Microsoft Sync Framework : FeedSync

Synchronization of Browser Favorites using FeedSync and the Microsoft Sync Framework

liamca — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:12:00 GMT

In this favorites sync sample, we will look at a simple provider that synchronizes favorites (maybe between different folders on a computer). We will then extend that to producing and consuming FeedSync feeds, so that favorites can be easily synchronized between computers.

At first, creating a new provider and figuring out how to make it sync can be a little intimidating. In order to help you through the process, we will walk through the creation of a simple provider that can sync between directories that contain Favorites. We will start first with the metadata store that the provider will use, since considering how metadata will be stored is the first step a provider writer should take when writing a provider. On top of this, we will build the provider, which will provide our actual sync capability. Then, we will use this provider to produce and consume feeds so that we can share our favorites between computers.

MIX 2008 Recorded Session - Using Microsoft Sync Framework and FeedSync

liamca — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:39:00 GMT

At the recent MIX 2008 conference in Las Vegas, Neil Padgett presented the Microsoft Sync Framework.

This session is now online and in it you will learn:

Why it is important to be able to take data offline.
How Microsoft Sync Framework can be used to used to take this content offline and how the open FeedSync protocl can be leveraged.
How Microsoft Sync Framework can integrate sync into SQL Server Data Services to enable data to be synchronized to a highly scalable, on-demand data storage and query processing utility service.
What is Project Codename “Astoria Offline” and what it promises for taking web services offline

The session is available in multiple formats including:

Don't forget to catch us at TechEd 2008 and PDC 2008.

Please visit our sync developer center to learn more about Microsoft Sync Framework.

Liam Cavanagh

Synchronization of FeedSync Compliant Feeds such as Atom and RSS

liamca — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:07:00 GMT

FeedSync defines the minimum extensions necessary to enable loosely-cooperating applications to use XML-based container formats such as Atom and RSS as the basis for item sharing. One of the guiding principles of FeedSync is to reinvent as little as possible—hence the use of Atom and RSS for exchanging FeedSync data. It is expected that there will be additional container format bindings for FeedSync in the future. FeedSync is useful in any scenario that uses Web protocols and data representations such as RSS and Atom to exchange information with the Web services and between peers where there are no inter-item dependencies and item can be synchronized as a whole entity.

The FeedSync spec can be found at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/xml/bb510102.aspx.

FeedSync and Microsoft Sync Framework

Microsoft Sync Framework is the platform and runtime for adding synchronization roaming, and offline capabilities to applications, devices, and services. The Sync Framework includes support for FeedSync, and we envision several ways that FeedSync can interoperate with the Sync Framework, including:

When you want to publish or consume the contents of your data store in the form of an RSS or Atom feed, with minimal changes to your application. This is helpful when there is an existing ecosystem of Microsoft Sync Framework endpoints which synchronize with each other and you want to bridge this ecosystem to a Web service or to another synchronization ecosystem. In this case there needs to be a mapping between the data store’s data and metadata, and a FeedSync representation of that data and metadata.
You wish to synchronize a set of data that is entirely represented by an RSS or ATOM feed. An example of this may be if you wish to write a calendar application that stores its data in a feed format for publishing.

To solve the first problem, Microsoft Sync Framework supports FeedSync feed producer/consumer APIs, which makes it very easy to produce or consume a feed from a particular data store. Those APIs completely hide the synchronization nature of the producing/consuming process. They also handle remapping the metadata to and from FeedSync, while allowing you to implement a simple interface which handles the remapping of the data. See the Feed Producer and Consumer APIs in the Microsoft Sync Framework documentation for more information.

The second problem requires a lower level set of sync services that are able to perform metadata translation between Microsoft Sync Framework and FeedSync representations. We’ll call these services “core FeedSync interoperability sync services”. See Sync Services for FeedSync Components for more information.

Andrei & Aaron

CTP1 Refresh Now Available for Download

liamca — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:01:00 GMT

A CTP1 refresh of the Microsoft Sync Framework has been added to the Microsoft Developer Center.

New in this CTP1 refresh is full support for producing and consuming RSS and Atom feeds using the FeedSync 1.0 specification. Please visit the FeedSync site for more information on this protocol.