More Mobile Software

Hello,

First of all thanks for the software provided !

I have Dive Log on my iPphone & iPad both on iOS 13.1.1
I have also Dive Log 6 on my Windows 10 laptop.
I played around using the desktop version. So far so good. I was able to do Wifi sync's between the desktop and either iPhone/iPad. Again, so far so good.

Now I tried this:
upload a logbook to iPhone using Wifi sync. Then I tried to sync between the iPhone and iPad using the iCloud sync.
The logbook is uploaded allright (well it says so in the app). But when I try to sync/download it to my iPad I get an error:
(translated) "new logbook is invalid. Your existing logbook will be used instead".
So there is no way to update, import or override it on my iPad.

When you speak about iCloud syncing. Is that a sync to ones personal iCloud ? Where is the file stored as I can't find any trace of activity on my iCloud filemanager?

Thanks in advance,
Have a nice day,

Tom

Hi Tom,

If you haven't already, please see the response that I made to your second post before reading this one as it provides some background that will be helpful. Specifically, it explain the difference between the two "synchronization" items on the Synchronize tab in Dive Log and explains why you are not seeing the logbooks you uploaded to iCloud from the iOS iCloud Synchronization" item in the Files app.

It seems like the steps that you took to migrate your logbook to your iPad from your iPhone should have worked if I understand correctly what you did. However, the message that you are seeing results from the file that Dive Log is trying to "Import" missing some of the accounting information that I mentioned in my response to your other post. This information should have been added when the logbook was initially uploaded by Dive Log to "iCloud" but it appears that it was not (I will look into this further). There is an issue in Diving Log 6.0 on Windows (that is fixed in the next update to Diving Log 6.0) that causes this accounting information to be missing when you sync to Dive Log and that might be the base cause of the issue (however Dive Log should have still added it).

In order to get you going, the following steps should work to get your logbook from Dive Log on your iPhone to Dive Log on your iPad:

1) On your iPhone, tap "Export -> Export active logbook" and select a location in iCloud to save the logbook file.
2) Wait a few minutes (this usually happens very quickly) to give the file time to migrate to your iPad
3) On your iPad, tap "Import - Import Dive Log logbook" and select the logbook that you saved in step 1

This *should* work (let e know if it doesn't). From that point forward you should be able to synchronize using that file by using the "Synchronize Dive Log Logbook -> Synchronize Dive Log logbook" item and selecting that file when prompted.

You should also be able to get the "iOS iCloud Synchronization" approach to work at this point by doing the following (assuming that you have not made any changes to your iPhone logbook since you did the steps above):

1) On your iPad tap on the "iOS iCloud Synchronization" item then tap "Edit" and then tap the "-" next to the logbook you previously uploaded fro your iPhone using this same method.
2) Now tap on the name of your logbook in the "UPLOAD ACTIVE LOGBOOK TO ICLOUD SECTION"
3) Wait a bit to allow the file to migrate to your iPhone via iCloud
4) On your iPhone tap on the "iOS iCloud Synchronization" item and then tap on the name of your logbook under the "LOGBOOK TO IMPORT/RESTORE" section to replace the logbook on your iPhone with the one you just exported fro your iPad (it will be the same other than the required accounting information having been added)
5) You should now be able to synchronize on both device using the logbook listed under "MATCHING LOGBOOK AVAILABLE FOR SYNCHRONIZATION" section.

Keep in mind that these two synchronization areas are completely separate. The logbook saved in one area is different from the one saved in the other so you can't Sync using "iOS iCloud Synchronization" on your iPhone and then retrieve those changes on your iPad using "Synchronize Dive Log Logbook -> Synchronize Dive Log logbook". However, you can mix and match the approaches as you like (including Wi-Fi Synchronization with Diving Log 6.0).

One final note, you can also get the logbook to your iPad directly from Diving Log 6.0 using Wi-Fi Synchronization if the cloud approach is still causing you problems.

If you are still having problems, please reach out via email (support 'at' moremobilesoftware 'dot' com) and we can perform some more detailed diagnostics about your situation.

Cheers,

Greg

Greg,

That is what I call support! Thanks for the detailed answer.

