iCloud Sync Reset?

[tonyt]

Hi Brendan
I have searched but no joy. How often should I do this? How long is a piece of string I know! But in general terms? Also, how EXACTLY do I do it? I know I have read about it somewhere, but cant find it and its not on the sync video.
Cheers
tony

[Leo]

Tonyt,

the reset button is on the MACos under the sync button on top of the screen (cloud)

In iOS you can find it under the options

Leo

[tonyt]

Thanks Leo

But:

1 do I reset once or for all machines?
2 does it matter if previous syncs have finished or not?
3 does it matter which device I reset from?
4 does the whole database get re synced?

cheers

tony

PS its not in any TF manuak I have seen or in the video!

[Leo]

1. If you reset on one machine, all machines get reset.
2. Be sure to sync the the one before doing a reset
3. No, I turn syncing on after the initial sync per machine. I.e. Urn sync on on Mac. Wait til syncing is finished then iOS 1….2….3
4. Yes, keep the database in the cloud…

Grtz, Leo

[Brendan]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for replying to Tony, Leo.

First, a little background on the process:

Tap Forms stores your main database locally on each device. When you upload to iCloud the very first time, all the data from your database (without indexes) is copied into an encrypted database file and that file is uploaded to iCloud. Your other copies of Tap Forms will update their own database copies from the data stored in iCloud.

As upload to iCloud each time, Tap Forms creates a new encrypted database file which stores ONLY the changes since the last time you tapped the upload to iCloud button. Tap Forms also checks to see if there’s any changes before it makes the changes file. So repeatedly clicking the upload button if there are no changes will do nothing, despite the fact that it shows the messages at the top of the screen. It does that because there MIGHT be changes to upload.

So… on to Reset iCloud Sync

What does it do and when should you do it?

The Reset iCloud Sync function will delete all those change files that Tap Forms generates when you upload to iCloud. it also resets some preference values which tell Tap Forms things like the last date you uploaded and the last file index counter so it knows to increment that when generating a new file. Each time you upload to iCloud, the file is tagged with a count number so that Tap Forms knows what order to process the files in as they get downloaded to the other devices.

Reset iCloud Sync also disables the iCloud setting in Tap Forms on each device. You need to then turn it on for each device again. You can do this immediately on all devices. Once you see that ALL devices are listed again on each of your other devices in the list of Registered Devices, you can upload to iCloud from each device one at a time, waiting in between for your other devices to auto-sync.

Resetting iCloud Sync also has one side effect that you may want to know about. If you have file attachments or photos or other files associated with your records, those files may not show up after you’ve reset. That’s because they are still stored in iCloud, but Tap Forms is now looking locally for those files, so it won’t be able to find them. If you were to disable iCloud sync in Tap Forms, you will be asked what you want to do with those files. Either keep them on iCloud or make local copies of them. If you make local copies of them, Tap Forms must download them all from iCloud. But then you’ll be able to see your photos and other files. So having said that, once you Reset iCloud Sync, you should re-enable iCloud and sync again.

So, when to do this?

Occasionally you may find that Tap Forms misses syncing some data. I’ve found that resetting iCloud sync and syncing from scratch again can fix this issue. Having said that, I do believe this was caused by some bugs in my iCloud sync code. I have actually been working on this and have fixed some bugs in iCloud sync for the next update. I should be releasing these fixes in the next week or two.

Another time to do a Reset iCloud Sync is when you no longer have a device or you upgrade to a new device. Doing this will clear out the old device from the list of Registered Devices.

I hope that helps to clear up what this is and when you should use Reset iCloud Sync.

Thanks!

Brendan

[tonyt]

Hi Brendan
Thanks for that! Am I right in assuming therefore that as there is a file count number added to the upload that it is safe to ask a device to sync more than once before sync has updated another device? Moving on, if I then work on another device before sync has worked at all, is that OK too?
ie

Work on one device no. 1 and sync – no sync download to device no.2
Work on device no.3 and sync
iCloud finally gets its act together and WORKS FOR ONCE!
Result
Device 2 receives a sync update from both 1 and 3
Device 1 gets a sync update from no.3
Device 3 gets a sync uodate from no.1

???

Cheers
tony

[Brendan]

Hi Tony,

Yes, that’s how it would work.

Thanks!

Brendan

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