Microsoft Sync Framework : Windows Mobile

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

Now Available - Sync Services for ADO.NET on Windows Mobile (Devices)

liamca — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:38:00 GMT

We are now announcing the availability of v1.0 Service Pack 1 of Sync Services for ADO.NET on Devices (Windows Mobile).

"Microsoft Synchronization Services for ADO.NET 1.0 provides the ability to synchronize data from disparate sources. Rather than simply replicating a database and its schema, the Synchronization Services application programming interface (API) provides a set of components to synchronize data between data services and a local store. Applications are increasingly used on mobile clients, such as laptops and devices that do not have a consistent or reliable network connection to a central server. It is crucial for these applications to work against a local copy of data on the client".

"Equally important is the need to synchronize the local copy of the data with a central server when a network connection is available. The Synchronization Services API, which is modeled after the ADO.NET data access APIs, gives you an intuitive way to synchronize data. It makes building applications for occasionally connected environments a logical extension of building applications where you can count on a consistent network connection".

Synchronization Services for ADO.NET 1.0, which released with Visual Studio 2008, enabled synchronization between a server database and a SQL Compact 3.5 client database running on a desktop. With this download, you can also synchronize between a server database and a SQL Compact database on a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 device.

Sync Framework for Windows Mobile (Devices) - CTP1

liamca — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 05:40:00 GMT

Right on the heels of our launch of Microsoft Sync Framework v1, we have just posted our first CTP for Microsoft Sync Framework for Devices.

As of right now, you can download this CTP for Windows Mobile from the Microsoft Download Center.

As we have shown in previous webcasts and conference demos, this is great for enabling synchronization from devices to data stores such as SQL Server Data Services or even corporate web services. Perhaps even to write an offline SmugMug application for synchronizing your device photos with your SmugMug account.

Not to be confused with the previous CTP release of Sync Services for ADO.NET for Devices (a component of the Sync Framework) that is specifically meant for synchronizing an ADO.NET enabled server database with a SQL Server Compact device database, this CTP release of Sync Framework for Devices includes the Core Sync Framework runtime that gives the ability to exchange information with any data store or file system on the device, and not just SQL Server Compact databases.

This release contains only the core sync engine you would find in “synchronization.msi” in the PC release. Other features such as the metadata store and file sync provider are not included: some of the omitted features don’t necessarily make sense on devices, others will appear in a future CTP. We are looking for feedback on which are which. In particular, we want to know: what are your scenarios for using the different aspects of the Sync Framework on a device?

We also decided to produce the CTP for a limited platform set: Windows Mobile 5 and 6 for ARM processors. Supporting this subset allows us to give a CTP usable by a very large percentage of mobile developers while still limiting the test matrix for this first CTP. We expect to expand the supported devices and platforms for RTM and we are considering the scope of that as we go forward.

So what exactly is in this release?

Microsoft Sync Framework core runtime

Managed (.NET Compact Framework) and unmanaged/native (ARM)

Supported platforms are Windows Mobile 5 and 6 (ARM processors only in CTP1)

Installer with Visual Studio integration

Support for adding a reference to the Sync Framework in a mobile project using Visual Studio 2008

As always, we look forward to your feedback on the Sync Framework Forum.

Liam

Using Notifications to Enable Background Synchronization

liamca — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:28:00 GMT

Once in a while I get asked if the Sync Framework supports background synchronization based on network states. To this question I usually respond, that there is no direct support within Sync Framework to do this, however there are a lot of existing API's to help you enable this.

One example of this is the State and Notification API's (SNAPI) built into Windows Mobile to monitor network activity. Using this API, you can embed functionality to monitor the network state and initiate background synchronization based on connectivity. You can see an example of this in a notification sample I wrote about a year ago.

Within the API you are able to determine which type of network is available (e.g., Cradle, GPRS, WiFi, etc). With this information you might choose to optimize your synchronization. For example if you had a fast WiFi connection you might choose to synchronize all of your information. If you had a slower GPRS connection you might choose to only sync your most important data.

I have also started hearing from people that have been looking into Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) as a method for implementing background synchronization on desktops and laptops.

There are certainly a number of other great API's available to help optimize your application and on this I would love to hear from you. If you have worked with any API's that you think are particualarly useful in a mobile environment, let us know.

Liam Cavanagh

Video - Building Offline Enabled Applications

liamca — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:02:00 GMT

At TechEd 2008 Developers in Orlando a number of our mobility specialists and Microsoft MVP's got together to discuss the concept of building offline applications for mobile and remote users. In this panel we discussed various concepts including optimizing data synchronization, scalability as well as techniques to improve the user experience of your mobile applications.

You can view this video recording in various formats here:

Building Offline Enabled Applications [MP4] [WMV Hi] [WMV Lo]

Panel Members:

Ginny Caughey - Microsoft MVP, Wasteworks
Steve Lasker - Sr. Program Manager, Microsoft SQL Server Compact
Rob Tiffany - Microsoft Mobility Architect
Rob Relyea - Architect, WPF Team
Liam Cavanagh - Sr. Program Manager, Microsoft Sync Framework

Synchronization to Hosted Services and an Explanation of the Bill Gates Keynote

liamca — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:28:00 GMT

As Tim commented in my last post (and a number of others at the conference), the Bill Gates Sync keynote was really impressive, however it was somewhat hard to understand exactly what was going on and the components that were involved. I thought I would discuss some of the details behind this demonstration in this post.