To resume :

- "Synchronisation iCloud iOS" is actually not meant for me since I don't have an Apple laptop running iOS.
- "Synchroniser le carnet Dive Log" ... is the way to go to interact between iPhone & iPad.

So, on the iPhone, I "exported" / "export the active logbook" - with the pre-suggested name (aka user name/surname) to a personal subfolder (ex. DiveLog) in my own iCloud.
On the iPad, I "imported" it...
All okay till here.

Now to sync between the iPhone & iPad I use now "Synchroniser le carnet Dive Log" and sync the file just created in my Icloud.
All okay till here.

To sync between the Windows laptop and iPhone or iPad I use the Wifi method.

Question; none of this can be automated? At least on iCloud level? Before I use either iPad or iPhone I have to go through the sync process to be sure to have the latest data.
Not a real burden, just a question.

Question 2: The Wifi sync seems to completely overwrite the existing logbook on the iPhone/iPad? At least it asks to use the new logbook. It is not an "incremental" update?

Thanks again !!

Hi Tom,

Those are all good questions.

- "Synchronisation iCloud iOS" is actually not meant for me
since I don't have an Apple laptop running iOS.
- "Synchroniser le carnet Dive Log" ... is the way to go to
interact between iPhone & iPad.

Actually, you can use either method between the iPhone and the iPad. If you are synchronizing only with Wi-Fi between the PC and your iOS devices the method you use between iOS devices does not really matter.

If you want to sync using a cloud service between the PC and your iOS devices you would then need to use the "Synchroniser le carnet Dive Log" approach. This is because the PC can not see the files saved in the Synchronisation iCloud iOS" approach. If you do want to do this, please let em know and I'll verify which update to Diving Log 6.0 you need to be using (I'm just not sure if the recent fixes where published by the developer yet). On the PC you'd use the "Web" button instead of the "Sync" button. You can use various services, but I find OneDrive or iCloud Drive works best.

Question; none of this can be automated?

No, unfortunately they really can't be. There are a couple of reasons for this. The biggest issue is related to how Apple's security works. We can not update a file that is accessible to other apps on other devices (i.e. via a cloud service) without the use specifically picking that file from a the file browser. So in order to support synchronization with 3rd party apps on the Mac and PC we can not automate the synchronization. The second reason has to do with the amount of data that needs to be uploaded/downloaded for a sync operation. The logbook file itself is a database and it is not possible to incrementally share parts of the database in such a way that it is compatible with apps on the PC (technically we could make something work, but it would require additional support in all the apps involved). By leaving you in control of when you actually initiate a synchronization you are able to manage your data usage and avoid expensive cellular data use the traveling. Dive Log's synchronization is quite sophisticated and can mange updates from multiple versions of the logbook file so there is no real reason to sync each change dynamically.

The only thing that you want to avoid when making changes on two device at the same time between syncs is to not update the same record (dive, location item, equipment item, trip, etc.) on two different devices as the sync works at the record level and will only take the complete most recent update to that record. However, if you wanted to add one dive on one device and a different dive on a second device and then sync later this will work. This way you want complete a full day of diving or even a full trip and just sync at the end of the trip.

Question 2: The Wifi sync seems to completely overwrite
the existing logbook on the iPhone/iPad?

Yes and No - The you use Wi-Fi Sync the actual work of synchronization takes place on the PC or Mac. Then the updated logbook is uploaded to the iPhone/iPad and replaces the previous version. So as long as you first send your iPhone/iPad logbook to the PC (Diving Log 6.0 does the sync during this step) and then send the result back the version of the logbook file that is sent to the iPhone/iPad will have the changes from both the iOS device and the PC. The we first added synchronization support in Dive Log it ran on the original iPhone which was far to limited in its capabilities to perform the actual synchronizations so we left that to the more powerful desktop computer. Since then iPhone have become capable enough to do the sync themselves and this is what happens in the iCloud case. However, there was no really good reason to change the way that synchronization to the desktop worked.

Hopefully that answers your questions. Please don't hesitate to ask any additional questions that you might have. I realize that all the options make this complex at first, but I think once you find the work flow option that works best for you you'll find that it is more manageable.

Cheers,

Greg