1.02 - Local WebDav stopped working

[scottblackman]

I had previously gotten WebDav on my MacBook Pro working flawlessly between OmniFocus 1.1 and OmniFocus for iPhone 1.01. Just updated the iPhone app to 1.02 and now syncing seems to be broken. No other changes

OmniFocus 1.1 sneakypeak version is v77.9.0.103571
OmniFocus for iPhone v1.02 v77.8.0.103469

Suggestions? Figure I'll be patient before I start resetting, deleting, etc.

UPDATE: I should also mention that I did the update via the App Store and not iTunes. I know there have been reports that doing updates via iTunes can be a little less problematic with iPhone apps in general.

[Lizard]

"and now syncing seems to be broken"

Could you please be more specific? Does it sync but not get your data? Or does it spin and spin for a really long time? Or crash? Are you seeing any error messages?

[scottblackman]

Yikes - sorry. Should have known better than to leave the details hanging like that.

Message I get is "Unable to synchronize database with server. timed out"

Again, no changes whatsoever from prior to upgrading to 1.02 when everything synced fine. In fact, I successfully synced just prior to updating.

I initially attempted to re-share my settings but that timed out as well.

To make matters worse, tonight I did removed OmniFocus 1.02 from my phone and did a full back up of the phone - reinstalling 1.02 from iTunes. As a result, I've now not only been unable to sync but I've lost everything that was in the database on the phone before. I did go through process of sharing my settings from sneakypeak to the phone and the phone did recognize the setting properly. But still no successful sync.

I'm being patient, but will admit to being very, very bummed that things have stopped working. It had taken quite a bit of time and effort to properly get WebDav running on my MacBook Pro (because of my lack of experience is setting up WebDav). Once I did I was quite psyched that it all worked.

Completely recognize that OmniFocus 1.1 is still in beta, but it is a bit frustrating to have a Desktop app and Phone app that I've paid for and now they've stopped working together. I trust things will begin working again in due time. But it is tough to be patient. Love OmniGroup, OmniFocus, et. al. So no slam intended here. Just an anxious (yes, impatient) user.

[marieboyer]

Exact same thing happened to me except for the last disaster. My syncing stopped working (same error message as you) right after the update to new iTunes yesterday.

[scottblackman]

UPDATE:

I downgraded OmniFocus for iPhone to 1.01. I did this by removing OmniFocus from the phone. Removing OmniFocus from iTunes. Deleting the OmniFocus.ipa file from my computer. Grabbing the 1.01 .ipa file that I had backup prior to upgrading (I manually did this) and re synced the phone.

It did successfully put 1.01 back on the phone, but I am still unable to sync.

Realize this was probably a futile effort, but - since I still had a 1.01 .ipa file - I figured I'd give it a shot.

[Lizard]

I would recommend going back to 1.0.2. Then run the script I posted here (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=9145) to clean up your OmniFocus file on the Mac. (Tell OmniFocus to make a backup first so you don't lose anything else.) Then try syncing the Mac to the server. Once that's happy, try syncing the iPhone.

[scottblackman]

No luck. Here's exactly what I did:

1) Opened OmniFocus 1.1 and Selected File > Back Up Database...
2) Downloaded and ran script
3) Opened OmniFocus 1.1 preferences and pressed Sync Now - sync was successful
4) On the iPhone (running 1.02) I clicked the Sync button after about 30 seconds I got the "Unable to synchronize database with server. timed out" message.

After that was unsuccessful I reset the iPhone and ran through steps 1-4 again. Still no success.

So I'm at a bit of a loss. Makes me wonder if something got changed in my WebDav settings somehow. I can still mount the WebDav directory with no issues - for what it's worth.

[Lizard]

step 3.5) Reset Database on the iPhone. It's in the Settings pane.

[scottblackman]

Re-did the whole process adding step 3.5. Still no luck. Same message.

