quine and sync.com

[Jennifer Stock]

Hello! I am an avid TiddlyWiki user and for a few weeks I believe I had set up a successful solution for saving using Quine and a folder on my Sync.com account.

Now I am noticing that, for the last week or so, I am unable to get a fresh copy of my wiki from the Sync folder on my iphone using Quine. I can grab it if I go into the Sync app and ask it to open the file with Quine, which then adds it to its imported files list. But this breaks the connection with the Sync app and any changes I make on my iphone will stay on my device in this imported file.

When I ask Quine to bookmark the Sync folder that contains my wiki, it says "0 bookmarks created." I can bookmark the file itself, but I don't see where that is stored.

I am a bit lost. :)

[Quine]

Hi Jenn,

Thanks for the question. I'd not come across Sync.com before - so just tried it out. It worked for me, from my iPad, so some recommendations...

1. Open Quine and navigate to your sync.com Files folder

2. Tap the "Create Wiki" button

3. Allow Sync.com time for the new file to be synced to Sync.com - it seems that it does not make the new file available until it has made its' way to the cloud

4. It should open in Quine - it did for me, as soon as syncing was complete

5. Close your new wiki - you are taken back to Quine's file browser and the Sync/Files folder

6. Your new wiki file may, or may not, appear there - Sync.com seems to take time reflecting the new file's existence; you can exit the Files folder and re-enter it to hurry it up

7. Re-enter your Sync/Files folder and your file should appear - maybe with a cloud-download icon, which you can tap to encourage the download

I did see significant lags with Sync.com - I am on a fast network, so it is unusual to see lags.

If in doubt - try the same process in an Apple App, like Pages, or Numbers etc. The procedure above was the same for me with Pages as with Quine.

I hope this helps - but please let me know how it goes.

Chris.

[Jennifer Stock]

Thank you, Chris! 

I created a new wiki file in a test folder per your instructions above. It worked, although I needed to delete the test folder from my Sync folder on my desktop Mac once I had edited it on my iphone in Quine in order to get Sync to fetch the updated file.

I'm seeing a different behavior with the wiki file that I have been working with. Quine seems to be loading a cached version of the wiki, and my clicks on the cloud download icon are of no avail. Attached are some screenshots. It says that it is not in a Quine sandbox. Could that be a problem? 

[Quine]

Hi Jenn,

Re "cached version": I am guessing you mean that changes to a file elsewhere are not landing on iOS fast enough? If so it could be to do with some delay in the way Sync syncs. I just tried their "Sync Offline" setting for a wiki file to see what that does - but couldn't really see any functional difference. I've tested the same for Pages versus Quine; same outcomes.

"Bookmarks" are not a factor for what you are doing; they are just a way to make external file links work from wikiText; they are only possible for what I call "well behaved" cloud file providers. The sync.com file provider is not "well behaved". It's an odd problem with no work-around as far as I can tell; I think it stems from vendors building "file providers" with files stored locally without a provision for using relative file paths; Dropbox, Box, OneDrive,...all cause us to suffer from this problem; iCloud and a few others work really well. Someday I'll take that time to figure out how to write a "well behaved" file provider myself, and write about it somewhere.

Cheers - Chris.

[Jennifer Stock]

I mean the changes to the Sync file are never landing in Quine. It seems "stuck" on a version from Sept 21, although when I view the same file in the Sync app, it says (accurately) that it was updated on the 27th. 

I feel like this might be resolved if I could "delete the cache" in Quine. I've tried deleting and re-installing Quine, but it keeps showing me the 9/21 version of the wiki file that is being synced successfully to all my other devices in my Sync "Files" directory.

Do you think I should try to access the "private/var/mobile/containers" directory on my iphone and try and do some deleting?

[Quine]

Hi Jenn,

There's no real notion of file caching in Quine; it accesses files identically to other Apps on iOS, including the Apple Apps, like Files, Pages, Keynote, etc. Quine sees exactly the same files that are seen in those Apps, at the same time. Any syncing to/from Sync.com is handled by the Sync.com App. I just tried reading and writing to sync.com via Quine, and via Pages - as well as modifying both accessing Sync.com via the web on another device. I get identical (weird) behavior no matter which App, or file type. I can't really put my finger on what Sync.com is doing; behavior changes slightly when "Sync Offline" is set, but it is still mysterious. For reference, most other cloud services work as expected when it comes to file sync. The only issues I've seen for Quine is, for some cloud file providers, when trying to make external file links with relative paths from wikitext. Dropbox has been VERY fussy for a while; locking up periodically for ALL Apps. 

I hope this helps.

[Jennifer Stock]

Interesting. Yes, this is helpful. I appreciate the support. 

Not to derail this thread, but what would you say are the best-behaving cloud services for use with Quine? I really don't want to use Dropbox or iCloud.

[Quine]

Aside from iCloud, which works consistently:

- If you DON'T need, or want to make wikitext links to external files then any of: Google Drive; Box; OwnCloud; NextCloud;

- If you DO need, or want to make wikitext links to external files then "Working Copy" (syncs with Github),  "Resilio Sync" (syncs between devices).

I plan on putting some time (coding) into this topic again soon - as it is overall frustrating that the second list is so short (and nerdy). I've not had the requisite flash of inspiration on how to solve it yet though.

Thanks for persisting,

Cheers - Chris.