The first thing that I should mention is that all of the synchronization was accomplished through the use of the Microsoft Sync Framework. The three key endpoints that we were synchronizing were SQL Server 2008, SQL Server Data Services and a Windows Mobile file system. As many of you know, the Sync Framework enables virtually any topology whether that is Peer-to-Peer, Multi-Master or Hub-and-Spoke. In this case, the topology used was Hub-and-Spoke and as you can see in the diagram, all of the information from SQL Server and Windows Mobile was being consolidated into SQL Server Data Services. For those of you that do not know what SQL Server Data Services is, it is a highly scalable, on-demand data storage and query processing web services which is built from SQL Server code.

I really like how SQL Server Data Services was used as the central data store to consolidate all information from all end points. For many organizations (in particular Small and Mid-Size Businesses [SMB's]), setting up high availability connectivity, firewalls, authentication, security, etc can be quite a challenge. By using SQL Server Data Services all of this is done for you. For those organizations that are willing to host their information, implementing mobile applications using SQL Server Data Services becomes a lot easier.

The demo started from a web site where people could submit news articles directly to SQL Server Data Services. From that point the Sync Framework would send content to offline SQL Server 2008 data stores. One of the cool things David showed in the keynote was the ability to then use some of the new data types such as Spatial and Geography to analyze content and display it in the local application.

In the final part of the demo, Moe took a picture on his Windows Mobile Tilt phone. He then used the Sync Framework to take the picture and upload it from the device to the central SQL Server Data Services database through a cellular data network. As a side note, for those of you who have ever tried doing demonstrations using data networks in front of large numbers of people, you will likely agree that it is quite nerve racking to put your faith in the stability of the data networks. But then again the instability of data networks is a key reason we look into offline, isn't it?

From that point the image was downloaded to the offline SQL Server 2008 database. One of the really cool parts about this was the fact that we integrated file systems (in this case Windows Mobile) with databases to enable us to move binary data to and from disparate data stores and file systems. In fact, this is quite similar to what our new Sync Framework partner Ontella does to enable pictures to synchronized from mobile camera phones to their PC, email, and favorite imaging sites.

Another part of the demo that people really seemed to appreciate was the background synchronization built into the local application. Based on network connectivity the application would periodically initiate a Sync Framework request to check for new data from SQL Server Data Services and download as appropriate. A number of people have asked how we did this, but ultimately I wish we could take credit for this but much of this has already been implemented into Windows and Windows Mobile through things like the State and Notification API's and the Line of Business Accelerator. I do agree that we can make this a lot more obvious and we certainly will look into providing these components to make things much easier for developer to just drop into their applications.

Liam Cavanagh

Mobile Development using the Windows Mobile Line of Business Solution Accelerator 2008

liamca — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:54:00 GMT

The Microsoft mobility team has just released a new mobile development platform to help build Line of Business (LOB) applications for the Windows Mobile platform. The Release to Web (RTW) version can be downloaded at the Microsoft Download Center.

Some of the key features include:

Adapt your App :: Create a single binary that runs unchanged on Windows Mobile Standard or Pro, Portrait or Landscape, Rectangle or Square. No more wasting time building separate executables to accommodate different screen sizes or input methods.

Sync Services for ADO.NET :: Synchronize your data between SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server Compact 3.5 using the new Sync Framework. Keep all your occasionally-connected mobile workers on the same page.

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Store and Forward :: Reliably push messages to servers or other devices via Exchange Server 2007. Programmatically notify peer devices that they have new orders waiting for them and need to sync.

MapPoint :: Guide delivery drivers to their customers via either the shortest or quickest route. Integrated mapping means you’ll never get lost again.

LINQ :: Use the new Language Integrated Query to filter results from Generic Object Collections. Query both your objects and XML using a familiar, SQL-like syntax to boost developer productivity.

Custom Controls :: Capture signatures and dazzle your end-users with 3D and Alpha-blended controls that alter their behavior depending on the platform they’re running on.

Managed Stored Procedures and Triggers :: The pluggable data layer allows you to say goodbye to compiling Dynamic SQL inside your code and fires events to react to INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations.

Notifications and Online Help :: Formerly only supported on Pro, say hello to Popup Notifications and Online Help on Standard. Popup Notifications, also known as “toast,” display an HTML message and then disappear after a pre-determined amount of time. Using Online Help on every screen reduces your applicationtraining costs.

Language Switching and Localization :: Change Language/Regional Settings inside your app and watch text and Online Help speak a different language. Don’t wait until your application is finished to realize that it needs to be world-ready.

Time to Market :: Stop reinventing the wheel and use this Accelerator as the foundation for your next Windows Mobile development effort. If you don’t want to use the whole thing, pick and choose the components that are the best fit for your project.

Liam Cavanagh

Sync Services for ADO.NET on Windows Mobile - CTP1 Now Available for Download

liamca — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:50:00 GMT

Wow, what a day for sync. First we released CTP2 of the Microsoft Sync Framework and now the much anticipated first CTP release of Sync Services for ADO.NET for Devices supporting Windows Mobile.

As many of you know, Sync Services for ADO.NET is part of the Microsoft Sync Framework family of synchronization technologies. This specific Sync Services for ADO.NET for Devices release enables application using SQL Server Compact on Windows Mobile to synchronize to a ADO.NET enabled database servers such as SQL Server, Oracle or DB2.

This release includes the same N-Tier data synchronization capabilities that you have found in the Win32 version of Sync Services for ADO.NET v 1.0. At the download center you are also able to download a sample that shows how the concepts of data synchronization in an N-Tier scenario enabling synchronization through corporate web servers in to your backend ADO.NET enterprise data source.

For more information on the Microsoft Sync Framework or Sync Services for ADO.NET, please visit our Sync Developer Center.

We are really looking forward to hearing your feedback at our sync forum regarding this release.

Liam Cavanagh