Remote/child databases, synchronisation

[André Fischer]

Hello,

I'm currently evaluating different frameworks for the development of a
CRM application, and this is how I stumbled onto web2py, which I find
_very_ impressive.

One of the big draws of web2py is its "no installation" feature,
because we have the following need:

We want to have a "central" version of the application, running at the
office, and the possibility for users with laptops to run "local"
instances of the application.

In order to do this, they would have to take with them a local copy of
the database, preferably a subset, and then be able to synchronise the
changed data when they return to the home office.

Also the application, ideally, should be able to detect whether to
work on the "master" or the "child" database.

I hear that something along those lines might be possible with Google
Gears? Am I wrong? And does web2py support such a setup? (I imagine
having to write specialised controllers that log changes to records
before and after, and figure out which fields changed, but that's
okay, I think.)

Any information would be appreciated, especially as it looks like
web2py is (for now) the tool that best fits our needs -- if there's a
way to do this synching, then it's a definite. :)

Kind regards,

André Fischer

[mdipierro]

This can certainly be done using uuid and xmlrpc. For a one table
example there is a database synchronization appliance on
http://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/appliances

It is not the end of the story but it is a place to start.

Massimo

[André Fischer]

Ah yes, I saw that as a starting point. So our application could just
assume having to work in "local" mode if the rpc call fails, and sync
if it succeeds. That way, there would be no need to go mucking around
with Gears - I had a look at the dev pages for it, and it seems rather
complex.

Thank you for the prompt reply, and kind regards,

André

On Sep 15, 4:07 pm, mdipierro <mdipie...@cs.depaul.edu> wrote:
> This can certainly be done using uuid and xmlrpc. For a one table

> example there is a database synchronization appliance onhttp://mdp.cti.depaul.edu/appliances