[sjrey]

i followed the instructions here and now have things working just fine, on both the iphone and a laptop.

[Brian]

Originally Posted by hqsbud

change the URL from using https to http. The URL is http://idisk.me.com/username/Documents.

I'm not 100% positive, but the s you removed switched you from encrypted http to unencrypted http. I'm worried that you're sending your MobileMe user name and password in plaintext.

Especially if you changed more than one thing, I'd try switching back to https and see if it still works.

If it doesn't work via secure http, can you let us know if you're behind a firewall, web proxy, or anything that may be distinctive about your network setup?

[Brian]

Originally Posted by outlawgal

Then I tried broadcasting my settings to iPhone, but it also timed out.

If this timed out, it almost sounds like the phone had wifi switched off, or maybe the phone and the computer had ended up on different wireless networks accidentally or something.

Unfortunately, there is a certain degree of voodoo involved with these things - I'm utterly unable to get Apple's remote application to connect to my macbook unless I connect the two via an ad-hoc network, and frankly, I'd rather have my internet connection than remote control iTunes.

Not exactly help, but at least some sympathy.

One question: when you said that sending the settings via email timed out, did you mean that the subsequent connection to MobileMe timed out, or were we unable to install the synch settings. I assumed the former, but figured it was worth checking.

[Brian]

Originally Posted by motorwayne

just getting

Unable to synchronize database with server.

the address is --> https://idisk.mac.com/fakename/Documents/


looked in there, no files are in there.

How do I get OF to resend a file to this URL so that the iPhone can sync again?

It sounds like your desktop mac hasn't synced or the file got deleted. Are you able to sync from your mac?

When it works, this is spiffy. But that is infrequent. It times out all the time and the syncing is wonky. Is OMNI going to look into this, or what? And why exactly can't this use the regular iPhone sync? Very disappointed.

[Lizard]

beerzie, it's a little unclear which issue you're referring to. Our current opinion about the "Timed Out" error is that MobileMe is still experiencing growing pains and that's pretty much beyond our control. We are working on improving OmniFocus' support for various other WebDAV services (many of which do not follow the same spec as MobileMe) and improving our error messages where possible, to help track down problems that we can resolve.

If by "regular iPhone sync" you mean the cable for charging your phone and syncing it with iTunes, we can't use it because Apple won't let us.

[dennismccarthy]

I finally got the blasted thing to work.

- Made sure I had the latest sneaky peek version.
- Followed the instructions from a previous post to a tee. To paraphrase..

- If you have stuff on the phone, make sure it's on the Mac. You'll be deleting it.
- Open you IDisk/Docs and delete OmniFocus database.
- Reset your "Sync" options on your Mac OF sync prefs (there is a reset button there)
- Change idisk.mac.com/... to idisk.me.com/... (NB: This makes it a WebDav sync NOT an iDisk one - don't be alarmed).
- Sync your Mac OF from the pref panel of OF.

In my case, this is where the instructions went awry. I had to email the settings from the OF prefs panel, receive the email in my phone, then click the link in the email to initiate a sync. I believe this was related to a flaky iphone wifi connection. So I switched the wfi off and went with Edge.

If you are asked for a password, that's a great sign you're on the right track.

Then I added an item to the phone, hit sync... wasn't there on the mac. However when I went to the mac OF pref panel and clicked sync, Victory! ( I think there is some sort of natural lag before it lands in OF - not sure how this works or why I had to initiate a sync from the mac - maybe the OF folks can shed some light on this)

Looking back, I would have to say the "timed out" error had nothing whatsoever to do with a mobileme error. It may have been to a flaky wifi connection.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by dennismccarthy

Then I added an item to the phone, hit sync... wasn't there on the mac. However when I went to the mac OF pref panel and clicked sync, Victory! ( I think there is some sort of natural lag before it lands in OF - not sure how this works or why I had to initiate a sync from the mac - maybe the OF folks can shed some light on this)

OmniFocus (on the desktop and on the phone) has no way of being notified that data has changed on another Mac or device, so it polls periodically to check for changes. Currently, at least, it will check once an hour for new data - if you want it to check more often, you can manually initiate a sync. I think this is the situation you are hitting.

Now, when you make a change on one device, OmniFocus on that device knows that it has local changes, so it will try to sync those changes to the server pretty quickly (currently within 2 minutes, because maybe the Mac or phone/iPod will get put to sleep soon, or a second device will be looking soon to see if there are changes, etc.). When it does that, it will get any changes on the server that it didn't see previously. Note that if you make changes in OmniFocus on the phone and then exit it (hit the Home button, follow a web link, etc) before it has a chance to sync, it won't be able to push its changes to the server until you launch it again. (Same goes for the Mac, but you're generally less likely to quit OmniFocus on the desktop before it has had a chance to push its changes to the server.)

(During a sync, if the same item - action, context, etc. - has been changed on multiple devices/Macs, OmniFocus assumes that you want the most recent change so it will keep that one. If a sync is interrupted, whatever portion of the data got synced will be available for other devices to pick up when they sync - the remainder of the changed date will have to wait until the originating device gets another chance to sync.)


The takeaway here is that syncing from one device does not immediately update any other devices - they won't see the change until they sync as well, which can be done manually, or will be done automatically once an hour (that period is subject to change). On the phone, since apps tend to be quit frequently, it will sync on launch if it has been an hour since it last synced. I don't believe that we do that on the desktop, at least not yet.

Also, syncing is more efficient if you only make changes on one device at a time - this typically allows the changes to be incorporated very quickly, whereas if a sync has to resolve both local and remote changes, it has to do a lot more work in order to ensure data integrity. So my advice would be that if you are quickly changing between devices (your phone and your Mac, for instance), sync both devices as you switch between them. Also, if you make changes, make sure you manually perform a sync or give OmniFocus enough time to sync on its own before you exit OmniFocus. (Or realize that those changes will not get propagated until later.)

-andrew