Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5应用程序开发同步Windows PC

Question

What is the best alternative to synchronize an app on Windows Mobile 6.5 with SQL Server Compaq with an php aplication on a PC server. The phone does not always have internet access beacouse coverage issues, also can be connected to a PC via USB.

The data are in a table in SQL Server Compaq on the phone, the data are text and a number, associated through an identifier. This is updated from time to time where there is no internet connection. Then this data update a database in SQL Server 2008 on a server that has internet access. There is also the possibility to update the phone's data table from the server to add more data to be updated in the field.

I hope you understand me because English is not my native language.

I was thinking of using exchange to send emails with updated data or use a service like dropbox to keep an updated file and that file is processed. Which approach is better?

I hope you can guide me. thank you very much.

Answer 1

If you are running a SQLClient on the CE device that connects to a SQL server, the best solution is to use the SQL synchronization options. This is also called RDA, see for example: http://etutorials.org/Programming/building+solutions+with+the+microsoft+net+compact+framework/Part+II+Essential+Architectural+Concepts/Chapter+7.+Data+Synchronization/RDA/

If the databases on the device and on the server are not connected, the automatic ID generation on the device and the server create different unique IDs. These will result in a conflict, when you update the data from multiple sources. If you do not need to handle conflicts with multiple sources updating the same database, you may simple send the updates between the server and the client and vice versa on regular intervals using http GET/POST or simple socket server/client.

Usually sometimes disconnected devices use http or another network protocol to pull and push updates. Files are rarely used for push/pull updates.

As you used the php TAG for this question too, using http with a php server with a database in the background, you can use php to extract data sent via GET/POST and also provide data back to the device using xml (or another format).