SyncML with Outlook data loss?

[Aleksander_Adamowsk2]

Hi!

Did anyone try the following usage scenario for SyncML?

1. Set up MS Outlook (2002 in my case) + Funambol Outlook plugin
   (version 6.5 from http://download.forge.objectweb.org/sync4j/) using
   SIF format
2. Sync the calendar
3. Remove the MS Outlook folder that contained synchronized data and
   recreate it as empyy one
4. Choose “Recoved” in Funambol to replace all the Outlook data with
   data from the server.

In our case we have a strange symptom, where only 92 out of initial
636 calendar entries are synced from eGroupWare to MS Outlook.

That’s even if I clear the egw_syncmlsummary table in order to force full sync.

From that moment MS Outlook has only 92 items while it had 636 before
deleting the calendar folder.
eGroupWare has 636 items all the time.

–
Best Regards,
Aleksander Adamowski
http://olo.org.pl

---

This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser.
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/

---

eGroupWare-developers mailing list
eGroupWare-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/egroupware-developers

[Aleksander_Adamowsk2]

In our case we have a strange symptom, where only 92 out of initial
636 calendar entries are synced from eGroupWare to MS Outlook.

BTW, If I completely clear the egw_syncml* tables and set up the sync
from a different installation of MS Outlook (2003) with Funambol
(6.0.14), I still have the problem. I cannot force it to sync
everything from eGroupWare to MS Outlook.

I’m attaching a fragment of EGWSYNC logs (from Apache log) where we
can see that only 2 entries are sync-ed to MS Outlook. In that case,
554 entries were present in eGroupWare for that user.

Also reinstallation of Funambol Outlook plugin, with manual deletion
of its database files in “Documents and Settings\User\Application
Data\Funambol” ald clearing of its registry entries doesn’t help.

It seems to me that some sync-related data is retained somewhere else

• but where?

–
Best Regards,
Aleksander Adamowski
http://olo.org.pl

[Ralf_Becker_6]

Hi Aleksander,

it might be caused by the limited timeframe used for the sync. AFAIK one
month back and three into the future. You could have a lot older entries
which get not synced anymore.

Ralf

Aleksander Adamowski schrieb:

Hi!

Did anyone try the following usage scenario for SyncML?

1. Set up MS Outlook (2002 in my case) + Funambol Outlook plugin
   (version 6.5 from http://download.forge.objectweb.org/sync4j/) using
   SIF format
2. Sync the calendar
3. Remove the MS Outlook folder that contained synchronized data and
   recreate it as empyy one
4. Choose “Recoved” in Funambol to replace all the Outlook data with
   data from the server.

In our case we have a strange symptom, where only 92 out of initial
636 calendar entries are synced from eGroupWare to MS Outlook.

That’s even if I clear the egw_syncmlsummary table in order to force full sync.

From that moment MS Outlook has only 92 items while it had 636 before
deleting the calendar folder.
eGroupWare has 636 items all the time.

–
Ralf Becker
eGroupWare Training & Support ==> http://www.egroupware-support.de
Outdoor Unlimited Training GmbH [www.outdoor-training.de]
Handelsregister HRB Kaiserslautern 3587
Geschäftsführer Birgit und Ralf Becker
Leibnizstr. 17, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Telefon +49 (0)631 31657-0

---

This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser.
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/

---

eGroupWare-developers mailing list
eGroupWare-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/egroupware-developers

[Patrick_Bihan-Faou-4]

Ralf Becker a écrit :

Hi Aleksander,

it might be caused by the limited timeframe used for the sync. AFAIK one
month back and three into the future. You could have a lot older entries
which get not synced anymore.

Hi;

The actual time frame being synced is 1 month back and 2 years ahead. So
yes if your initial dataset contained “old” events these will not be
sent back on a recovery.

Patrick.

---

This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser.
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/

---

eGroupWare-developers mailing list
eGroupWare-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/egroupware-developers

[Aleksander_Adamowsk2]

Ralf Becker a écrit :

Hi Aleksander,

it might be caused by the limited timeframe used for the sync. AFAIK one
month back and three into the future. You could have a lot older entries
which get not synced anymore.
Hi;

The actual time frame being synced is 1 month back and 2 years ahead. So
yes if your initial dataset contained “old” events these will not be
sent back on a recovery.

Hmm it seems that this timeframe is imposed only in one direction.

Our scenario was:

1. Take existing MS Outlook PST with calendar events
2. Configure Funambol Outlook Plugin
3. Initiate normal sync - all 636 events (regardless of date) are sent
   to eGroupWare
4. Delete the Outlook folder, recreate as empty
5. Initiate recovery sync from the server - only 92 events are
   restored back to MS Outlook

Is this timeframe configurable?

