[basd]

We synchronize about 10 users via OneDrive. We successfully sync Windows, Android and iPad.

I have one iPad user whose MobileSheets will no longer synchronize - it crashes at about 15% (60 - 80 songs). We tried multiple efforts, all the way up to deleting and reinstalling the app.

Is it possible there is some residual data we are unable to remove in whatever location MobileSheets stores its datafiles? (Not the Song files.) I know how to find this location on Windows, but not iPad.

Thx.

[Zubersoft]

Can you please try creating a library backup file on the primary device (Settings->Backup and Restore->Backup Library), restore that backup file on the iPad (Settings->Backup and Restore->Restore Library from Backup), then try the sync again to see if that repairs it? This would just put things back into a good state, and hopefully any future synchronizations would then work.

Mike

[basd]

Oddly, when I selected (clicked on) the backup file via MobileSheets restore, MobileSheets would then say the file does not exist. (Why could I "see" and click on it in the MobileSheets "restore" browser if the file does not exist?) 

Using the OneCloud app, it seemed the backup file was equally present as all of the individual song files, which is to say I think it downloaded from the cloud onto the iPad.

Separately, I was able to perform a device-to-device update, so the problem has been temporarily resolved. Have not checked to see if the successful update will have cured the OneDrive update problem. (The iPad is in the hands of another user.) I would much rather the OneDrive update would work, since it works remotely and the user(s) can do the update at their convenience.

[Zubersoft]

Something definitely doesn't sound right there... I'm not sure I can explain that, but I'll run some tests when i can to see if I can reproduce any issues.

Mike

[basd]

This remains a problem -- we have been working around it because we can "sync to device" direct from the Windows MobileSheets (as server). However, today I checked version # -- iPad is ver. 3.9.10 but Windows server version is 3.9.7 (I don't see that an update is available).

Is it possible that the sync-to-cloud I do from 3.9.7 is not compatible with 3.9.10?

Basically, it doesn't make any sense. I have one iPad user who has not reported any issues and two who can't do a OneDrive sync because the iPad MobileSheets just crashes out without any error code or anything. (By crashes out, I mean mid-sync the iPad MobileSheets disappears from the screen and is no longer running.)

Yet, sync to server device works ok and there don't seem to be any other issues.

[Zubersoft]

Version 3.9.7 and 3.9.10 are completely compatible. There can be version discrepancies between platforms if I have to release additional updates for a particular platform to address bugs (as was the case with the iOS version). 

These kinds of issues are very difficult for me to address if I never encounter any problems with any of my own devices, and I have tested with both personal and business OneDrive accounts. Without access to your specific library and access to your OneDrive account with your cloud folder, the chance of me reproducing the issue is very slim, and I haven't had time yet to add extensive logging to the synchronization feature to track down these kinds of issues to understand what is happening. You can certainly switch to just using a full library backup if you don't actually need the merging capabilities, and that should work reliably. Or you can synchronize to a different cloud service (Dropbox or Google Drive) to see if that gets you past the problem. 

Mike

[basd]

Version 3.9.7 and 3.9.10 are completely compatible. There can be version discrepancies between platforms if I have to release additional updates for a particular platform to address bugs (as was the case with the iOS version). 

These kinds of issues are very difficult for me to address if I never encounter any problems with any of my own devices, and I have tested with both personal and business OneDrive accounts. Without access to your specific library and access to your OneDrive account with your cloud folder, the chance of me reproducing the issue is very slim, and I haven't had time yet to add extensive logging to the synchronization feature to track down these kinds of issues to understand what is happening. You can certainly switch to just using a full library backup if you don't actually need the merging capabilities, and that should work reliably. Or you can synchronize to a different cloud service (Dropbox or Google Drive) to see if that gets you past the problem. 

Mike

Wow, I just wrote a long reply and decided to "save as draft" whereupon all but the first line disappeared. I hate when that happens ...

So, here we go again.

Mike,

I appreciate all of your assistance, but I don't really expect you to troubleshoot my personal installs. My system is customized and most of my problems are probably self-inflicted in one way or another.

However, I would ask you to consider if the db files could be kept in or copied to the main MobileSheets song folder. The mobilesheets.db that is created in the OneDrive sync folder is modified to assist in the MobileSheets sync system and can't be directly utilized. Also, AFAIK, if I sync a different database, such as mysongs.db, it is synchronized to OneDrive and the client computers as mobilesheets.db. Whereas, I wish to synchronize all the dbs.

This change would allow me to synchronize via my Nextcloud system (or any cloud system that allows the folder to be synchronized to multiple users.)

