If you install Fanurio on two different computers (desktop and laptop) or two different platforms (Windows and Mac OS X), it’s very likely you will want to keep your data synchronized. Here are some common situations:
- If you do consulting work and you need to travel a lot, you may have a laptop and a desktop PC in your office. When you get back to the office, you may want to sync the desktop with the laptop.
- You’re a big Mac fan but unfortunately you have to do some of your work on Windows. You want to use Fanurio to track time while on Windows and then sync this information with the Mac.
This post explains how to synchronize your data between two computers. There are multiple ways to do it, each with its advantages and disadvantages. Hopefully, this post will make it easy for you to choose the right one.
I. USB stick installation
The first solution is also the easiest. Instead of installing Fanurio on two or more computers, install it on a USB stick. This will save you the trouble of synchronizing the data because it will always be kept on the stick.
Download the cross-platform version and follow these instructions to install it. The nice thing about the cross-platform version is that you can install it on a USB stick and then run it from there on any computer, whether it uses Windows, Linux or Mac OS X.
Recommended: If you have to work on your client’s computer and you don’t want to install Fanurio there.
II. Shared folder
This solution is a bit more technical because it requires you to configure Fanurio manually. By default, Fanurio keeps its data somewhere in your user account but it can be configured to keep it somewhere else. Please read this section for more information.
If you can create a folder that is accessible from all computers, you could configure Fanurio to keep its data there instead of the default location. Follow these instructions to learn how to configure Fanurio manually and then add this line to the settings file:
database.dir=PATH_TO_SHARED_FOLDER
You need to replace PATH_TO_SHARED_FOLDER with the actual path. Assuming you are on Windows and you have a shared folder called Folder on computer Alpha, the path is //Alpha/Folder. If you have a dual-boot system (Linux and Windows), you can access the Windows folders from Linux.
IMPORTANT: If you share the database folder between two computers, make sure you don’t use it at the same time on both computers. The database doesn’t support concurrent access.
Recommended: If you can share a folder between two computers or two platforms (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux).
III. File synchronization
Another solution is file synchronization software like FolderShare (reviewed here) which can help you synchronize the data folders of each Fanurio install. The location of the data folders is presented in this section.
- Mac OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/Fanurio/data
- Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\USER_NAME\Application Data\Fanurio\data
- Vista: C:\Users\USER_NAME\AppData\Roaming\Fanurio\data
- Linux: ~/.fanurio/data
IMPORTANT: As is the case with shared folder, you shouldn’t work independently on each computer and then expect the data to be merged by the synchronization software. Instead, try to synchronize it after each use.
Recommended: If you want to keep your data synchronized no matter where you are. This is a more general solution than the shared folder approach.
IV. Backup transfer
The last solution and probably the less practical one is to create a backup on one computer and then restore it on the other. The main disadvantage is that you have to do this manually every time you switch computers otherwise they will be out of sync.
You can read this post for more details on how to create and restore a backup.
Recommended: Only if you need to use a second computer from time to time otherwise there’s too much overhead to create and restore the backup.
As you can see, none of these methods is perfect but they work in many situations. One feature that we intend to implement is the synchronization of multiple computers from Fanurio thus eliminating the need to rely on outside tools.
What about an iPhone version?
Unfortunately we have no plans for an iPhone application in the following six months. An iPhone app means practically a different app than what we are offering now. We cannot reuse the current code to make an iPhone app.
I’ve added the “database.dir=\\MYVISTADESKTOP\Users\MYUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Fanurio\data” line to my “fanurio.properties” file in “C:\Users\MYUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Fanurio” and it doesn’t seem to work. When I start Fanurio on the second machine, the client fromt he first machine does not appear, and it looks like it’s not getting any data at all. Any thoughts?
Both machines run Vista and the latest version of Fanurio.
Thanks for your time,
Cameron
Hi Cameron,
Lets consider the following example for two Vista computers.
The first computer is called C1 and Fanurio keeps its data here:
C:\Users\MYUSERNAME1\AppData\Roaming\Fanurio
The second computer is called C2 and Fanurio keeps its data here:
C:\Users\MYUSERNAME2\AppData\Roaming\Fanurio
If you want to use data on the first computer from your second computer, then you should follow these steps:
1. On your second computer, share the folder MYUSERNAME2 and make sure its subfolders are not read-only (right-click and then Properties). The data folder from the second computer will now be visible from the first computer using this path:
\\C2\MYUSERNAME2\AppData\Roaming\Fanurio
Note: You can share any folder from the second computer (not only MYUSERNAME2) as long as you can see the data folder from the first computer.
2. In the settings file from your first computer (C1) located here:
C:\Users\MYUSERNAME1\AppData\Roaming\Fanurio\fanurio.properties
add the following line:
database.dir=//C2/MYUSERNAME2/AppData/Roaming/Fanurio/data
Note: This path also contains the data subfolder. That’s where Fanurio keeps the actual database files.
Does this help? If not, could you please send me the log file from the first computer by email? You can find it here:
C:\Users\MYUSERNAME1\AppData\Roaming\Fanurio\fanurio.log
Thanks,
Nicu
Hi Nicu,
Thanks for the prompt reply – and the solution to my problem.
I had used the syntax windows uses for the location of the data directory, i.e. “\\C2\MYUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming…” etc. This was copied and pasted from the windows location bar when I browsed to the folder through the network, so I didn’t bother trying the syntax from your instructions – I actually thought it was an error on your part when writing the instructions – I guess my arrogance was my downfall here, lol.
As soon as I noticed you were using “//C2/MYUSERNAME/…” and changed mine to match, I was all set. Looks to be working now.
Thanks again for the fast and informative reply. I couldn’t have asked for better help!
Cheers,
Cameron
You’re welcome
.
You can also use the Windows syntax but the slash characters must be escaped (doubled) like this:
\\\\C2\\MYUSERNAME\\AppData\\Roaming…
I find the other syntax (Unix-style) to be more readable.
Anyway, I’m glad it works. If you have any other questions, I’ll be here to help you.
Ah, I see.
As an aside – and feel free to remove this post since it’s not relevant to most people – does the UNIX syntax always work in windows? I do come from a UNIX background (Solaris and Linux primarily), and just assumed that it wouldn’t work in a Windows environment…
I don’t know if it works all the time in Windows but it does in Java.
I’ve just entered some Unix-like paths in Windows Explorer and they work. Of course, they are first converted to Windows-style
.
I would also like to chime in with a request for an iPhone app. As a freelancer it is unusual that I am at the same computer all day–an iPhone version would really make your software SUPER useful.
Thanks for your consideration.
I’ve added your request to the todo list. Thanks for writing.
Any plans for a palm or windows mobile ap extension?
Thanks
Not yet but would you like to be notified if we release such an extension?
Thank you for your quick response.
Yes, as I decide what software to purchase for billing this is a deciding factor, I do not always have a laptop with me but always have a phone or palm.
Thanks again,
Miccal
You could use something else to track time on your phone or palm and then import it in Fanurio.
Currently, it is only possible to import time from another instance of Fanurio but we want to improve it to import time from any application that can export its time to a .csv file.
What do you think, does this sound like a usable solution?