Hey Dave:
dhaupert wrote:...<snip>...An installation differs from a sync- it actually overwrites the device's version with the version you queue to install and does it BEFORE the actual syncing happens, so it's not something you should select in your case! ...<snip>...
I think I've had a pretty good understanding of how the "Install to .." works and, over the years, have opted to use it when I intentionally wanted to be sure that the then current desktop pdb version (usually that I had just finished adding to or correcting) would be written out to
the device.
Am I right? When you say
"so it's not something you should select in your case!" it is because the
"install to" does not work with "shared databases" because it will re-create a "copy" of the database in the device's folder? I'd then have the .pdb I wanted in the "SharedPDB" folder PLUS a new copy in, for instance, C:\Users\ShepJim\Documents\HanDBase\RazrEC
dhaupert wrote:...<snip>...Regarding the Custom User1, to the right of the user's drop down list (in the Open PDB screen) is a way to manage custom users. Here is where you must have set this up in the past. A custom user is setup for exact situations like this- where you have a folder or location for files that are being synced or used by a device, and you can set up a 'virtual user' that uses this folder, so that you aren't always prompted to install a file saved in that folder.
If I click on menu item "Configure/Sync" and then "Other/Custom Users" in the dropdown, I get a box entitled "Manage Custom Users". If I click the "Select Custom User" dropdown I see that "CustomUser1 ()" I'd mentioned. I see "CustomUser1" as the "User Name" but the "Path to PDB Files" and "User Type" boxes are both empty.
I'm not very clear about how you're saying Custom Users are used. Could I set the "Path to PDB Files" to point to the "SharedPDB" folder thus then being able to "install to" my shared situation?
Could you describe a scenario in which one would create a "custom user"?
----- update question added in AM edit ----
We had two lambs last night and I added them to the "BirthRecs" pdb on my Droid phone. I USB-synced the phone to my laptop this AM and afterwards accessed the "BirthRecs" pdb in the "SharedPDB" folder using HDB Desktop. I adjusted the widths of few columns, etc, and then clicked to close the database and was asked if I wanted to "...save these changes.." If I click "Yes" I'm then asked to "Select User(s) to Install File to..."
What should be my response? If I choose not to install will any data changes still be synced (thinking here of the fact that an install will overwrite where a sync will preserve the newest change(s). If I choose to install to BOTH my phone and the iPad (the two devices accessing the \SharedPDB\ I believe that NEW copies of the "BirthRecs" pdb will be written into the individual phone and iPad device folders and I will then have THREE, soon-to-be conflicting versions of the database. Is this where I could have a "Custom User" using the \SharedPDB\ folder and I could install the updated pdb to the Custom User ...thus continuing to have just the one shared version of the database?
----------------------------------Sorry for being so dense! Jim