncDocuments
iMac-2:SyncDocuments bogda$ ls -lrt
total 1572792
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 341025792 Dec 18 10:58 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[0].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 451384320 Dec 19 11:38 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[0].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 54272 Dec 30 13:50 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[1].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 5 11:08 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[1].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 61440 Jan 5 11:09 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[2].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 60416 Jan 5 11:30 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[2].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 70656 Jan 5 11:44 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[3].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 1338368 Jan 5 11:51 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[3].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 5 11:57 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[4].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 90112 Jan 5 12:34 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[5].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 172032 Jan 5 13:12 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[4].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 61440 Jan 5 13:17 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[6].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 89088 Jan 5 13:56 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[7].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 119808 Jan 5 14:09 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[8].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 52224 Jan 5 14:12 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[9].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 595968 Jan 5 14:15 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[5].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 49152 Jan 5 14:36 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[6].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 81920 Jan 5 14:56 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[7].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 31744 Jan 5 15:59 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[8].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 57344 Jan 6 11:23 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[9].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 539648 Jan 6 13:27 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[10].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 104448 Jan 6 13:33 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[11].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 13:35 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[12].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 40960 Jan 6 13:40 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[13].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 104448 Jan 6 13:48 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[14].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 105472 Jan 6 13:49 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[15].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 13:50 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[16].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 6 13:51 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[17].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 6 13:58 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[18].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 13:59 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[19].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 107520 Jan 6 14:07 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[20].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 6 14:08 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[21].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 14:09 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[22].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 104448 Jan 6 14:11 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[23].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 105472 Jan 6 14:17 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[24].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 14:18 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[25].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 176128 Jan 6 14:22 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[26].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 104448 Jan 6 14:24 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[27].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 14:28 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[28].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 14:29 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[29].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 6 14:31 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[30].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 6 14:32 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[31].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 33792 Jan 6 14:33 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[32].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 6 14:38 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[33].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 6 14:39 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[34].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 6 14:40 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[35].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 91136 Jan 6 14:45 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[36].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 6 14:49 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[37].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 14:51 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[38].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 104448 Jan 6 14:53 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[39].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 14:54 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[40].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 6 14:55 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[41].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 6 14:58 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[42].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 6 15:52 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[43].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 6 15:54 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[44].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 6 15:55 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[45].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 33792 Jan 7 10:48 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[46].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 7 10:50 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[47].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 79872 Jan 7 10:51 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[48].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 7 10:52 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[49].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 7 10:53 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[50].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 7 10:54 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[51].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 7 10:56 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[52].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 7 10:57 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[53].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 7 11:00 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[54].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 7 11:01 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[55].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 7 11:02 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[56].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 7 11:03 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[57].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 7 11:04 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[58].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 7 11:05 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[59].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 7 11:06 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[60].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 62464 Jan 7 12:10 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[61].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 75776 Jan 7 12:13 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[62].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 35840 Jan 7 14:20 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[63].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 1731584 Jan 7 15:29 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[10].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 400384 Jan 8 13:02 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[64].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 8 13:03 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[65].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 139264 Jan 9 10:35 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[66].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 105472 Jan 9 10:39 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[67].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 9 11:21 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[68].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 230400 Jan 9 11:30 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[69].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 83968 Jan 9 11:32 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[70].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 9 11:34 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[71].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 45056 Jan 9 11:36 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[72].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 283648 Jan 9 11:48 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[73].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 9 11:50 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[74].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 9 11:52 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[75].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 9 11:53 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[76].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 9 15:07 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[77].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 73728 Jan 9 15:11 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[78].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 1327104 Jan 9 15:21 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[11].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 33792 Jan 9 15:48 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[79].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 33792 Jan 9 15:55 TFSyncDoc-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D-[12].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 75776 Jan 12 10:07 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[80].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 12 10:08 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[81].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 12 10:09 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[82].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 12 10:10 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[83].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 12 10:11 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[84].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 12 10:13 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[85].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 72704 Jan 12 10:14 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[86].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 36864 Jan 12 10:31 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[87].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 31744 Jan 12 10:32 TFSyncDoc-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3-[88].tfx
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda 501 2463 Jan 12 10:32 TFSyncDevice-98C8AF50-45FC-423A-8A4A-852BEF35DDF3.tfs
-rw-r–r–@ 1 bogda staff 2463 Jan 12 10:33 TFSyncDevice-0A144CE5-2809-498F-ADAC-3FF1FC96AD0D.tfs
iMac-2:SyncDocuments bogda$

[Brendan]

Hi TIEB,

I’m not sure why you can’t see the folder in the Finder using the Go to Folder command. But you definitely have the folder there since you were able to navigate into it from the Terminal application.

Your list of files shows me that you’ve got 2 devices registered. So you should see them in the list of Registered Devices. Plus you’ve also clicked on the upload to iCloud button about 89 times. Your main database file that you’ve uploaded initially on one of your devices is about 450 MB. The other is about 351 MB. Those are pretty big files that need to be uploaded to iCloud, then downloaded to your other devices before they can be processed.

