Instructions to Sync with Google Drive

[guangong]

Thanks for sharing google drive client information

1. Sync is bi-directional while upload/download is force and single directional as self-explanatory.
2. It is synced/fetched periodically instead.

Actually sync is a plugin instead of built-in function as one key is to 100% control your data locally. One recommended setup is device storage + whatever your preferred synching tool

[ParadigmShifter]

Answering my own question: I finally understood how to sync bidirectionally between Android and Windows via Google Drive.

Observations and comments:

• DO NOT leave MMEX open at the same time on Windows and on Android. Leave only one instance of it open at a time
• DO NOT use "Synchronize"

Here is the step by step that I used.

From Windows to Android:

1. Make sure MMEX in Android is NOT running
2. Make the desired operations in MMEX file in Windows. Then, close MMEX when finished. MMEX will then proceed to update the database in Google Drive. Wait for the upload to be complete
3. After the upload is complete, open the Google Drive in Android and download the changes
4. After fetching the changes in the Google Drive app on Android, open MMEX on Android. The database should be updated with the latest changes without the need to do anything else!

From Android to Windows:

1. Make sure MMEX in Windows is NOT running
2. Make the desired operations in MMEX in Android. Then, go to "Settings -> Synchronization -> Upload". Wait for the upload to be
   complete.
3. After the upload is complete, open the Google Drive app on Android and fetch the changes.
4. On Windows, make sure that the changes have been fetched by Google Drive.
5. Open MMEX, choose "Open Existing Database" (even if the last opened database was the one you were using). The database should be updated with the latest changes without the need to do anything else!

I know that this method is cumbersome, but after two days fighting with the synchronization this finally seems to work.

[frankieorabona]

@ParadigmShifter I confirm that with this method you are able to have smooth file synchronization.

I think obviously not having the two programs open at the same time was a priority since I don't think the MMEX program can, via google drive, merge the real-time changes made by either side.

However, compared to your guide I had to disable synchronization at startup in the android app because at startup, the program would always crash. I was forced to restart the phone to get MMEX ANDROID working again.

[DrMartinus]

Hi, I am new to MMEx and from what I have seen so far want to stick with it. Even though this thread is already a bit old, I want to join in, because my problem seems related.

I uploaded the database file to Google Drive (GD), and I hadn't opened it with the desktop app (I use Linux) yet. This morning, I could work on the android app without problems. Around noon, the Android App opens and immediately wants to synchronize. It reports that some 285 kB have been copied, but shortly after there follows an error message:

Code: Select all

No field notification_channel_file_operation_conflict__description...

appears. I can't read more of the error message, and I am not sure about the amount of underscores between the words, as the error message stays for only one second and then disappears. During that, the message "Synchronizing file. Please wait..." is shown and stays forever (I let it as that for more than 10 minutes, it didn't stop). The app doesn't allow me to enter settings or anything else.
I have a local copy of the database, but I activated synchronization every 3 hours (that may be the reason why it worked in the morning and after that (a few hours later, maybe it was 3 hours) it didn't). I wasn't aware of possible issues. Is there any way to get out of this?
As said, I have no way to access the app, I can only close it forceably and try again with the same result.

[DrMartinus]

I found a solution. First I tried reinstalling MMEx, that didn't change a thing. Then I restarted my phone, and that helped. I then opened the local copy.
I stumbled over the fact that in settings, I cannot stop synchronization completely (at least it seems so): I have options to set the synchronize interval to every 5 minutes, 10 minutes etc., but not to "never". Now I only use the local database, I need to figure out how best to share the file with the desktop app without getting into the same problem I had.