Integrating FMEasySync

Having recently arrived at the need for a syncing solution for a pro bono database, my options were pretty much limited to “create your own” or use what’s free.

It turns out that FMEasySync, from Tim Dietrich, is very robust and powerful syncing solution. In fact, it was awarded the FileMaker Excellence Award for FBA Development of the Year in 2014 by FileMaker, Inc. It has also been integrated into a few of FileMaker’s own solutions, such as the Devcon Speaker Proposal database.

There are a number of developers using the solution, and its attention factor is on the rise.

As with all solutions and techniques created within FileMaker, the integration process is what will take you the most amount of time. The first time takes the longest, and once you’re familiar, you can typically reduce the time by quite a bit.

My problem has always been opening the source files, then figuring out where to start and what to do next. The answer to that problem has always been a step-by-step document.

Well, Tim provided that on his web site, but, I wanted something easier - and faster. So, with a small investment of time, I created a new tool called fmRecipes. It uses the freely available Base Elements plug-in in order to work with all the various copy and pasteable code. I reduced the amount of time for integration by quite a lot and can now integrate FMEasySync in record time.

Watch this video and use the fmRecipes database (available to subscribers) to quickly integrate FMEasySync into your own solution!

AttachmentSize
fmRecipes_1.1.zip1.64 MB

External links

Comments

Hello.
Did you notice anything wrong with FMEasySync on mobile (iPad)?
It stoped accessing the server.

Posted by: ricmag
Thu, 06/15/2017 - 3:46pm

Matt,

I am new to the FM world and I appreciate your videos....helps tremendously with the learning curve!

Can FM Sync be used in conjunction with the separation model? Is there anything I need to be aware of? I am trying to provide a solution that will be able to be used on an ipad realtime unless there isn't an internet connection.

Posted by: sgilleland
Tue, 12/16/2014 - 2:46pm

What a great tool. I guess I just found my new default syncing solution. Thank you Matt (and Tim)!!

Posted by: Pedro Lacerda
Wed, 12/17/2014 - 4:38pm

Wonderful tools (EasySync and Recipes). Thank you for this video.

I do a fair amount of family history research (FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, etc.) and am working on a solution that tracks my research. There are times when I have to go to an actual library, to look at actual documents and books, and taking an iPad, with only records for the people I am working on, is less cumbersome than a laptop. In this case the "primary" file isn't hosted, it's just on my laptop, but syncing would still be required. What modifications would be required to eliminate the "server side" script step, and just be able to sync.

A few friends have interest, but don't own FileMaker. Would this work with a runtime solution?

Thank you, again.

Posted by: plegler
Thu, 01/01/2015 - 11:39pm

I know it's using Perform Script on Server in some places so it would be a matter of understanding what it is doing in order to determine if you can use it locally only.

Sorry I don't know more.

-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor

Posted by: Editor
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 11:36am

Hi Matt

Is there a guide on how to use FMRecipes to create my own recipes?

Posted by: ibrahim_bittar
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 9:20am

I plan on making more documentation at some point, but for now it's just new records and having the Base Elements plugin installed. You can then copy all the various pieces you need and make them sequential.

There is a delta value within the popover which has three dots. That is how you control sequence. The file is really pretty simple.

-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor

Posted by: Editor
Mon, 01/19/2015 - 11:37am

I am unfamiliar with baseelements. Can you point me in the direct is how to get the xml code used to past objects or script code to clipboard?

Marcus
www.humanedevelopment.com

Posted by: Marcus Swift
Fri, 02/13/2015 - 8:49am

I have FM 13 Pro Advanced on a Windows 7 machine.

When I click on Copy to clipboard, your recipes file shows "Fields copied to Clipboard", but when I go into my DB, there is nothing to paste.

Anyone else having this issue?

Posted by: amandahbell
Thu, 03/26/2015 - 10:22am

Sorry about the delay. I had only created the file on Mac to show the video. I neglected to add support for Windows.

I've updated the file on this page so it should work with Windows now.

-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor

Posted by: Editor
Thu, 04/30/2015 - 4:43pm

Does the fmRecipes_1.1.zip file come unlocked?

Posted by: jwatson93
Sat, 03/19/2016 - 6:22pm

It should be.

-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor

Posted by: Editor
Wed, 03/23/2016 - 12:26pm

Hi,
Just started a project using fmeasysync/fmRecipes nice and easy to follow but.....I have encountered a problem "the attempt to push data to the server failed error "-2.1". I have looked around the error codes but at a loss to figure this one out, any suggestions?

Posted by: Gazza
Fri, 11/04/2016 - 4:09pm

Hello.
Did any one notice anything wrong with FMEasySync on mobile (iPad)?
It stoped accessing the server when using filemaker go 16.

Posted by: ricmag
Thu, 06/22/2017 - 12:10pm

Is this solution still supported for FileMaker 18? FMEasySync documentation doesn't appear to be available.

Posted by: edimate
Wed, 01/22/2020 - 11:40am

This does not exist anymore. I have read some recent devcon presentations on the topic from 2019 or 2020...it was recent. But, I would love to see a new video on nothing but syncing strategies!

Matt Lambert

Posted by: mattl320
Sat, 12/19/2020 - 4:14pm