TOPIC: Sync.com option not just dropbox

I am a fairly new paid up user and grateful for the free time spent using 2.2.1.
I want to urgently request that further syncing options are made available on the app particularly sync.com which I use instead of Dropbox.
Is this feasible?
Thanks
Dr S B. User.

samuk1000k wrote:
Hello all,

Actually, I would myself be thankful of a generic sync method that would not lock us to a specific provider. I sure am NOT fond of having to struggle with WiFi or USB connectivity to launch a manual process when all of my data outside TR is sync by SyncThing in the background, without effort from my part. By the way, this is how I sync TR between my desktop and my laptops.

To put it bluntly, sync as it is implemented now prevents me from even considering the use of the mobile app. It makes me feel that the mobile app is a second class citizen, what is a real issue for a tool that by nature I would like to be able to use seamlessly on the go.

* Hypothesis 1 - the mobile app is compatible with the file format of the desktop app
In that case, it is only a matter of exposing and documenting what folder needs be synchronized on the Android file system. Warn us about concurrent accesses in the same way it is done with current sync schemes, and let the user manage one's data. From there anyone could use SpiderOak, Syncthing, Bittorrent Sync, Owncloud or any other provider without additional work from your part. This is how I intend to use Syncthing to keep TR in sync between my desktop PC and my 2 laptops, for example. I can't tell if this scheme would be possible on iOS, since I know that iOS does not let one easily access the underlying FS. My guess would be that no, and another guess is that it may be the very reason we currently have no simple file based sync mechanism on Android. With Android having more than 80% of the market share today, I don't think that iOS flaws remain a valid reason to cripple Android apps down anymore.

* Hypothesis 2 - the mobile app uses an incompatible (stripped down?) file format/data store.
There are still many solutions. Implement a dropbox like scheme (up/down exchange) based on standard WebdDAV integration. Adapt the current dropbox scheme to use the filesystem (e.g. push "up" file to a sync'd folder, poll until it disappears or wait for a notification of deletion if supported, wait for the "down" file, process it, use timeouts and transactions to handle exceptions).

Best regards,
Xavier

Hello ThinkingRock developers,
I'm also using the paid version of ThinkingRock for years and really, really like it.
However I have a growing need for a current next actions and projects list on my Android.
As I'm using Linux, syncing with USB is clumsy and broken most of the time.
WIFI sync is only working right after a restart of TR (maybe something crashes when I suspend and wake my laptop) and needs a WIFI router. So it is not an option when traveling.
For several reasons I cannot use dropbox.
SyncThing is great however, as DetunizedGravity already mentioned.

I'm really frustrated at the moment as TR really suits my workflow but I cannot use it without a laptop or workstation (which looks rather dorky in the hardware store) or I have to use some lists outside my GTD trusted system, which kind of undermines the completeness paradigm.

Out of desperation I'm even considering Emacs org.mode and taskwarrior -- they are by far not as GTD suitable out of the box but they bring a rather easy mobile integration...

So please change the dropbox sync mechanism to use simple files in a definable directory rather than the dropbox API so that we can use any service!

I'd even pay (again) for an upgrade with this functionality!!!

On a side note, please be honest, Claire: is ThinkingRock an abandoned software project or is there still any development ongoing?
The great number of forum posts without a single reply and the long time since the last update make me sad when I think of one of my most used programs where I depend upon rather heavily...

Hi Xavier,

I've found a description how the sync process is done: http://www.thinkingrock.com.au/index.php/2013-11-22-06-54-04/faq/74-devsync/235-android-dropbox-sync.

The mechanism itself is not depending on any dropbox specific feature.
Mobile app creates a file "syncup-timestamp.txt"
TR senses its presence, processes it and creates another file "syncdown-timestamp.txt"
After the mobile app senses its presence, it reads it in and deletes both files.
So basically only create and delete files is used. And time-stamps as part of the file names.
Question is how closely they must be synchronized.

Do you have an idea, maybe an Android service that emulates the dropbox API and acts just locally?


Another way would be to reverse engineer the sync file format and write an alternative mobile app. But I doubt that this will be easy...
Since we're talking about a "trusted system" here, it must be stable enough and not corrupt any data.

After months without any support here, I've found a way that works for me.
1) Use QTodoTxt for your next actions on the desktop
2) Use SimpleTask Cloudless on your Android devices
3) Use SyncThing to synchronize your todo.txt.
4) For all Reference and Project stuff, I'm using zim-wiki. Syncs well with SyncThing too and can be used e.g. with "Papyrus Ex" on Android as well.

Yes, it is not as feature complete like ThinkingRock, especially the project related features are more bare-bone, but it is a clean, simple, and vendor independent solution, which just works.

I'm sad to say that after being a happy TR user for years, but Claire did not even respond to my question if TR was actually abandoned...

Sorry Christoph for replying so late. Because I was not looking very often at the forum, I was afraid to look as I knew there will be many postings to look at. It is now something I want to change and check more often.
ThinkingRock is not abandoned but I am not a developer so it is hard to get new functionality developed. We are about to release version 3.7 which will allow users to delegate actions and receive an automatic reply when the action has been done by the delegate. That functionality was sponsored by a company but they have allowed us to share it with all users.
The mobile app needs to be re-written so it is a big commitment. I will try to get another sync method implemented. Syncing through dropbox is very easy and as the synced files are only temporary on the dropbox, we thought it will be a good solution.