What that means is, nothing is going to happen very quickly at all for you since you have quite a bit of data that needs to be synced. So when you press the upload to iCloud button the very first time, depending on your Internet upload speed, it could take quite a while to upload, then download to your other device.

It does look like you have activity on both devices. That is, when you upload to iCloud on both devices, the files are being synced. So just remember to do one device at a time and wait for the other device to auto-sync.

Since you have so many sync files in your folder, I would recommend resetting iCloud sync, then wait for the list of Registered Devices to clear on both devices. Then re-enable iCloud sync. Then when both devices show again, press the upload to iCloud button on ONE device only. Wait for the other device to auto-sync later on.

Then just sync one device at a time, waiting for the other device to auto-sync. When you upload to iCloud on the other device the first time, the file will be very big too, so it will take a long time to get over to the first device too. So just be patient with it.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Patrice Hof]

Hi Brendan,
As regards my situation, you’ll find attached a table resuming the size of my TF database.
How to explain such differences, especially on my 2nd mac?

I understand that each device copies the db on iCloud while syncing. I have 5 devices and a 1-Go db, so my iCloud basic account (5Go) will be insufficient for further syncing. How can I do then?

Is there another way to prevent TF copying 5 times the same db?

My db contains 2534 records sorted in 19 forms. 514 records have a photo. Do you think the size of 1 Go is correct, since it is essentially text?

I’ll try to run a clean install of TF on all my devices. That means:
uninstall TF, wipe out TapForms_db.sqlite also
re-install TF
restore the lightest backup

I’ll give you my feedback!

Thank you for your advices.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[TEIB]

Hi Brendan,

Thanks so much for your response. I’m glad that it is showing both computers and that it looks like something is connecting. It makes sense that the db is large and is taking forever to upload. Our internet speed isn’t great either. So, maybe these things are why we have been trying to get all the data from one computer to another computer for a couple of months now.

However, we were wondering what it will mean operationally to be patient. Do we leave our computers on overnight? Usually, when we click sync, it only lasts a few seconds to a minute – how can we get it to do more? Is it working on syncing even when the bar isn’t moving across?

I left one computer on overnight last night to see if it would sync. This morning, a duplicate address book (it says 5 listings but is empty) reappeared. I keep deleting this, a change that never comes into the other computer. Then, this duplicate address book keeps reappearing on my computer because it is getting it from the other computer.

We really like Tap Forms. We just need the sync to be working so that we can effectively share files between the two computers. Is there another option we can use – like sharing between two computers in the same network in a different method not dependent on iCloud (like Bento did)? Please let us know any suggestions to get the info on both computers.

Thanks!

[TEIB]

Additional follow up question to the questions above:
Can we set one of the two computers as the main computer? maybe this way deleted forms wouldn’t reappear?

[Brendan]

Hi TEIB,

The size of your database files is way too large as far as I can tell for that many rows. How many fields do you have in your forms?

I have seen this one time where a beta tester of mine managed to get a file size of 3 GB. I investigated his file and found that he had over a million x_field_form_entry records. That’s the table I use to store the Link to Form field relationships. I cleaned them out for him and greatly reduced the file size.

If you’d like to zip up one of your fields and send me a link to it in Dropbox I can take a look at it to see if I can find out why it’s so large.

I don’t have a WiFi sharing service, but it’s something I’d like to build one day.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Patrice Hof]

Hi Brendan,
After having re-installed TF from scratch, as announced previously, I am testing iCloud sync with 2 Mac only.

The fresh new restored DB size is 1 Go (TapForms_db.sqlite) on both macs. Bidirectional syncing seems to succeed.

After 2 days of minor changes (modified 3-4 records and added 2-3 others), taken into account by both macs, the db.sqlite on Mac 1 has doubled its size: 2.16 Go, even after running maintenance scripts.

On Mac 2, the db remained at 1 Go. And both TFsyncDoc…[0] are always 600 Mo.

Do you think it is normal?

[TEIB]

Hi Brendan,

Thanks so much for your offer! Appreciate all of your help!!

What should I export so that I can provide one of our “fields”? For example, do I export something like our address book or one specific address listing? As a form template or as a record?

Thanks:)

[Brendan]

Patrice & TIEB,

That’s very strange. I’m not sure why the database file is doubling in size with just a couple of small changes. If you would like to send me your database file too I can look at it. I don’t need any photos or anything. Find the TapForms_db.sqlite file, compress it and then send me a Dropbox link to it so I can download it.

The TapForms_db.sqlite file is here:

~/Library/Containers/com.tapforms.mac/Data/Documents

Thanks

Brendan

[Patrice Hof]

Dear Brendan,
Thank you very much for having cleaned my DB.
I can imagine that sync problems were due to the too large files to be synced through an unreliable iCloud service.

For a couple of days, syncing seems to be quick and effective. I pay attention to the evolution of the sqlite file size. For the moment, no doubling issue occurs.

