Microsoft Sync Framework : Sample

New Code Sample: File Synchronization with a Simple Custom Provider

LarenC — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:41:00 GMT

Do you have data in a custom format that you want to synchronize with a directory in the file system? This new code sample shows you how to use Sync Framework to do just that.

This sample shows you how to:

Write a simple custom provider that represents your data store.
Implement a data transfer interface that can send and receive data between your data store and the file synchronization provider.
Configure the file synchronization provider to represent a directory on your computer.
Synchronize between your custom data store and the directory you identify.

Download the sample from MSDN Code Gallery and try it out: File Sync with Simple Custom Provider Sample.

New Sync Framework Samples

LarenC — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:11:00 GMT

We have lots of new samples on Sync Framework Code Gallery. These samples demonstrate some of the most important and exciting features of Sync Framework 2.0. If you are new to Sync Framework or are looking for ways to write code to solve your synchronization problems, chances are we have a sample that can get you started. Here are some of the highlights:

Sync101 Samples

This set of samples illustrates various concepts and features needed to synchronize a custom data store, such as:

Sync101 with Simple Providers, which shows how to write a basic synchronization application that uses simple custom providers.
Sync101 with Constraint Conflicts, which shows how to write a standard custom provider that uses Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) to synchronize data between replicas on different computers.
Sync101 with Custom Filtering, which shows how to track custom filters and how to use a standard custom provider to send changes from a filter-tracking replica to two different filtered replicas.

Database Synchronization Provider Samples

This set of samples illustrates various concepts around using database synchronization providers to synchronize between SQL Server databases and SQL Server Compact databases, such as:

Database Sync: SQL Server and SQL Server Compact, which shows how to use database synchronization providers to configure and execute peer-to-peer synchronization between a SQL Server database and one or more SQL Server Compact databases.

File Synchronization Provider Sample

This sample shows how to use the file synchronization provider.

File Synchronization Provider Sample, which shows how to use the file synchronization provider, a fully functioning provider that helps an application to synchronize files and folders in NTFS, FAT, and SMB file systems.

New Sample - WCF for Devices

liamca — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Two of our MVPs (José Miguel Torres and Cesar Fong) recently posted an excellent end to end WCF sample for devices that’s worth a look. They did an excellent job of describing the various components and it is a must see for developers thinking about getting their feet wet building offline applications for Windows Mobile. Thanks again to Jose and Cesar for contributing these samples to the community!

http://synccomm.codeplex.com/

Regards,

Sean Kelley
Program Manager, Microsoft

New Sample - Sync101 for Windows Mobile Devices

liamca — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:22:00 GMT

We have just posted a new Sync Framework sample for devices to our code gallery entitled "Sync101 - (Windows Mobile) Device Synchronization".

This C# sample is meant to show how to use Microsoft Sync Framework on smart device such as Windows Mobile and to illustrate the "remote change application" (RCA) pattern over a web service (between a desktop PC and a smart device).

The current release of "Microsoft Sync Framework for Devices" does not contain the Metadata Store service. Because of this the provider on a device needs to implement the necessary metadata management functions in a type named "MyProviderMetadata". This sample shows how this can be accomplished. Using this sample the provider on desktop will still uses the Metadata Store for an easy approach.

For more code gallery samples please visit our Sync Framework Code Gallery page.

Liam

New Sync Samples - Sync101 Updated for Sync Framework v2.0 CTP1

liamca — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:17:00 GMT

For those of you who have already downloaded the new Community Technology Preview (CTP) for Sync Framework v2.0, you may find it helpful to also check out the latest version of our Sync101 samples updated to reflect the new features of the release.

One of the newest additions to Sync101 is a new sample that makes use of the Sync Framework Simple Provider API now part of v2.0. As you will see in this sample ("Sync101 using Simple Sync Provider"), the Simple Provider API makes it simpler then ever to create providers as it gives developers a lot of the power and flexibility of the core Sync Framework APIs, but with less of a learning curve and less code, especially for replicas that have little or no change-tracking support.

This and other samples can be viewed by going to the Sync Code Gallery at http://code.msdn.com/sync.

- Liam Cavanagh

3 (more) New Sync Samples - Sync 101 for Sync Framework SDK v1.0

liamca — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:56:00 GMT

We have a couple more synchronization samples for you to take a look at. These C# samples are based on Sync101 which is a sample template that allows us to show specific concepts relating to Sync Framework. All of these samples have been updated to work with the latest v 1.0 release of Sync Framework SDK .

I am particularly excited about the remote change application sample (RCA) as it has been a common request to understand how to integrate Sync Framework with technologies like WCF and enable a service to manage the server provider componets of the Sync Framework.

Each of the samples use the the SQL MetadataStore store for the metadata information for each replica database. This greatly simplifies the logic required to implement data synchronization between data stores. In these samples three in memory data stores are used to show how data collaboration can be accomplished and how the Sync Framework helps to minimize P2P complexities such as data conflicts / resolution and data deletions.

The following are the samples that were just added to the Sync Framework Code Gallery.

