Hi,
I'm new to SQL Server Technology and am trying to learn how to create a Mobile Device application and to sync it with a desktop application that uses Access. I have found a lot of information but some of it doesn't seem to make sense.
I found this blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlservereverywhere/archive/2006/08/29/729730.aspx which is the announcement of Access Database Synchronizer (ADS) CTP. I downloaded it and installed it with all the prerequisites. This is the part i can't understand:
"The CTP setup installs the desktop component required for synchronizing Microsoft Access database with SQL Server Everywhere Edition database on the device."
I cannot seem to find the desktop component to try out! The Readme shows you how to pull and push data but i can't see where the desktop data sync wizard is located. Should there be something installed on my desktop that i can see?
Also, there doesn't seem to be much help or examples around on this component as yet. Can anyone point me in the right direction for examples, help, or tutorials on this.
This paragraph also confuses me:
"Note: As of today only SQL Server Mobile Edition is available for devices. SQL Server Everywhere Edition whould be available for devices at time of SQL Server Everywhere Edition RTW whihc is planned for November 2006".
Does this mean SQL Everywhere won't work on mobile devices until November?
Sorry for all the questions but i'm still trying to learn this stuff so i can write my application for Windows CE. Thanks in advance.
Hi
Let me just give you a brief overview here. ADS is a solution which helps to synchronize a Access database on the desktop with a SQL Mobile/SQL Everywhere database on a device. There is no UI associated with the dektop component of ADS. The desktop component just listens for syncronization requests from a client (device with SQL MObile/SQL Everywhere) and performs the required actions.
Generally the applications written to utilize this soltuon would reside on the device. ADS Wizard is one such sample application we have provided along with source code to helpdevelopers write thier own applications.
If you have installed ADS at the default installation path, you will find the ADS wizard at the following path
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server Everywhere Edition\Access\Sample\AccessSync
Just open the .sln file in Visual Studio, build and deploy the solution on a PPC device and you are ready to go. Please read the "redme.htm" for more details
Hope this helps. If you have any more questions let me know
Regards
Manish
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Hi,
Thanks for your reply. I have got the sample working now with an emulator and can sync a test.sdf database with an access database on my desktop. So far so good!
I have another question though....Is it possible to create an application on the desktop to do the same thing or can this only run from the device? I want to create an application on the desktop that can read the SDF file on the device and sync it with the access database on my desktop. The reason for this is that the user must have options to select certain criteria of data to put onto the device. I may need to extract the selected data from my main Access database to a temporary database then push that to the device. Then when the user has used the device for the day, they just cradle it then run this application which syncs the data back to the temporary table. Then the application copies this data back to the main database as it needs to update certain fields, not just synchronize the entire database.
Does this sound possible? I have tried connection strings like below but it doesn't seem to work.
Dim conStringDevice As String = ("Data Source=Mobile Device\Test123.sdf")
m_connDevice.Open()
I just get an error: "The Path is not valid...Path = Mobile Device\Test123.sdf"
The device is connected and cradled and ActiveSync is running. I can use VS2005 to connect to this database no problems. Can i do this programmatically?
Thanks
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"Mobile Device" is only for Designers to differentiate between device and desktop connection. The runtime bits does not really understand this. To simply say, try removing "Mobile Device" Prefix.
Thanks,
Laxmi
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I tried removing "Mobile Device" and it still doesn't work. Surely there needs to be some reference to where the file is stored?
The ADS sample makes reference to the access database stored on "C:\" and the SQL database as just "Test123.sdf". But this is run from the Mobile device and picks up the local file. If run from the desktop, how can i reference to the mobile device file "Test123.sdf"?
|||Ok to put this simply....Can an ADS application be created to run on a dekstop to pull and push data from and to the mobile device? As i stated before the sample runs on the device itself, but i want to write an application to run on the desktop. Can someone please help?|||
"The_Nod", did you ever find any resolution to this problem? I am in the exact same place you are/were right now? I'm trying to control the sync from a desktop app as well.
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Hi mhawb,
No unfortunately. I was writing an application for Windows mobile 5.0 which was to synchronize with a desktop application that is still using an access database but i stopped doing it all together. I found problems with synchronizing as the field type were a lot different than the Access database and thought it couldn't be done that way.
I was going down the path of actually copying the SDF file from the mobile device to the desktop (as you cant read the SDF file directly from the desktop), then writing an application that manually updated the data to the Access Database. I found something called OpenNETCF which uses RAPI to copy the SQL databases to and from the desktop device. Here is a link to RAPI on MSDN: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-US/library/ms837846.aspx
Hope this helps. I stopped doing this project as i couldn't find the time. I may get back into it soon so if anyone has any better ideas and any ADS examples that would be great.
