Using iFamily with Dropbox

[jlmurphyiii]

I'm using iFamily 2.500.

I would like to use iFamily with my desktop and my laptop, which I travel with. I would like to be able to put the essential data files in a "cloud" location like Dropbox, and then point each computer at that information. Is this possible? If so, what files would I have to put in Dropbox, and how do I let iFamily know where to look?

Thanks.

[cdew]

I'm no expert, but you can change the location of the iFamily data files by clicking File / Move Data Directory when there are no databases open.

That dialogue allows you to chose a folder to become the parent directory of the iFamily data, and it appears to also include mounted disks and networked computers. Of course you'd have to be careful if you selected a networked location, as iFamily would not be able to find your data if the networked location wasn't available. I'd find that a bit dicey. I guess you could choose a folder on the local copy of your iDisk, then set up a sync schedule on each machine, though.

Personally, I'm yet to get my head around the intricacies of syncing and I finally turned it off because it seemed to be a never-ending merry-go-round. When we went on a recent research trip with the Macbook, we just copied the data file and the Pictures & Reports folders from the Mac's iFamilyData folder to the iFamilyData folder on the Macbook before we left, then reversed the procedure and copied the same file & folders back to the desktop as soon as we got back home, before entering any data on the desktop. The downside of this method, of course, is that you have to make sure you've always got the most recent copy on the machine you're working on before you start entering any data.

The iFamily data file ends with the file extension ".FtkSql" and is whatever name you gave it when you started the file. (For example, iFamily ships with "ROYAL92.FtkSql" as the demo file, and that file will be in the iFamilyData folder along with your current data file and any gedcoms you may have imported into iFamily.)

There's probably an easier way of doing this which long-time users of iFamily would likely know. I've only been using this fine program for a few weeks myself.

Hope this helps

Carol

PS - The copy back & forth method we use assumes you've selected the option to copy pictures into the Pictures folder; if not, you'd need to make sure the folder structure to any pictures was the same on both machines, else you'd get the "can't find the pictures" dialogue when opening the file. That probably opens several cans of worms; for example, if you associate a picture while working on your desktop without chosing to copy it to the iFamily/Pictures folder, and that picture is on your desktop under users/JoeDesktop/Pictures, then that's where iFamily will always look for that picture. If your username on the Macbook is JoeMacbook instead of JoeDesktop, iFamily won't find it because users/JoeDesktop/Pictures won't exist on the Macbook. I guess if the usernames were the same on both machines, then it would work. Again, too new at this to know!

[Warwick Wilson]

Personally, while programming, I like to keep my workspaces on my 8 GigaByte flash drive. I'll then point both my laptop and desktop editing software, to read from the removable disk. (In this case your workspace would be your Users/username/iFamilyData/ folder, containing your FAMILY.ftksql your Gedcoms and your photos, and your software would be iFamily).

My actual copies off of the USB Drive are then only for backup purposes, mostly when major revisions have been made. This also gives me a basic method of versioning and although there are better ways to do this for programmers such as CVS, I find this tried and true method to work well enough for my purposes. There is sometimes a bit of a mess but that can easily be spring cleaned occasionally.

I'm not sure how this would go with iFamily and Macs as up till this point I have not really used an apple since the Apple2E, having stuck to solaris and windows. I am of course rapidly becoming yet another mac convert. Does anyone want to try this out and let me know, I don't think i'll have a chance till Tuesday. (Please Backup first if you are thinking of doing this).

With regards to Dropbox, if it is synching over your local files it should be able to sync to the default directories Users/username/iFamilyData/ on each computer, (if they've got a different username), only if it is a local setting. If the path you are synching to is stored on the Dropbox server this may not work.

[jlmurphyiii]

Thanks for the responses. I'll give the move data file method a try and see how it works out.