Re: Any better ideas for file sharing?

Hi, guys...

PMFJI

On 03/26/12 08:01 pm, Thomas Garson thus wrote :
> On 03/26/2012 02:56 PM, Edward Reid wrote:
>> Thomas Garson wrote:
>>> ..........
>>> Since Moneydance is not promoted as a multi-user product, we do not
>>> attempt to access it at the same time, so I can't say how a usage
>>> conflict would play out.
>>
>> I haven't actually tried it. However, MD is basically a
>> document-oriented application. The "database" is a simple line-oriented
>> data file which is loaded and saved. (Obviously a far more complex
>> structure is built internally when the file is loaded, but that's not
>> relevant for sharing concerns.) So my guess is that the result of a
>> usage conflict would be the usual in such cases: whoever saves last
>> overwrites changes the other has made.
>
This, of course, assumes that the file is not locked by the first system 
to access it. I've never tried accessing the same data file from two 
systems simultaneously (on any platform or filesystem).

It would indeed be nice if MD could store its data in sqlite or MySQL 
(which would be a fairly simple upgrade from single user to multiuser). 
However, as a "personal" finance manager, I would suspect that this is a 
bit beyond the scope of Sean's original intentions (though food for 
thought for some enterprising extension developer). :-)

While I can see Yaron's approach as a clever system of scrubbing the 
file, I like your idea better, Edward. If *I* were to do it, I'd create 
a sparse MD data file on the "other" machine, and then export the 
account data as necessary from the "live" system. If it truly does only 
need to be read only, updating would be a simple mater of wiping the 
data file and re-importing every so often (and assuming the systems were 
on the same LAN at regular (anticipated) times, this could be 
semi-authomated with cron (or, if on Windows, at).
>
> I suspect that you are correct, which is why I avoid using MD if there 
> is any chance my wife is doing her entries.
>
> It would be nice if the MD database were set up as a tree with record 
> locking of the leaves, but that would entail a major rewrite of its 
> database system and I'm OK with what it currently is for what I need 
> it for, and what it costs.
>
> For my business, I still use Peachtree Complete Accounting 12 for DOS, 
> as it uses a record locked C Tree, offers all of the features I need, 
> is very simple to use and is nearly bulletproof. It runs well on OS/2 
> Warp 4.52 or eCom Station, using Netdrive with the Samba Client Plugin 
> for server access.
>
Tom, it's *always* great to bump into another eCS user. :-)

I'm presently running MD under OpenJDK6_b24 on eCS 1.2, and it works 
quite well. Our standard accounting app in the office (we are 
accountants, by the way) which we use for client write-up is a DOS app 
circa 1995 (Howell Client Accounting) which is a Btrieve app and runs 
beautifully under eCS, which is our standard desktop OS.

I'd love to see (or even present) a Moneydance session at Warpstock one 
of these days. ;-)

(Apologies to all for the bit of OT chat.)

Cheers/2

-- 
Lewis
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