Tried the process twice. Followed completely through the first time. Didn't work. Followed through the same steps a second time and after I had updated the settings on the phone by grabbing them from the Share Settings process. I clicked the sync button on the phone and the app crashed. Reopened OmniFocus on the iPhone and got the crash report. Went ahead and mailed it. Went through the process a third time. Same result: app crashed. Reset the phone. Went through everything one last time. No crash, but still no syncing. Same "unable to sync...." message.

The lack of other comments from users around this issue certainly leads me to wonder if this is a local problem. Certainly wouldn't rule that out, but the lack of ANY other changes on the phone or the Mac makes me really scratch my head. Not sure where to begin from that perspective.

[bartv]

I'm syncing using a local webdav installation and for me, syncinc has just stopped working since I installed the 1.0.2 version on my ipod. No error messages, nothing. The Omnifocus.ofocus file on my webdav server has begun growing again as well.

All the instructions above about downgrading, resetting etc really scare me and honestly, I don't have time to try all that out. A productivity app should just work and right now I'm very, very disappointed about how things work. I feel I'm beta-testing your software and that wasn't part of the deal when I bought the mobile client :-(

What is a simple way to get things working again?

Bart

[bartv]

Well, what do you know.. upgrading the desktop client to today's latest version solved the syncing problem. The datafile on the webdav server is still large though (another 38kb added since the last message).

Urgent problem solved, but still grumbling a bit :)

Bart

[scottblackman]

Haven't discovered a simple way just yet.

I understand your concern. However, I'm very optimistic that the folks at Omni are going to address this.

Yes, I paid for both desktop and iPhone apps. And, yes, I think they should "just work." But - my perspective is that if I have an app that I'm very dependent on (like OmniFocus) I owe it to myself to update with caution. Didn't take my own advice this time and threw caution to the wind. Doh!

I'm paying for it now, but I have my fingers crossed that this will be a short lived hiccup.

[bartv]

You're absolutely right about upgrading more cautiously. I'll have to restrain myself next time and wait to see how others are doing..

Cheers,

Bart

[scottblackman]

Darn! Really got my hopes up there for a second.

Downloaded today's latest sneakypeek hoping I'd be lucky. No such luck.

Downloaded it. Ran the script alluded to earlier in the post. Re-synced the desktop app. Reset the database on the iPhone. Got the new settings from the desktop. Cross fingers. Tried to sync. Bam - unable to syncronize. Timed out. AGAIN.

[Lizard]

scott: You said "I initially attempted to re-share my settings but that timed out as well."

Sorry I missed this earlier. If I understand correctly, you're hosting the WebDAV on the same machine you're trying to share settings from. If you can't share the settings, OmniFocus isn't going to be able to sync with the WebDAV either.

Make sure both your iPhone and laptop have a working WiFi connection. (Go load a website in Safari or something.) Make sure they're both on the *same* WiFi network.

[scottblackman]

Poor proofreading on my part I guess.

I have had no problems at all sharing my settings from my MacBook Pro (with WebDav enabled) to my phone. Works each and everytime. Has since before and after I updated to 1.02.

I've confirmed they are on the same wi-fi network.

Remember, I have changed NOTHING as it relates to my previously working setup up running 1.01 and sneakypeak 1.1. Only changes have been updates to sneakypeak and updates to the iPhone app. All other settings on the Mac remain unchanged. I made no changes to my WebDev setup. No changes have occurred within my network.

As further confirmation that the network is working FileMagnet on the Mac and on the iPhone connect with no problem (yes, I know that has nothing to do with WebDav, but it does have everything to do with functioning wi-fi.)

[Lizard]

What files are listed inside ~/Library/Application Support/OmniFocus.ofocus?
What files are listed in the copy of OmniFocus.ofocus being managed by WebDAV?

[scottblackman]

~/Library/Application Support/OmniFocus/ contains:

OmniFocus
OmniFocus.ofocus.lock
Perspectives/Due Soon.ofocus-perspective

I'm not 100% sure I understand your second part. I think what you mean is what is in the dav folder

http://computername.local/dav contains:

OmniFocus.ofocus

[Lizard]

Sorry, I need to know what's *inside* those two OmniFocus.ofocus files. Right-click on each one and choose "show package contents".