What I observe this morning:

At 7 am: I added a record on ipad, and synced. OK
At 7.30 am: I opened TF on iphone. Auto sync occurred. I changed a record on Iphone, and synced. The list of registered devices on my iphone took into account the recent sync times for the ipad and the iphone. OK
At 8.00 am: I opened TF on my macbook air: No auto sync occurred. The list of registered devices does not display the recent sync times for the ipad and the iphone. I checked the SyncDocuments folder on iCloud Drive: no sign of update for the tfs and tfx files, as if iCloud drive was inactive.

Terminal displays about 20 notices like this one:

[CRIT] 5916.701 [2015-01-23 09:48:29.523] NSXPCConnection.user.700 accountsession BRCAccountSession.m:129
Assertion failed: ![_xpcClients containsObject:client]

and, at the very top of the list:

136.382 [2015-01-23 08:12:09.204] brc.system-resources resources BRCSystemResourcesManager.m:288
Power level really becomes bad

I plugged the power, and miracle!!! iCloud Drive began to update instantaneously.

7736.935 [2015-01-23 10:18:49.757] brc.system-resources resources BRCSystemResourcesManager.m:288
Power level really becomes good

I needed 2 hours to notice that, as you see, and I could wait for a long time yet…

My conclusion:
MacOSX prevents iCloud drive to sync until the power level is sufficient, or the the mac in charge. You must have at least a 20% (?) power charge for TF to correctly run an iCloud sync! The other app using icould drive are naturally also concerned.

I’ll check that issue with my iMac, which of course never have power shortage, because I do have these idled iCloud drive syncing issues on the imac as well.

Hope that can help…

best regards

[Brendan]

Hello Patrice,

Oh wow, that’s very interesting. I suppose the operating system may start to shut down services when the power becomes to low in order to try to conserve battery life for more important tasks.

That’s great information to know.

P.S. I’m making some good progress with Dropbox sync. But your database size issue will not be cured until I complete my performance upgrades which will rewrite your database file structure to a new, more optimized format. That’s still a long way away though. I’ll continue working on that after I finish the Dropbox sync.

Thanks!

Brendan

[TEIB]

Hi Brendan,

Wanted to share the positive results of your cleaning the database files! Thanks so much for doing this because our database is moving much faster now!! We appreciate it :)

The sync has definitely improved but still has some issues. Not everything is updating between the two computers. Also, one layout partially changed back to a couple month old version – not sure if when it was syncing with the other computer this happened, but it has overlapping fields now. Something that can be fixed.

We’ll continue working with it. Please keep us posted on any further developments.

Thanks again for such a wonderful app and for your support!!

Lauren

[Brendan]

Hi Lauren,

Thanks for your feedback. I’m hoping some of these issues will be resolved once I get the Dropbox sync working. But it has its own issues that I’m fighting with right now even. Nothing is ever as easy as you’d hope! One small example I’m fighting with is that in OS X I can easily monitor a folder for changes using Apple’s NSMetadataQuery class. But it doesn’t work on iOS! Imagine that! Ugh.

Sorry to get all technical on you, but sometimes as a developer we feel like companies do everything they can to make things difficult for us. I’m sure some of you feel the same way about how I’ve built and designed Tap Forms, so let me just apologize for any difficulties you’ve had over the years.

Even Dropbox is playing games with me it seems. I upload a folder called “Attachments” and when I ask Dropbox for a list of files and folders that are in your Dropbox account, it tells me “attachments” is there. It makes it lowercase! Yikes! Not so much of a problem on OS X because the file system is case insensitive, but on iOS it’s case sensitive so I end up having an “Attachments” AND an “attachments” folder in the file system. It’s just things like these that complicate things and makes it take much longer to add features than we’d like.

But alas, that’s what I actually enjoy about being a programmer. There’s lots of puzzles for us to solve. Once you solve them, you feel really good about it.

Sorry for rambling on :-)

Thanks!

Brendan

[TEIB]

Hi Brandon,

Wanted to check in with you regarding solutions for the issues we are experiencing using Tap Forms on two desktop computers using the same account.

We continue to experience issues with the sync. Data inputted on one computer not only doesn’t show up on the other computer, but the new data gets overwritten by the old data from the other computer and data reverts to an old version. Forms will often look different on the two computers and data (passwords, program participants, etc.) will literally disappear.

Also, my coworker mentioned that one form appeared as a completely different tab on her computer.

Also, wanted to mention that selecting edit form or the layout button often doesn’t work (just doesn’t bring up dialog box/select). Sometimes restarting the program makes it work, but sometimes not. Don’t know if this is related to the sync, but thought we’d also mention it.

Please let us know what we can do to help any of these issues. We know you are working on the sync, but if you have any ideas of things we can do in the meantime, especially to save data inputted so that it doesn’t get overwritten or disappear, we would really appreciate it!

Thanks for your program and for all of your help!

[Author]

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