I have started to implement 'Synchronization using files'

tamas646

I'm a BSc student from Hungary at Pázmány Péter Catholic University Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics, and in the scope of a subject named "Tutored Research Project" I would like to implement a slice of the so called synchronization feature in OpenLP.

I made this post to avoid parallel working on the same feature, so if you are already working on this, please let me know.

I made a research on this forum and I chose to implement the local folder based synchronization method, so this way everyone can choose how he wants to synchronize his data (DropBox, Google Drive, Syncthing...etc). Also this method does not require the setup of a central API server, so it could be a better choice for people who doesn't have a local server or VPS.

I've read the wiki about this topic and I will try to follow the directives during the development. The project status can be followed at this forked repository: https://gitlab.com/tamas646/openlp. I plan to finish the development by the end of May, and if required I can finalize my work and make a pull request in the summer.

Because of the subject requirements I'd like to implement this feature on my own, but I'm open to any suggestion or ideas. 🙂

raoul

tamas646 Hello!

There is an initial implementation of this idea here: https://gitlab.com/openlp/openlp/-/merge_requests/9

Having said that, I think that an API based service would be more beneficial to people than a file-based one. The OpenLP team has discussed the idea of hosting the API for those that can't set up a VPS.

I do recommend keeping us up-to-date as if you work in isolation you'll end up having to fork the entirety of OpenLP because it has moved on while you've been working on the synchronisation feature.

tamas646

raoul Oh, it is good to know. Also it makes me wondering what should I start working on now...

If Tomas Groth is already working on it then it gives me 2 choices:

I could try helping him in his work.
Or maybe I can start working on the API based synchronization feature.

Next semester I'd like to work on a server for OpenLP with some additional feature. Considering this I think it would be best if I choose the 2. possibility and I start working on the API based synchronization.

Where should I report to you and ask questions if required? Here in this forum?

rrygle

SyncThing and it's community related add-ons is terrific!

tgc

rrygle
SyncThing is a nice tool for file transfer/synchronization, but it requires the computers at both ends to be online at the same time. In many cases this won't be true for OpenLP. For instance many will have a PC in the church that is only turned on during the service.

rrygle

I use SyncThing to back up several directories on my church's computer (docs, the whole EasyWorship profile directory - but hopefully we'll move to OpenLP at some stage) to my home server whenever the church PC switches on. Because it uses RSync it doesn't seem to take very long. The home server is an OpenMediaVault setup (Debian), and SyncThing is running as a Docker instance. I sync all my phones and PCs to it as well.

I like that SyncThing pairs can be one way and I can add a password for logging in to the WebGUI on the church PC to prevent fiddling by people who are well meaning but like to change things that shouldn't be changed.

I am thinking that if you need someone to prepare a service remotely that is then picked up by a church computer, you can possibly use a batch command with SyncThing when the computer starts, but it might be quick enough without forcing it through use of a batch command. As long as changes aren't extensive it should sync fairly quickly.

raoul

tamas646 I'm sure that there are a lot of churches that would love to have an API-based synchronization feature.

So, I would recommend using GitLab for your source code, because then you can interact with the OpenLP team on there. For questions and other communication, you can either use the forums, or you can talk to us in IRC.

tamas646

raoul Okay, thanks!
I will go on with the API based method then.

tgc

tamas646 You are very welcome to help out with remote-sync branch that I'm working on. I've recently started looking at adding a REST API and have created a draft openapi/swagger. It's all available at https://gitlab.com/openlp/openlp/-/merge_requests/9