Comments on: Why doesn’t SyncML synchronization works? http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/ picoBeat News Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:01:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Pierre http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-45 Pierre Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:55:40 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-45 Thanks Andy, there was indeed a bug with the vCard export function that is fixed now. Regarding the CDATA: vCard requires end-of-line CRLF and also uses specific spacings for line folding. As different XML parsers and encoders treat those white-spaces differently, it is safer to enclose the whole vCard in a CDATA section. It seems that's what most SyncML clients also do so that is probably the way they expect to receive their data from the server. In the rare event you have a ]]> in the vCard content, using two CDATA blocks shouldn't break a proper XML parser. Thanks Andy, there was indeed a bug with the vCard export function that is fixed now.

Regarding the CDATA: vCard requires end-of-line CRLF and also uses specific spacings for line folding. As different XML parsers and encoders treat those white-spaces differently, it is safer to enclose the whole vCard in a CDATA section. It seems that’s what most SyncML clients also do so that is probably the way they expect to receive their data from the server. In the rare event you have a ]]> in the vCard content, using two CDATA blocks shouldn’t break a proper XML parser.

]]> By: Andy http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-44 Andy Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:51:43 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-44 I am testing picobeat. I found that when the server sends contact data to client. The vCard data has 2 flaws: 1. The address field does not conform to vCard standard. vCard uses ; to separate 7 fields of address. The one sent by Picobeat server has the first 2 fields missing. Both SyncML Client for Open Contacts and Funambol plug-in for Outlook could not then read the address field. 2. Using CDATA to store data has flaws: if you have a ]]> in a vCard record, then XML will have to have 2 CDATA blocks to escape. The following is the vCard data sent by Picobeat, though the server could accept the correct vCard data from the client. This mean: the parser is OK, while the writer has flaws. <![CDATA[BEGIN:VCARD VERSION:2.1 REV:20091216T123814Z FN:Contact Of Outlook N:Outlook;Contact;Of;;Sr. BDAY:1978-10-07 ADR;HOME:32 Kagaga Ave;Home city;VIC;3000;Australia EMAIL;INTERNET:mrmsoutlook@earth.com URL;HOME:http://www.somewhere.com URL;WORK:http://www.somewhere.com ORG:General Business;this dept TITLE:Mr. NOTE:An example with a lot of fields of a MS Outlook contact imported. UID:8487.contacts@alpha.picobeat.com TEL;WORK;VOICE:7997898 TEL;WORK;FAX:88888888 TEL;HOME;VOICE;PREF:1111111 TEL;HOME;FAX:(2) 2234-4545 TEL;CELL;PREF:999999 END:VCARD ]]> I am testing picobeat. I found that when the server sends contact data to client. The vCard data has 2 flaws:
1. The address field does not conform to vCard standard. vCard uses ; to separate 7 fields of address. The one sent by Picobeat server has the first 2 fields missing. Both SyncML Client for Open Contacts and Funambol plug-in for Outlook could not then read the address field.
2. Using CDATA to store data has flaws: if you have a ]]> in a vCard record, then XML will have to have 2 CDATA blocks to escape.

The following is the vCard data sent by Picobeat, though the server could accept the correct vCard data from the client. This mean: the parser is OK, while the writer has flaws.

<![CDATA[BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:2.1
REV:20091216T123814Z
FN:Contact Of Outlook
N:Outlook;Contact;Of;;Sr.
BDAY:1978-10-07
ADR;HOME:32 Kagaga Ave;Home city;VIC;3000;Australia
EMAIL;INTERNET:mrmsoutlook@earth.com
URL;HOME:http://www.somewhere.com
URL;WORK:http://www.somewhere.com
ORG:General Business;this dept
TITLE:Mr.
NOTE:An example with a lot of fields of a MS Outlook contact imported.
UID:8487.contacts@alpha.picobeat.com
TEL;WORK;VOICE:7997898
TEL;WORK;FAX:88888888
TEL;HOME;VOICE;PREF:1111111
TEL;HOME;FAX:(2) 2234-4545
TEL;CELL;PREF:999999
END:VCARD
]]>

]]> By: RiBBiT http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-34 RiBBiT Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:33:19 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-34 Now, It works perfectly. Thank you very much! Now, It works perfectly. Thank you very much!

]]> By: Pierre http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-33 Pierre Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:01:52 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-33 I tweaked another little thing just in case - it's quite insignificant but it can only help. I ran some test with the Nokia S60 emulator and notes synchronization worked right away, so maybe that tweak helped or maybe it's really a specific problem of the E52. As a side note there's good progress made on the combined tasks+events calendar synchronization, so hopefully this week it won't be a problem anymore. I tweaked another little thing just in case – it’s quite insignificant but it can only help. I ran some test with the Nokia S60 emulator and notes synchronization worked right away, so maybe that tweak helped or maybe it’s really a specific problem of the E52.

As a side note there’s good progress made on the combined tasks+events calendar synchronization, so hopefully this week it won’t be a problem anymore.

]]> By: RiBBiT http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-32 RiBBiT Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:50:57 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-32 I'm still getting this meaningless "System error" message with the notes. It must be a bug in the software of my phone. I’m still getting this meaningless “System error” message with the notes. It must be a bug in the software of my phone.

]]> By: Pierre http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-29 Pierre Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:43:30 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-29 OK, I found and corrected another tiny notes-related issue as well, hopefully this time this will work. OK, I found and corrected another tiny notes-related issue as well, hopefully this time this will work.

]]> By: RiBBiT http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-28 RiBBiT Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:39:00 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-28 I tried again. Unfortunately it still doesn't work. I tried again. Unfortunately it still doesn’t work.

]]> By: Pierre http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Pierre Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:34:19 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-27 Thanks for testing! The logs don't really show anything wrong - no error is reported by either the phone or the server, so it's not clear what exactly goes wrong. There was however a minor bug related to notes that has been fixed, so maybe this will work better now. Let me know if this helps. Thanks for testing! The logs don’t really show anything wrong – no error is reported by either the phone or the server, so it’s not clear what exactly goes wrong. There was however a minor bug related to notes that has been fixed, so maybe this will work better now. Let me know if this helps.

]]> By: RiBBiT http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-26 RiBBiT Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:03:21 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-26 Hi Pierre! Thank you for your reply. I tried it with only the notes, and the error message was exactly the same: \"System error\". Hi Pierre!

Thank you for your reply. I tried it with only the notes, and the error message was exactly the same: \"System error\".

]]> By: Pierre http://blog.picobeat.com/2009/10/why-doesnt-syncml-synchronization-works/comment-page-1/#comment-24 Pierre Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:49:36 +0000 http://blog.picobeat.com/?p=9#comment-24 Hi RiBBiT! Could you try a synchronization with only notes, so we can go through the logs and see where it breaks down and find a fix? You are right with the calendar and tasks: a few phones actually consider the tasks list to belong to the calendar database and will only accept to sync both events and tasks at once. Synchronization should work with picoBeat but only with the calendar OR the tasks (depending if you sync with "cal" or "tasks") but not both. We plan on building a solution for this situation but there are a few difficulties involved so it might take a few days/weeks. Hi RiBBiT! Could you try a synchronization with only notes, so we can go through the logs and see where it breaks down and find a fix?

You are right with the calendar and tasks: a few phones actually consider the tasks list to belong to the calendar database and will only accept to sync both events and tasks at once. Synchronization should work with picoBeat but only with the calendar OR the tasks (depending if you sync with “cal” or “tasks”) but not both. We plan on building a solution for this situation but there are a few difficulties involved so it might take a few days/weeks.

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