6 replies to this topic

[braintoniq]

Is it possible to sync the SC Reference files through something like iCloud or Dropbox?

If so, is it just a matter of moving the entire Spell Catcher folder in Application Support over to Dropbox?

[Evan Gross]

braintoniq, on 29 November 2011 - 04:11 PM, said:

Is it possible to sync the SC Reference files through something like iCloud or Dropbox?

If so, is it just a matter of moving the entire Spell Catcher folder in Application Support over to Dropbox?

iCloud: Hopefully it will be possible. Still investigating what will be involved. The questions that are out there are largely unanswered. Main one is whether iCloud support will be possible from Mac OS X apps that are not available in the Mac App Store. At this time, the guidelines are restricted to self-contained apps. No input methods (stand alone or in conjunction with another app) are allowed. So Spell Catcher can't be approved for the MAS. If that's (always going to be) the case, and iCloud support requires MAS availability, it's not going to be an option for Spell Catcher.

Like I said, there are no firm answers at this moment. Believe me though, folks (developers) are asking whether iCloud is MAS only or not.

Dropbox: Possible - some I know have used it to sync Spell Catcher. Limitations are numerous. It's more involved than just moving the entire Spell Catcher Application Support folder to where Dropbox syncs things. The main limitation is that Dropbox has no API to tell applications that a file they "own" has been synced. As well, it syncs files that are currently open by creating a new file with a different name. Since Spell Catcher always keeps its (reference) files open, if a file is synced by Dropbox while Spell Catcher is running, it can't/won't update its contents when Dropbox syncs it. So you get a renamed copy of the file, and have to manually do the necessary "juggling" to properly get things in sync. The only good way to sync Spell Catcher files is therefore to Quit the Spell Catcher app before syncing with Dropbox. Too much to remember IMO, but that's what the folks that use it do.

I'll be looking at it to see if there's anything that can be done, but I honestly don't know how/what will work.

I'll keep folks informed on any news/developments regarding the sync issue.

[braintoniq]

Thanks for the reply and update.

Is there a how-to to sync with Dropbox? If not, some questions on the Dropbox method:
- do we just quit SC, move the the entire Application Support folder over to Dropbox, and then use the "Add References" + button in the Reference tab of the SC preferences to point to the new location?

- To verify that we're using the latest Dropbox sync, do we simply quit SC and restart it ?

thanks for this help.

[Evan Gross]

braintoniq, on 30 November 2011 - 12:41 PM, said:

Thanks for the reply and update. Is there a how-to to sync with Dropbox? If not, some questions on the Dropbox method: - do we just quit SC, move the the entire Application Support folder over to Dropbox, and then use the "Add References" + button in the Reference tab of the SC preferences to point to the new location? - To verify that we're using the latest Dropbox sync, do we simply quit SC and restart it ? thanks for this help.

I have a beta tester that's used Dropbox to sync Spell Catcher. I personally have only played with Dropbox itself a little, and (more importantly) read their developer documentation. He's on the forums, I'll see if he can reply with something useful.

He's been syncing with both MobileMe and Dropbox, mostly to compare the two methods and the actual results.

[braintoniq]

Thanks, Evan. I'd be glad to test out that method.

[braintoniq]

Hello Evan,
Any news on whether there's a way to sync Spell Catcher files on multiple Macs with Lion (via iCloud, DropBox, or something similar). I'm open to using any software or system that would allow it.

[Evan Gross]

iCloud: Jury's still out on this. Still don't know if it's even going to be allowed for non-Mac App Store apps. If it will be allowed, Spell Catcher has to be updated to handle it. The way syncing is done is entirely different than MobileMe.

Dropbox: Possible, but you need to be careful. This is because Dropbox has this "interesting" way of dealing with syncing currently-open files. Since it can't notify an app that an open file is being synced, it has no way of dealing (intelligently) with Dropbox's behavior. You can't just move the entire ~/Library/Application Support/Spell Catcher folder to your Dropbox folder. Besides, you wouldn't want to do that, as that would cause (way) too much data to be synced. For me, that means almost 50MB - Language plug-ins and all.

Since Dropbox doesn't "know about" Mac OS X alias files (although Spell Catcher mostly does), you can't just place aliases of the folders/files in Spell Catcher's Application Support folder in your Dropbox folder either. Remember, Spell Catcher doesn’t generally care where a user’s Reference documents reside. There are a few “special” default locations inside Spell Catcher’s Application Support folder:

• Application Support/Spell Catcher/Additional Languages: Where language plug-ins must go.
  