I would also ask that you de-mystify the location of the main MobileSheets files. Would we call this the "root" location? I know where this is and can access the location in my Windows installs, but I don't know anything about the folder structure on iPad and Android.

So, for the TL;DR version:

As I noted sometime ago in another thread, I synchronize my Windows laptops by simply pointing the song data location to the actual OneDrive folder. On the server, I run a batch file to retrieve the db files and on the client I run another batch file to move the new db files to the local root location. This allows MobileSheets to update in the background while I charge the laptops ... and with 12+ units updated weekly this saves a lot of time.

I know this would not work for two-way synchronization. But, I do not need, or even want, two-way synchronization, as all songs are input on the server unit and sent to the client units. I don't want any of the users messing up the database.

This has been working more or less flawlessly for a couple of years, but Microsoft just broke it. It is no longer possible to synchronize shared folders to the local computer in personal/free OneDrive. Various online posts seem to indicate this is not a "new" change, although it just hit my installs yesterday. My OneDrive/mobilesheets folder was renamed OneDrive/mobilesheets-computer1 and de-synchronized. In it's place, I received a url link named OneDrive/mobilesheets that opens OneDrive in a browser. Even worse, I could not find a way to copy or move a file from OneDrive/My Files to OneDrive/shared/mobilesheets or vice versa.

My best replacement solution probably will be to rebuild my synchronization in NextCloud, which runs on my own server, but it will be a bunch of work. As I originally structured it, I maintain the "master" Mobilesheets in one location and then synchronize it to OneDrive. That way, the master version can't be inadvertently broken by another user doing a two-way or wrong-way sync; and the OneDrive version is also available for the iPads and the Androids.

Another headache was that for each changed song.cho, OneDrive had started making a song-computer1.cho, song-computer2.cho -- which became even more ridiculous as I would start getting song-computer1.cho, song-computer1(1).cho, song-computer1(2).cho. I do understand why this might have been useful to some users, but tracking these down and deleting them was difficult because I had utilized the "separate folder for each song" option in MobileSheets - a practice I have abandoned. For a short time the problem seemed to go away except with the db and hashtag files. AND THEN, Microsoft undid the whole synchronization of shared folders altogether.

Nonetheless, I think NextCloud will do the same thing, as it has extensive rollback tracking. The difference being, I pretty much have unlimited space on my own server, vs the "1gb" limit or whatever it is for free OneCloud.

As mentioned previously, we have two iPads that will only sync by device-to-device (and yet one iPad that works fine with OneCloud sync). I would like to be able to run these and the Androids with a NextCloud sync as well, but as noted I do not know their "root" location or whether the locations are user accessible.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I have temporary workarounds for most of these problems, but I've got a few laptops that have to be reconfigured and then I will have to use the MobileSheets OneCloud synchronization until I can get a NextCloud system up and running. Unfortunately, these include the one on which I build the master song database and the one that is my server during performances.

FYI, one of our users was just recommending a competitor program that will grab songs directly from Ultimate-Guitar and import them in cho format. It is also on a monthly license fee per unit, so our little no-income band would not be able to afford it, but it sounds like a pretty good feature. (I use an online chordpro converter, so it's only an additional step or two anyway.)

Thanks for listening.

Barry

[Zubersoft]

I may eventually support pulling songs directly from Ultimate-Guitar, but I would have to find time to write all the code to perform searches on the website and scour through the results and analyze the text on the pages to pull in the lyrics and chords. It's not a small undertaking.

As far as allowing the database to be copied outside the default storage location, yes, I could support having it copy out, but I can't really support having it copy the file back into the default storage location, as I don't want to have to set up a file monitor to try to see if changes occur externally and then forcefully replace and reload the database every time this occurs. It just opens up a can of worms that could result in outcomes that are undesirable for some users if I'm messing with the database like that. I'd much prefer to just wait until MobileSheets is converted to a normal desktop application so that I don't have all the same file restrictions. Then I could just store the database in the storage location with all the other song files and you could set that as your sync folder.

Mike

[basd]

If the dbs copied out during sync into the OneDrive folder, they would then be available to grab on the client computers and I can do the rest. I wouldn't mind if they were renamed "mobilesheets_clean.db" or the like so they wouldn't confuse anyone. Most people probably do not look at the OneDrive folder anyway and I can handle the rest at my end if I can just get the db files into OneDrive via the sync (since as I mentioned OneDrive no longer syncs the folder to the local computer -- but as far as I can tell, MobileSheets is interfacing directly with the cloud version? I don't think that has been impeded, as far as I can tell so far.)