Getting to know GoZync
GoZync ships with two sample files in addition to the GoZync framework itself. In the folder Local, you'll find "Mobile.fp7" which will eventually be the remote file on your iPad, and in the folder Host. you'll see "Invoices.fp7" which acts as a placeholder for your hosted solution: the file your data will end up in.
Using these two files, you can start playing with GoZync and see how it works before you integrate it into your solution. Check out this map of GoZync before returning here to start playing around.
Entering your GoZync License
You received an email when you purchased GoZync and this contains your license code. (If you're playing with the demo you can skip this section as there is a license in there for you already).
You'll need to enter your license into GoZync.fp7 (in the Hosts folder) before you can start using GoZync.
Learn how to enter your license... Adding Licenses ...before returning here to start playing with GoZync.
Playing with GoZync in FileMaker Pro
You can use GoZync locally to see how it works.
1. Open Mobile.fp7,
GoZyncConnector.fp7, and Invoices.fp7. You'll see some sample data in Mobile. Select one of the invoices in the left hand side bar and then click the green "Upload" button at the bottom of the screen.
2. When it's done, take a look at the inbox tab of
GoZyncConnector and you'll see that you've uploaded that invoices as a
document.
3. Now select that document in the inbox and click "Process Selected..." and you'll be sending that document into Invoices.fp7.
That is the basic way GoZync works, though it is much more impressive when Mobile is running in FileMaker Go.
As you're integrating GoZync into your files, you may want to work like this-- with both Mobile, GoZyncConnector, and your solution on the same machine-- rather than uploading things to your server.
Checking it out using FileMaker Server
Next you'll likely want to serve the files in the Host folder.
1. Quit
FileMaker and upload these to your
FileMaker Server. You're just playing around now, so you can
secure the files if you want, or do that later.
2. Once the files from Host are on your
FileMaker Server, open Mobile.fp7 and change the file references in Mobile to point to your served instances of
GoZyncConnector and
GoZync.
From
FileMaker's menus select File / Manage / External Data Sources... and edit each of the two sources shown (one for
GoZync and one for
GoZyncConnector).
Replace "yourserver.com" with the name or IP address of your server. Do that for both the
GoZync and the
GoZyncConnector references.
Then close
FileMaker Pro.
3. Now change the name of the folder "Host" to "xHost". This will temporarily break Mobile.fp7's ability to find the local versions of the
GoZync files, so it willl instead look for the ones on your server. (You have to do this when all the relevant
GoZync files are closed.)
4. At this point you can repeat the steps from "Playing with GoZync..." above, this time uploading invoices from your local copy of Mobile.fp7 to the served instances of GoZyncConnector and Invoices.
Playing on FileMaker Go.
Now that you've pointed your copy of Mobile.fp7 at your server, you're ready to place Mobile on your iPad and see how this really works. Once Mobile is on your device it can download new copies of itself, but you'll need to get it there manually the first time: either email the file to yourself and check that mail on your iPad, or use iTunes to drag the file over to your iPad. (Make sure Mobile.fp7 is closed before you do any of this.)
Once Mobile.fp7 is on your device, you can resume the "Playing with GoZync..." steps at the start of this article; , this time uploading invoices from your iPad copy of Mobile.fp7 to the served instances of GoZyncConnector and Invoices.
Downloading New Mobile Files.
The last thing to check out is how Mobile can download new copies of itself.
1. With Mobile.fp7 closed on your desktop, make sure you still have an "x" in front of the name of the Hosts folder as described above: this will make sure you upload your new copy of Mobile to the server instead of to
GoZync on your desktop.
2. Open Mobile.fp7 in
FileMaker Pro on your desktop and from the layout menu, navigate to Under the Hood / Utilities / New File Prep.
3. Click "Prep File and Upload" and you'll be sending a new file up to
GoZync so your mobile users can retrieve it. This is how you'll deliver new builds to your users. Note that you'll have the option to delete all the data from Mobile as part of this process--you'll likely want to do that when you deploy, but for testing it can be nice to have some un-uploaded invoices in there to play with so you don't have to manually make them on your iPad.
4. Once the new version has been successfully uploaded, head over to your iPad and click "Check for New Version" in the lower left of Mobile's screen. Note that you can't download a new version while you still have unprocessed records in Mobile, so use
FileMaker's built in menus in the lower right of the screen to delete all the invoices from Mobile. Now click "Download New Version"
Next Steps.
Now that you've gotten a sense for how this works you can start integrating this with your own file. Instructions can be found here: Integration.
Enjoy!
