[missing-sync-palmos-talk] Erratic iCal & Treo 650 Sync Accuracy

[Brian M. Criscuolo]

Aaron,

On Jun 21, 2006, at 5:53 PM, Aaron Mahler wrote:

>
>  Hello!
>
>   I purchased a license for the Missing Sync a few days ago based  
> on the plethora of good reviews and a suggestion from a friend who  
> is a satisfied user. I wanted to ditch the Palm hotsyncing tools  
> and use of Apple's Sync Services, especially since I just upgraded  
> to a MacBook Pro 17" and am wanting Universal apps wherever possible.
>
>   I use DateBk 5 from Pimlico Software on my Treo. It sits on top  
> of the existing Palm calendar and task databases, so it doesn't  
> require any special conduits and I've never had issues in the past.
>
>   At first I thought everything was working perfectly, certainly  
> far better than my prior Palm Desktop experiences (over the course  
> of three generations of the Treos these last few years).
>
>   Last night I created a To-Do item in iCal and set an alarm on it  
> (Message with Sound, 15 minutes before on Same Day). I synced right  
> afterward but noticed the To-Do on my Treo lacked the alarm, so I  
> wasn't going to get an alert.
>

Are you looking at the To-Do in DateBk 5? Try viewing it in Palm's  
Tasks application. We do support the alarms.

>   To make a long story short, I've not yet been able to get a To-Do  
> item I make in iCal with an alarm to sync and include the alarm  
> parameters on the Treo. To-Do items I make on the Treo with alarms  
> also do not appear in iCal with alarm parameters.
>
>   Calendar events I make in iCal do sync with the alarms for the  
> most part. But, unfortunately, as I experimented I started running  
> into even more bits of strangeness. I found that some events I made  
> in iCal simply did not appear on my Treo after syncing. Doing a  
> second sync, however, would usually make them appear. Some events I  
> made in iCal appeared on the Treo as "New Item" which is iCal's  
> default text until you change it. It was fully defined in iCal with  
> a title, but synced as New Item.
>

The reason that they don't appear on the first sync is that it may  
take a while for iCal to sync the data to Sync Service's database.  
This generally only happens when the app (iCal) is switched to the  
background, or at some other unknown time. Also, there may be a  
slight delay with the sync completing.

When you get the default title, it is often because some of the other  
event data has synchronized but the entire record hasn't.

>   Another clue I've gotten along the way is what appears to be a  
> sort of time delay between use of iCal and syncing affecting with  
> the accuracy. When you're making tests and immediately syncing, you  
> tend to do it at such a pace that there is only a few seconds  
> between quitting iCal and telling your Treo to sync. In many of  
> those cases I had missing calendar items or incomplete items on my  
> Treo after the sync. A second sync, however, would usually cause  
> them to appear like they should have the first time.
>

Yes, that's the delay in iCal synchronizing.

>   Similar to this, some items I made on the Treo would not appear  
> in iCal after syncing and then immediately opening iCal. Closing  
> iCal, however, and re-opening it again a moment later would make  
> them appear (more or less complete, I think). I've always quit iCal  
> before doing a sync (just in case that was a factor).
>

This forces the sync one last time.

>   During all this testing I've done things like delete my task and  
> calendar databases on the Palm and then doing a sync to force iCal  
> to provide all the data "fresh" to the Treo (hoping to eliminate  
> database errors on the Treo side). That didn't fix anything. After  
> that, I went through the steps in the knowledgebase to simulate the  
> equivalent of a conduit's Handheld Overwrites Desktop (clearing  
> iCal, backing up the cleared calendar, restoring the calendar and  
> option-clicking the conduit to set an advanced option before the  
> sync). iCal came up blank after the sync, but closing and re- 
> opening it caused all the data to appear.
>
>   Since that time, it appears that calendar items are a bit more  
> reliable in terms of syncing... but it doesn't seem to be 100% yet.
>
>   However, I still cannot get a To-Do item in iCal to sync WITH its  
> alarm settings.
>
>   I did notice, however, that a To-Do I just made on the Treo with  
> an alarm appeared in iCal without the alarm settings - but the note  
> field had this:
>
> [---11:30 s000.... ]
>

Yes, you're definitely using DateBk...I think. We don't put anything  
in the notes.

b


>   which happens to be the 11:30 AM alarm setting on the To-Do item  
> on the Treo.
>
>   Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be happening?  
> Has anyone experienced anything similar?
>
>   I think I've summarized all of my testing which has been pretty  
> consistent and methodical (problem solving is a big part of my job,  
> so I tend to approach things fairly scientifically in this regard).  
> If I've missed something, let me know.
>
>   My system is a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.4.6, Missing Sync 5.1.0  
> (131), and Treo 650 with DateBk 5.4a, S6.
>
>
> Thanks!
>  - Aaron
>
>
> -- 
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>
>
>
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********************
Brian M. Criscuolo
Senior Software Engineer
Mark/Space, Inc.
bcriscuolo at markspace.com
<http://www.markspace.com>