Contact synchronization

Discussions about the smartphone versions
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thetib
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2020 16:29

Contact synchronization

Post by thetib »

Hello,
I configured my buddy with divelog for iphone, it's much easier because I import them directly from my contacts.
So I directly have their contact details, photo mail etc ...

when I synchronize my logbook from my iphone to my PC the photos of the contacts are not imported as well as the details such as the phone number

is this normal? Does the synchronization only concern the detail of the dives?

for info I use:
- dive log 6.0.19 on my PC
- ios 14.2 on my iphone
thetib
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2020 16:29

Re: Contact synchronization

Post by thetib »

in fact
I just imported a new contact from my iphone directory into divelog for iphone (a contact that does not exist in divelog 6.0.19 on my PC)
In this case the synchronization between my iphone and my PC is complete with photo and all the details

Therefore
- if the contact does not exist it works
- if the contact already exists in dive log 6.0.19 on my PC, it is not updated during the iphone -> PC synchronization

I tried to delete the contact in divelog 6.0.19 then to do an iphone sync ----> PC
Same problem the contact reappears on the pc as before without the details of the iphone
gregm
Posts: 63
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 23:04
Location: Bellingham, WA, USA
Contact:

Re: Contact synchronization

Post by gregm »

Hi,

There is no issue with the synchronization in this case. The reason that you are seeing the additional data in some cases and not others has to do with how you generate and/or see the contact on iOS. To the best of my knowledge (Sven please correct me if I'm wrong here), Diving Log 6.0 does not consider your local contacts and is simply displaying the buddy using the data in the logbook database.

Dive Log on iOS does consider your local contacts (i.e. the contacts in your Contacts app) when you work with buddies. When you look at the list of buddies in the Buddies tab in Dive Log you can have buddies shows with green "linked" icons and some buddies with red "unlinked" icons. This is determined at the time Dive Log loads your buddy list (it is updated anytime the underlying iOS contacts database changes) by comparing the details in the logbook buddy (i.e. what you see on the PC) with the details of the contacts in your iOS contacts and if there is one and only one exact match the buddy is shown as linked, otherwise the buddy is shown as unlinked. This match is done primarily on the various name fields in the contact and buddy and is fairly complex but basically you can think of it as "Bob Smith" in your buddies will match "Bob Smith" in your iOS contacts (if you have two contacts that could possibly match "Bob Smith" due to, for example, a prefix like Dr. then the buddy will show as unlinked if it can't be further resolved).

When you view a "linked" buddy in Dive Log you will see the underlying iOS contact and not the logbook buddy data (which is what you would see in Diving Log 6.0). When you view an unlinked buddy you will see the logbook buddy data (on both iOS and Diving Log 6.0). So, if you have a buddy that matches a contact on iOS and if that buddy does not contain information like a photo and phone number *but* the underlying iOS contact does contain that data you will see all the iOS contact information in Dive Log but will not see it on the PC (since it is not fetched from the local contact). I suspect this is the situation that yo are experiencing with your buddy that does not how the photo and phone number on the PC.

There are a number of ways that you can get into this situation, but here is at least one of them. Lets say that you create a new buddy on iOS and you create it using the "create contact option" (i.e.. you create a new iOS contact that will show up in your contacts app) but you only add the first and last name. Dive Log will have the chance to get that contact and will populate the logbook database with that information. If at this point you viewed this buddy o the PC and iPhone it would look the same (First and Last Name only). Now, after the fact, you edit that iOS contact in the contacts app and add a phone number and a photo. The next time you open Dive Log on iOS and view that buddy it will still be linked so it will show the new information. However, since the underlying buddy in the logbook has not been changed (for a variety of technical reasons it is very hard to do this in this case) when you sync to the PC you will still just see the underlying logbook buddy that still just has a first name and last name entered.

To complete the picture, when you either create a new buddy as a contact or is you select an existing contact to create a new buddy, Dive Log will populate the underlying logbook buddy with the data (that it can) from the iOS contact. So when you sync the logbook to Diving Log 6.0 all that data is available to be displayed (note that Dive Log will still show the underlying contact when you view it which may include data that is not supported by the logbook format shared with Diving Log 6.0). So this is the situation that you are likely experiencing with the contact that is working.

When you "edit" a contact on iOS by editing the underlying contact, the changes are promoted into the logbook buddy entry (or at least should be, I'll double check that there is not a bug affecting this ... keeping up with Apple's changes to iOS is a constant struggle particularly where contacts are concerned). Typically the situation that you are seeing will happen if you edit the iOS contact outside of Dive Log or if you have a buddy (maybe created on the PC) that happens to match an iOS contact that you already have.

I realize that seems all very complicated. I can assure you if it were possible to make it less complicated given the underlying features of iOS and Windows (and macOS) we would. The goal here was to take advantage of the contacts related API's in iOS to make waring with buddies faster and easier but it does come with some corner cases that can lead to apparent inconsistencies.

I hope that helps explain the situation. Please feel free to contact us directly (support 'at' moremobilesoftware 'dot' com) if you need additional information or you want to look at the specifics of one of your contacts/buddies.

Cheers,

Greg
thetib
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2020 16:29

Re: Contact synchronization

Post by thetib »

Thank you very much for this very precise answer, I understood that it was not easy

Gold evening

Tib
thetib
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2020 16:29

Re: Contact synchronization

Post by thetib »

thetib wrote: Sun Nov 08, 2020 22:37 Thank you very much for this very precise answer, I understood that it was not easy

Good evening

Tib
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