Sync101 with Metadata Store v1.0
This sample uses the Metadata store to show the basic concepts that are required when building a Sync Framework application and illustrates many of the core concepts such as synchronization providers and the synchronization orchestrator.

Sync101 RCA with Metadata Store v1.0
Expanding on the previous sample, this samples outlines the "remote change application" (RCA) pattern used over WCF.

Sync101 with Change Units
Expanding on the first samples, this sample illustrates how a data store can use change units to partition data and send only data that has changed. This sample also illustrate explicit transactioning (batched instead of per-update).

Liam

2 New Sync Samples - Download Only & Adapter Builder

liamca — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 02:09:00 GMT

We have just posted the following two new samples to the Sync Code Gallery today for Sync Services for ADO.NET v2:

Download Only Sync
This sample demonstrates two-tier download-only synchronization using Microsoft Sync Services for ADO.NET v2.0. The sample solution is composed of two projects: Client, which includes the UI form, data access code, and synchronization agent code for Sync Services; and SampleServerSyncProvider, which includes server synchronization provider code for Sync Services. For more information, see the code comments that are included in each file.

Sync Adapter Builder
This sample utility demonstrates how to create synchronization commands by using the SqlSyncAdapterBuilder in Microsoft Sync Services for ADO.NET v2. The sample solution is composed of one project that includes the UI form, data access code, and SqlSyncAdapterBuilder code. The SqlSyncAdapterBuilder is typically used at run time to generate synchronization commands, which are in the form of SQL queries. This provides an alternative to writing these commands manually at design time. In this sample, we use the SqlSyncAdapterBuilder to output synchronization commands. You can output commands that work with SQL Server change tracking (available in SQL Server 2008) or a custom change tracking system. Running this application enables you to see how the commands are structured, and to copy those commands for use in applicatons where you will specify commands manually.

Liam

Sample - SQL Express Client Synchronization using Sync Services for ADO.NET

liamca — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:40:00 GMT

We have just posted a new sync sample to our Code Gallery that demonstrates how to enable offline data collection applications to synchronize a SQL Express client database to another SQL Server database using the Synchronization Services for ADO.NET library. In this scenario, SQL Express client databases can be used as client databases to a central ADO.NET enabled database. Unlike the existing peer-to-peer synchronization SQL Express provider sample which you may have seen, this sample is optimized for a hub-and-spoke topology.

In this sample, two tables (orders and order_details) are on the server database and also on the local client database. The sample synchronizes edits to these table to keep their data identical.
This sample demonstrates:

Using SQL Express to cache changes for a client application.
A customized SQLExpressClientSyncProvider class that wraps around Microsoft.Synchronization.Data.Server.DbServerSyncProvider.

I would like to point out that even though we have done a fair amount of testing in house with this sample, it is still only posted as a sample. In the future we certainly plan of including a fully supported version of a SQL Express client provider within a future release of Sync Services for ADO.NET.

With that, we certainly want to hear your feedback on this sample and please feel free to post comments to our Sync Services for ADO.NET forum.

Liam Cavanagh

New Sync Framework Tutorial

liamca — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:26:00 GMT

I have submitted a new C# tutorial which introduces you to the Microsoft Sync Framework by walking you through four sample Visual Studio projects. Each project builds on its predecessor with increasing complexity.

Since we are trying to make sure we have all the key concepts covered in this tutorial, I would love to hear your feedback on it, specifically if there are other areas that you think we need to cover in this tutorial.

Sync101 With Metadata Store – Demonstrates a basic provider for an in-memory data store (replica) that uses the SqlCeMetadataStore class to store the metadata in a SQL Server Compact Edition database.
Sync101 Refactored – Factors out the replica-specific code from the code common to any provider in preparation for the next step of adding an additional provider. Also uses a more flexible transfer mechanism class to allow accommodation of more complex schemas.
Sync101 Add Xml Provider – Adds a new provider that represents a data store comprised of XML files.
Sync101 Add Csv Provider – Adds a new provider that represents a data store containing Comma-Separated Values (CSV) files and also uses XML configuration files to specify the transfer mechanism class properties and the property mappings between providers.

Please go here to download this sync tutorial.

Liam Cavanagh

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.

Sync Samples - New Microsoft Sync Framework Code Gallery

liamca — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:16:00 GMT

We have created a new MSDN Code Gallery site for the Microsoft Sync Framework to show off some of the sync samples that we have been working on. So far we have uploaded the following two samples:

Sync101 - Getting Started with Sync

A great resource for getting started with Sync Framework & SQL Compact Metadata. In this sample we show synchronization between three in memory data stores, higlighting data collaboration, conflict detection and custom conflict resolution.

Outlook Sync Sample - Contact Synchronization

A more detailed contact synchronization sample, highlighting synchronization between Outlook, Vista Contacts and VCard files. It shows the concepts of data mapping between disparate data sources.

If you have any ideas or existing samples that you think should be added to the code gallery, please feel free to pass them on to me and I will make sure they are added.

Liam Cavanagh