THIS VERSION IS FOR HOTSYNC 1.0 ONLY!
DO NOT USE THIS VERSION WITH HOTSYNC 1.1!
Simply extract all the files to a working directory. Run the CondMgr.exe program, and select the first menu item. This
Install any of the pre-configured conduits, or install a custom. On the next HotSync, your data transfers will occur.
The cbasView program usage is obvious. Just run it.
The DinkyVw program allows: auto-select of the current sync file; other files can be opened with the browse button save your work save a picture as a bitmap file copy to the clipboard paste from the clipboard crude drawing on screen print single file or the whole collection new and delete of individual pictures
The Pilot handheld computer is a wonderful device for personal productivity. It includes the ability to send a copy of all it's information to and from a PC or Macintosh.
The built-in applications have "twins" on the PC which allow you to work equally well on either platform, and move the data back and forth, in sync.
The third-part applications which have been built normally do not have "twins" on the PC, but the forward thinking designers at Palm put a mechanism in place to automatically backup the Pilot data. Programs like Pilot Money can have all their data backed-up, just in case the Pilot loses all its memory.
Unfortunately, there is a minor bug in the code (described in the previous paragraph) and only some of the Pilot data is sent for backup.
The Generic Conduit Manager system fixes this problem in a round-about way.
When the Generic Conduit Manager is installed, it links a "generic conduit" in place, so that every hot-sync invokes the "generic conduit". This code searches the Win95 registry for Conduit Manager entries and uses the data from there to do a generic hot-sync with the Pilot.
Because only modified data is transferred, each database that you couple through the Generic Conduit actually speeds up your hot-sync. [See the note below concerning categories. Not all apps can be both-way hot-sync'd.]
The synchronization strategy:
| Record | |
| - | unmodified |
| D | deleted |
| M | modified |
| N | new |
| x | does not exist |
| Pilot/PC record status | action |
| -- | do nothing |
| -M | PC->Pilot |
| M- | Pilot->PC |
| xM | PC->Pilot |
| Mx | Pilot->PC |
| MM | create duplicate on Pilot and PC, and cross upate |
| -D | delete the Pilot record |
| D- | delete the PC record |
| MD | over-ride the delete, and Pilot->PC |
| DM | over-ride the delete, and PC->Pilot |
| xD | do nothing |
| Dx | do nothing |
| DD | delete on both |
This version of the Conduit Manager/Generic Conduit does not handle categories. I will put this in if there is a demand.
In other words, if your database uses categories, your database files WILL BE CORRUPTED if you let GenCond.dll sync them. A full PC->Pilot or Pilot->PC sync will work ok, but the both-way sync will not handle the merging of categories properly. You have been warned.
As mentioned above, the Pilot HotSync 1.0 program is a well designed, forward thinking system. It does a good job of backing up data for programs which didn't even exist when it was written.
There is a minor bug, which goes as follows: During a hot-sync, the code on the PC asks the Pilot to give it a list of all the data groups contained within the Pilot. The PC code then runs through the registry, and tries to match up each data group with an entry in the registry. Naturally, it finds Address, Todo, Datebook and Memopad, and signals each one to sync itself. Any other data type that has a conduit is run, as well. Any data group which is left over (and marked for backup) is blindly copied to the PC, for a future "restore". (This includes the Grafitti shortcuts, the Giraffe high scores, DinkyPad data, cbasPad data and PilotMoney data).
The bug is this: when the PC asks the Pilot for a list of its data groups, only the first 28 are returned. (This list includes the application code as well as the data.) If the user has a fully packed Pilot, many data groups can get left out. Since they don't make it to the PC, a) their conduit never gets called b) they never get backed up.
The GenCond.DLL system fixes this problem by working differently. Each conduit that you invoke using the ConduitManager puts an entry in the Win95 registry. During a hot-sync, the registry is scanned, and each ConduitManager conduit is invoked, which transfers the data to and from the Pilot.