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Sync problem using Windows Home Server for WebDAV Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Hi, I have a personal WebDAV server that I sync my iPod touch and laptop to. The sync works fine from both devices, but most of the time when I sync my touch it makes me choose to use the server copy of the database and wipes out any changes I've made. I used to use SwissDisk as my webdav and I don't remember having this problem with that setup. Is there anything I can do to fix it? What might be going wrong? Thanks for your help.
 
How does it make you choose the server copy?

What are you using for your personal webDAV server?
 
Well, I think I can help explain what's going on, but to figure out why, you'll probably want to contact our support ninjas; to figure out what's going on here, we sometimes need to ask for screenshots of system preferences or other stuff you probably don't want to post in a public forum.

It sounds like the special files that OmniFocus uses to tell what devices are syncing with a server database are getting out of whack somehow, which is resulting in your sync information compacting when it really shouldn't do so. Once the database compacts, we lose the ability to insert changes into the sync database - you can only copy one database over the other.

If the 'coalesce database' script that was posted to the forums a couple of months back is getting run frequently, I guess that would be one possibility that could produce these symptoms. If that's not it, though, contacting the support ninjas (please include the info whpalmer4 requested) from the help menu of OmniFocus for Mac would be the way to go.
 
Thanks for your help, I'm emailing the support guys now.

To answer the earlier questions, I have webDAV running through Windows IIS on a Windows Home Server box.

My ipod tells me that "Your database couldn't be synchronized, because the server and local versions are no longer compatible... This may have happened because the server database changed while this copy of OF was not synchronizing with it."
 
Invictus26, we've got a support mail from another customer that's also using a Windows Home Server box for their webDAV server, and is having the same problem.

In looking at the console messages from his Mac, it looks like we're getting a strange response when we ask for the client files from the iPhone. Specifically, the server uses a content-type for those files that we can't understand, so we don't know what to do with those client files.

Just wondering if you managed to tweak anything on the server side and get this sorted out, or if you just decided to use a different WebDAV provider instead? If you did manage to tweak something and get this working, I know of a customer that would love to know what you did. :-)
 
I've setup Webdav in IIS 7 using WebDav 7.5 (this includes the hotfix). When I point OmniFocus at my webdav site, it writes a .client file into the OmniFocus.ofocus folder but no transaction files.

When I use the 'Replace server database' option, it also copies no transaction files.

Then, on syncing - I get the error:

Unable to read document.

No root transactions found in “http://webdav.butel.co.nz/OmniFocus.ofocus/”.

Has anyone successfully used IIS 7 & WebDav 7.5 with OmniFocus? Any pointers? Thanks.
 
I know it's been a while since this question was posted, but I have managed to get this working.

The "no root transactions" is caused by a combination of request filtering by the IIS web server, and a lack of error checking by OmniFocus.

During an initial sync (or a "Replace Server Database"), OmniFocus is sending double-escaped names in WebDAV PUT requests. Those requests get rejected by IIS with HTTP response code 404.11 -- which means "double-escaped URL". Unfortunately, OmniFocus never notices the errors. It simply continues on merrily and appears to complete the sync. But the files being PUT onto the server never made it. That's why you get a "no root transactions" error on the next sync attempt.

To make double-escaped URLs work, open IIS Manager, select the site with your WebDAV service, double-click on "Request Filtering" (if you don't have that control, install it using the IIS Administration Pack, which you can find here. ). In the Actions pane on the right-hand side, click "Edit Feature Settings..." and make sure the "Allow double escaping" checkbox is filled in.

While we're discussing WebDAV transactions, I'd like to know why OmniFocus insists on using a full URL instead of a relative location as the target of its MOVE requests. If a proxy server such as ISA Server is forwarding requests to another server in an internal web farm, sync'ing breaks. (The MOVE target is in a part of the HTTP request that is considered data, and thus not subject to URL re-writing.) A local "hosts" file on the internal web server addresses this, but that's an awful hack...
 
Today, after finding out about two WebDAV servers I could use at work, I happily cancelled the MobileMe trial that I only used for OmniFocus. Unfortunately I'm receiving the infamous "no root transactions" error. I doubt that there's any big problem with the WebDAV servers as they're maintained by two different departments at this university - one each - and these guys usually know very well what they're doing. To resolve the errors I tried syncing with both the desktop and the iPhone first. In either case the first sync went fine. After that I couldn't sync with any device. It really seems as if the first upload is going really well but when either app is trying to download the data it finds it corrupted. Please look into this, it's really annoying. If I can give you any information to resolve this issue quicker, just drop me a line and I'll try to respond as quickly as possible.

Daniel
 
You'll have a much better chance of a response if you contact Omni's support group with Help->Send Feedback.
 
 


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