Pineapple Sync

This project is dead

2010-01-02T04:10:00.000-08:00

My iphone dies and i dont want spend more time work for apple just because she does not give support to my system setup. Switching to another mobile platform (probably android).

Script+gui works for a time sync my notes with tomboy and camera roll to folder.

overloaded...

2009-06-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

I have some things to do here, but im overload in my work and im also wait to install fw3.0 and avoid double work (re-work for fw3.0). Next week we come back : )

tomboy sync 95% done

2009-06-02T03:51:00.000-07:00

After many many many bugs fixed and 2 logics to sync data, i have the tomboy plug-in almost done.

The trick part was something related with date. Iphone use a different timestamps (unix count seconds from 1-jan-1970, iphone count from 1-jan-2001) ... but no problem.. solved.
Name collision in tomboy its fixed (no more angry tomboy complain with multiple screens) but we can loose data in the collisions. Im gonna fix that better.
Merge notes stil not done yet! if note got changes on both sides, we simple do not sync for now. Im looking for tools to merge (or i have to write a code to merge notes)

As soon i finish this plugin 100%, im gonna move to detail the sync app, that make connection between iphone and plugin. Imagine the HTTP/CGI scenario... browser is the iphone, apache is the sync program and CGI script is the sync plug-in. In this scenario, i can have many plugins, that dont need to understand iphone ip, network or whatever. They are isolated/protected, and can focus into sync process. But i gonna write down that only after finish this plugin.

The files are here (sync.pl and sync.db) Instructions to install and test you can get here (remember to backup notes.db and tomboy data folder before)

First tomboy sync

2009-05-26T01:39:00.000-07:00

Its not finished, but its close to be! many bugs yet to finish and many to-do in the code yet to protect from disaster soo... Use at your risk, make backups (tomboy folder and notes.db) before proceed. I am not responsible for any loss of data. : )

Prepare to sync:

Create a folder and put sync.db and sync.pl
copy sync.db to sync.empty.db (just a backup in case you need re-start)
close tomboy
backup your tomboy data folder ( ~/.tomboy/ )
open tomboy
pray to do not have tomboy notes with same title as iphone notes (i did not fix title collisions yet)

To sync:

close notes app into your iphone
Copy notes.db from your iphone (at /User/Library/Notes) to your computer
run sync.pl (you see lot of debug and actions)
run sync.pl again (now you see no note to change)
copy notes.db from your computer to your iphone
open notes app into iphone

I still have some issues to fix:

Notes with changes in both sides (tomboy and iphone) are not synced (i have to add merge logic).
New notes with same title in tomboy and iphone enter in title collision. Tomboy do not like that! I have to handle this.
I dont know why, iphone create timestamps different than perl-sqlite module! The weirdo thing is iphone understand the date, but do not sort the notes correctly

have fun : )

Research tomboy notes sync

2009-05-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

soo, lets try first to make my first plug-in and then move to GUI/connection tool. I did not think now how to get notes.db from iphone or how to upload to iphone. For now, i just copy notes.db from my iphone and work local

To make it clear to understand, let me explain my setup and tools im using to sync.

i use bounjour/avahi in my ubuntu and same in my iphone. soo, i dont need know what hell is the internal IP of my iphone. i can use iphone name in any point of my ubuntu calls. in fact, to copy my notes.db, i just opne nautilus and enter sftp://mobile@neyfrota-iphone.local/User/Library/Notes into location (just replace neyfrota-iphone to your iphone name). Im gonna use this trick to make connection easy (but this is a gui problem and not plug-in problem)
To view, and crate sqlite databases, i install sqlitebrowser (click to install)
To edit perl files i use Komodo edit, but you can use vi hehehehehe
to interact with notes.db, im using sqlite perl module
to interact with tomboy, im using DBUS. in fact, this is the first time i learn about dbus, and, in my opinion, its veeeery nice! I read the pyton examples, check how to use DBUS with perl and do the same in perl. its easy, not big problem.

Soo lets start. My sync tool, for now, need read notes.db using sqlite, read tomboy using dbus and do the magic. To control what notes i need to sync, im gonna use another sqlite table to write down informations about what note i need sync and what direction. Because i have lot of notes in my tomboy, im just sync tomboy notes belong o iphone notebook.

you can get the 2 files now (sync.db and sync.pl ). At this point you need notes.db in the same folder. its not working yet (only add new notes from note.db to tomboy) , but ok to check code and get some insights : ) Im gonna try to comment better as possible

in future, all sync-plugins will talk to main GUI app in the same way CGI work. I did not think all points now, but im gonna know as soon i got this plugin working. This is the reason why i leave plgin in command line level only. Plgin develeoper do not need think about how to connect to iphone, how to deal with gui, just need ask for files, send commands, send files and all this commands will be placed in std-in std-out

let me try to do this sync.pl work! maybe i have this ready in next week, so we can move to next step (or next bugs HAHAHAHAH)

Master plan

2009-05-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

I brainstorm a LOOOTTT before organize how the things will be (and i already know all points) after many days think, i organize the main points.

because im perl spoken guy, im gonna use perl to do. With perl i can use perl-gtk and i know will work in any perl-gtk system. also in perl i have dbus , sqlite and many modules to help in my way
i need work with plug-ins. i cannot handle all work and i know the world is big with lot of people with opinions different than mine. Create a simple GUI application that handle iphone connection and user interface and leave what-to-sync in plug-in (in fact not plguin but a CGI interface) leave space to make things simple organized and open for people do whatever they want. I can make better way to connect to iphone without brake ay plug-in
i like simple gui app! i prefer gnome over kde, gnome over windows just because its simple. In fact, i'm gonna use my mother as ideal-user. If my mother can sync, i know all others average users can sync too.

Now that i know the main points, lets attack one by one. Instead start from the main GUI app, i'm gonna start from bottom to top. First i need to know what i need in sync-plug-in level, then i'm gonna use my problem (sync gnome tomboy with iphone notes) as research and see how big is the problem

Lets start!

2009-05-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

The problem
OK. I have a problem and im gonna work for a solution. I have one pineapple brand iphone but no tools to sync with my ubuntu laptop, then i start research a way to do that.

The solution
soo, instead complain, i decide to do some scripts to sync my iphone to my ubuntu. To help others i decide to make-it public from the early stages. I dont have too much free time (lot work to do and many personal things to do) but i try to save all sundays to research, code, de-bug this project and gonna share all my painfull trial-and-errors patern here.

Why to do from scrach?
Because i cannot find anything done. yes we have another good sync tools like conduit and even a notes to tomboy sync tool (i cannot find now) but all this options do not fit in "what is possible" and "simple view" that i think.... sooo.. im doing my way! (heheheh)

About me
I never write any desktop app. Im work in sysadmin playground and hard web developement. i speek portuguese, perl and then english. for more, click here.