Also, my guess is that the users expect that a slow sync should embody
all the events, regardless of any timeframes, as they see it as a tool
to bring databases on both devices to an identical state.

–
Best Regards,
Aleksander Adamowski
http://olo.org.pl

This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser.
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/

---

eGroupWare-developers mailing list
eGroupWare-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/egroupware-developers

[Patrick_Bihan-Faou-4]

Hi,

Aleksander Adamowski a écrit :

The actual time frame being synced is 1 month back and 2 years ahead. So
yes if your initial dataset contained “old” events these will not be
sent back on a recovery.

Hmm it seems that this timeframe is imposed only in one direction.

Our scenario was:

1. Take existing MS Outlook PST with calendar events
2. Configure Funambol Outlook Plugin
3. Initiate normal sync - all 636 events (regardless of date) are sent
   to eGroupWare
4. Delete the Outlook folder, recreate as empty
5. Initiate recovery sync from the server - only 92 events are
   restored back to MS Outlook

You did not say if the missing events are older than 1 month. Could you
tell us that ? If the missing events are not older than one month, this
is a bug that needs to be fixed, otherwise see below.

The funambol plugin does not put any limit on what it sends. Egw does to
preserve resources on the devices (think of phones with limited ram for
example).

Is this timeframe configurable?

Currently no. You have to edit the code to change that. The relevent
code is in syncml/calendar/lib/api.php and syncml/caltask/lib/api.php.

If you still have an older version of the code, you’ll need to also
check syncml/sifcalendar/lib/api.php

Also, my guess is that the users expect that a slow sync should embody
all the events, regardless of any timeframes, as they see it as a tool
to bring databases on both devices to an identical state.

SyncML is a tool to keep a device syncrhonized with the relevent
information. The code assumes that relevent means “not older than 1
month”… This should change, and I’ll make it configurable as time
permits, in the mean time edit the code.

Patrick.

---

This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser.
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/

---

eGroupWare-developers mailing list
eGroupWare-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/egroupware-developers

[Aleksander_Adamowsk2]

You did not say if the missing events are older than 1 month. Could you
tell us that ? If the missing events are not older than one month, this
is a bug that needs to be fixed, otherwise see below.

I’ve just checked that and you were right, it is.

There is a problem, though, but it seems that it’s in Funambol’s
logic. It’s more like a by-desing, intended behaviour, but counter
intuitive for the user.

After deleting the Outlook folder, if instead of slow sync ("restore"
option in Funambol) we use ordinary sync, the events from [-1 month,
+2 years] range in eGroupWare calendar get deleted, and nothing more
happens.

It seems that Funambol treats deleting the whole folder the same as
deleting all the contents of that folder. When the folder is missing,
Funambol recreates it as an empty one and assumes that the user has
deliberately deleted items from it.

I’m not sure if this can be reported to Funambol as a bug. I think it
would be fair if Funambol issued a warning in such case - what do you
think?

Anyway, as I understand it, the eGroupWare logic performs as intended, right?

–
Best Regards,
Aleksander Adamowski
http://olo.org.pl

---

This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser.
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/

---

eGroupWare-developers mailing list
eGroupWare-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/egroupware-developers

[Patrick_Bihan-Faou-4]

Aleksander Adamowski a écrit :

You did not say if the missing events are older than 1 month. Could you
tell us that ? If the missing events are not older than one month, this
is a bug that needs to be fixed, otherwise see below.

I’ve just checked that and you were right, it is.

There is a problem, though, but it seems that it’s in Funambol’s
logic. It’s more like a by-desing, intended behaviour, but counter
intuitive for the user.

After deleting the Outlook folder, if instead of slow sync ("restore"
option in Funambol) we use ordinary sync, the events from [-1 month,
+2 years] range in eGroupWare calendar get deleted, and nothing more
happens.

It seems that Funambol treats deleting the whole folder the same as
deleting all the contents of that folder. When the folder is missing,
Funambol recreates it as an empty one and assumes that the user has
deliberately deleted items from it.

I’m not sure if this can be reported to Funambol as a bug. I think it
would be fair if Funambol issued a warning in such case - what do you
think?

Anyway, as I understand it, the eGroupWare logic performs as intended, right?

Well these are edge cases. I would be enclined to agree with you,
however it is not strictly a bug.

Patrick.

---

This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc.
Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop.
Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser.
Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/

---

eGroupWare-developers mailing list
eGroupWare-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/egroupware-developers