• Application Support/Spell Catcher/Additional References: Where Spell Catcher’s default (generally locked) references should go (like …Computer Terms, …Additional Words, …Abbreviations, …Words to Correct etc.).
  
• Application Support/Spell Catcher/References: The default location for the various “…My…” Learned Words, Shorthands and other user-editable references (Date-Time Formats, Custom Suggestions, Default Dict Server) reside.

Special Folders:
Application Support/Spell Catcher/Modify Selection Macros: Where Modify Selection Macros must go.
Application Support/Spell Catcher/Licenses: Where license key files must go.
Application Support/Spell Catcher/Ghostwriter Files: Where Ghostwriter files must go.

All the above “special” Application Support/Spell Catcher/ folders must be actual folders - they cannot be aliases to folders of the same name located elsewhere. Any other folders that Spell Catcher does not look for by name can be aliases to folders residing elsewhere, and these aliases can be placed in Application Support/Spell Catcher/. Generally, there’s not much need to do this - Spell Catcher can use and keep track of references (but not other kinds of files like Modify Selection Macros, License key files, Language plug-ins and the like) that reside anywhere on any mounted volume. As well, most references in Application Support/Spell Catcher/References can be aliases to reference documents residing elsewhere (sometimes useful, but again, not strictly necessary).

Any of the above folders that are listed as where files must go cannot contain aliases to files residing elsewhere.

Basic Dropbox sync setup for Spell Catcher:

Make sure you're using the latest release build of Dropbox (v1.2.49 as of Dec 25, 2011)! It seems to behave itself better than v1.2.48) - I’m not getting conflicted copies quite as often or easily.

As for setup for Dropbox syncing, because Dropbox can’t deal with aliases, you must place the (reference files) you want to sync in your actual (designated) Dropbox folder. While you can place aliases of the reference files in your Dropbox folder in Application Support/Spell Catcher/References, again, this is not really necessary. Just add them to the list in Spell Catcher Reference preferences via the [+] button, or using drag and drop, or simply double-clicking them in your Dropbox folder in the Finder (or File > Open in the Spell Catcher application, etc.).

What I've done is the following (not the only way, but the best I've found so far). These are my findings (partially, anyway) with both Dropbox and Spell Catcher open on the two Macs I’ve been testing with.

If you want to be totally “safe,” pause Dropbox syncing while Spell Catcher is open (on all your Macs). After you Quit Spell Catcher (on each Mac), then resume Dropbox syncing.

NOTE: By default, Dropbox places its folder (always named “Dropbox”) (at the root of) your home folder (i.e. next to Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.). Personally, that bothers me - so in Dropbox Preferences, Advanced pane, I choose my (home) ~/Library/Application Support folder as the Dropbox location.

Quit the Spell Catcher application first!

• Create a folder named "Spell Catcher" in your Dropbox folder (not required, but seems to be the Dropbox "convention").
  
• Copy the Spell Catcher reference files you want to sync into this Dropbox/Spell Catcher folder. Optional: you can organize the folder using subfolders if you like - for example create a subfolder named “References” and copy them there (Dropbox/Spell Catcher/References/).
  
• Optional: use the latest version of Dropbox’s Selective Sync feature if you don’t want to sync everything in your Dropbox or Dropbox/Spell Catcher folders.
  
• Optional: rename the reference files you’re syncing to something you’ll recognize as being synced. An example: I renamed “Evan’s Learned Words” to “Evan’s Shared Learned Words”.

Things to watch out for:

I haven’t entirely figured out how Dropbox determines whether a file that’s being synced is currently open on each Mac yet - sometimes you can modify and save a synced reference on one Mac, and Dropbox will update it on the others basically OK. As long as the file hasn’t been modified on more than one Mac, you won’t get a “conflicting copy” created. However, since Spell Catcher has no idea that one of its references was updated by Dropbox, the changes won’t be reflected until you choose File > Revert to Saved. After Dropbox shows the notification about your files being updated, you must choose File > Revert to Saved to have them applied! Note: this is the case at least for now. If I cab figure out a way for Spell Catcher to properly/automatically detect this, life would be much better!

Anyway, start with the above. Make sure you’ve got backups of all the references you’re syncing! Compress them into an archive.

It might be best to move the references to your Dropbox folder, and not create aliases of them and copy the aliases into your Application Support/Spell Catcher/References folder. Not sure why this is exactly - truly shouldn’t matter.

So try it, please post your experiences!