Simple file sharing? Possible?

[jols]

Hi,

I’m just wondering if this can be used to do simple filesharing, of a single database between two different TapForms seats. Yes? No?

Amazingly, I’ve looked all over for days and either TapForms is not capable of this simple task, or the information is just not there.

Here’s the scenario:
— I’m not looking for multi-user access. (Sure this would be ideal, but I understand that TapForms is not capable of this being designed for single users.)

— Let’s say we have a single database for which we need to provide access between two different iMacs. Okay, so the database is created on one of them, and we put this in a shared folder so the other iMac user can open it on his iMac over the (Apple) shared, local network.

— So far so good?

— Now, what if one user already has database open on his iMac, then the other user tries to open the same database file (over the Apple network or locally). What happens then?

Do we get a:

BEEP: This file is already opened on your local network.

or

BEEP: You can open this file, but it is write protected so you can’t make any changes (i.e. it is in read-only mode).

or

NO BEEP: Tap forms just allows each user to write over each other’s work.

?

Thanks a bunch.

P.S. And by the way, no, I am in no way interested in iCloud sync or anything of that sort. I just want to do file sharing locally between to users (to start with).

[Brendan]

Tap Forms stores data in a file called TapForms_db.sqlite. It’s stored in the following folder on your Mac:

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

You may be able to make a soft link to a network volume, but you would never want to have the same database file opened by two users at the same time on the network volume. You might corrupt the database file if you do that.

[jols]

Thanks. But this is a huge disappointment that your software does not have write protection, and is not able to sync over Apple’s APF/local file sharing system. Like many other businesses, we would never want to put (anything close to) sensitive information on iCloud, so this puts tapforms well outside of the realm of possibilities for us.

Thanks for your response.

[Brendan]

Hi Jols,

Understood. But then again, it’s a $35 app, not an enterprise solution. It’s evolving and I definitely want to provide a WiFi based sync and/or form sharing solution, but it’s going to take me time to build all that. I’m also just one guy, not a big company.

Thanks,

Brendan

[jols]

THANKS Brendan,

Upon reviewing icloud, it does look more secure than I thought, especially with two-step verification enabled.

Okay, so this makes me feel more comfortable with using your product with iCloud syc, but please help me with the following if you would.

For years, we were Bento users, and now as you know that’s going poof. I imagine this concern is not easy to address, but what if you fall off your Yacht while shark fishing in Mazatlan, or your chute fails to open while trying to check off skydiving from your bucket list. Will TapForms then also go poof, or spat as it were?

[Brendan]

Hi Jols,

heheh… ah, the what if you die question :-) I’ve heard it before.

Well, first of all, I don’t really like boats or fish, so probably won’t be fishing in Mazatlan anytime soon.

As for skydiving… been there, done that :-) I jumped about 32 times in my life. I know that’s not much, but it sure was a heck of a lot of fun. My highest jump was from 17,000 feet! Quite the long freefall and time under canopy. You should try it! It’s a lot of fun. But it’s also been 22 years since I’ve been skydiving, so that’s already been checked off of my bucket list.

As for the answer to your question, I have made an agreement with a local Calgary based iOS & Mac development shop to take over the development if anything were to happen to me. The company is Robots & Pencils ( http://www.robotsandpencils.com ). They’re a great company who have developed hundreds of apps. They’ve agreed to take on support and development for me in the case of my hopefully unlikely demise anytime soon. If you need custom app development done, I highly recommend them. I’ve done work for them myself (before Bento was ditched and made me way too busy to contract out my time) and they have a top-notch team of robots (developers), pencils (designers), and bosses (PM’s).

Thanks!

Brendan

[Author]

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