Syncing Field Definition and Layout Changes

Mobile apps usually have a very different look and feel than their desktop counterparts (simpler layouts, larger buttons, and only a small subset of the corresponding desktop solution’s features). But some GoZync customers want to keep their hosted and mobile file schema identical (layouts, scripts, tables, fields, etc.), and they want to do that without having to always make the same changes in both files. This way they can build new features in their hosted file and then peel off new mobile copies as the new features are ready.

This is easy to do with a little bit of extra prep work when integrating GoZync. Here’s how…

A typical GoZync integration involves making different modifications to the hosted and mobile files, and over time they will evolve independently with ongoing development. If you’d rather keep them identical, make the modifications described in both the “Preparing your hosted file” and “Preparing your mobile file” sections in our one-page integration tutorial … and make these mods in the same file (your hosted file).

Here’s what that looks like:

So, in addition to all of the hosted-file elements, you’ll also:

1. copy/paste the “gz” table from WorxMobile
2. copy/paste the “GoZync” scripts folder from WorxMobile
3. copy/paste three additional “gz_…” fields for each table being synced
4. copy/paste the “Sync” and “Check for Updates” buttons

Then whenever you want to distribute a new copy of your mobile file, you’ll:

1. save a backup copy of the hosted file and pull it down to your local machine
2. rename the backup copy to match that of the original mobile file
3. move it into the same folder as GoZyncMobile
4. run the “Prep And Upload New File” script from that new mobile file to upload it to GoZyncHosted (it will then be available for your mobile users to download and start using).

If you’re new to GoZync, it distributes new mobile files to your users, making sure they have no unsynced changes before replacing their old mobile file. It’s very cool and you can learn more about this here: distributing new mobile files.

If you need help making these changes or just want to talk about syncing your files, please get in touch: we’re here to help.