[Lizard]

If it's a really long list, you might want to email them to omnifocus@omnigroup.com and then post the ticket number the auto-responder sends you in this forum so I can find it easily.

[scottblackman]

I going to assume you'll need to give me some more specific direction - including what I SHOULD be seeing.

~/Library/Application Support/OmniFocus/OmniFocus contains a single zip file:

00000000000000=BBC023AA-558F-4EFF-9E4D-1F6E747BC12D+iOBREqHIm1-.zip

http://computername.local/dav/OmniFocus.ofocus contains:

00000000000000=BBC023AA-558F-4EFF-9E4D-1F6E747BC12D+iOBREqHIm1-.zip
20080801214415=o3DvzRV77DV.client
20080801224416=o3DvzRV77DV.client

[Lizard]

That reassures me that your Mac client is syncing properly. So the problem is definitely in the WebDAV<->iPhone step. But I'm still not quite sure what's going wrong...

[scottblackman]

So can I assume your going to continue to investigate a bit further? Or do I need to figure this out myself?

I'm happy to send any log files or terminal files that might help further the investigation. You just need to be fairly explicit about what you need -including a few details on how to get them.

[braver]

OF/Mac is called Sneakypeek and alpha for a reason. All docs state that OF/iPhone is a standalone app; syncing with Mac is at your own resolve and bravery. Folks here work with Omni -- we appreciate that they've released something instead of waiting for ages. Beta-testing is voluntary, and helps everybody; but anyone can just wait for a solid release months down the road. Overall, Omni's responsiveness has been admirable.

[scottblackman]

So braver I take it you've interpreted my last post as being a rant or that I'm being impatient. On the contrary. I've grateful for the responses from the Omni team and don't feel the least bit impatient.

I'm fully aware of the nature of alpha and beta software - and the risks therein. I have no expectations of immediate answers from the Omni team. I'm smart enough to realize that they are busy folks doing everything they can to keep their customers happy. I'm not unhappy.

I'm bummed because everything was working like a champ with 1.01. Now it's not. It happens. No one died. It will be resolved in do time. My only interest is in doing everything I can to assist the folks at Omni in tracking down what the issue might be. Including the fact that it could be entirely my issue.

If Lizard or any of the other good folks at Omni were somehow offended by the tone of any of my posts, I openly apologize. It was not my intent.

On the other hand, braver, I would encourage you to try not to read things into others posts.

[braver]

scottblackman, no reading behind your lines -- it's just there's been a lot of posts with subjects like "so disgusted," etc., and a general frustration where no expectation should have been raised. I guess I just summarized a general answer to folks remote from software engineering and not familiar with alpha/beta and development versions.

In my experience, I had problems with Zimbra WebDAV -- after emailing with Omni and sending them some dumps, they've first fixed in in OF/Mac, and now with OF/iPhone 1.0.2. So I just want to balance the negative with some positive feedback. Hope your issue is fixed soon too!)

[scottblackman]

For what it's worth, I've opted to take advantage of the 60 day MobileMe account. My hopes are that the issues I'm having with WebDAV on my local machine can be resolved by then as I'm not real crazy about paying for MobileMe. Just not convinced it's worth the $!00 a year.

But who knows, maybe I'll change my mind.

[Lizard]

scottblackman: I think we'll do better at sorting out your WebDAV issues over email. If you haven't already, please email omnifocus@omnigroup.com and we'll work from there.
Thanks again for your patience with this!

[scottblackman]

Thanks very much for the reply, Lizard. I have, in fact, sent an email to omnifocus@omnigroup.com. Did so earlier today (about 11:30 CST). Included a link to this thread as a means to make the connection between my issue and your assistance.

Again - I appreciate your perseverance in helping with this. In the meantime, I have to admit that MobileMe works quite well for the syncing between the desktop and iPhone clients. So from that perspective, I'm back up and running. But I'll also admit that I'd rather not pay the $99 a year for the feature and don't really have a big need for the rest of the MobileMe suite.

Getting WebDAV working again locally would be great to be sure. But I'm very clear on the fact that there are no promises from the OmniGroup that this will even be possible.