GoZync2

Downloading Found Sets

Can someone in the field download just their data?

Yes. GoZync lets you build a found set of records to come down to the mobile device. This could be the records for a given user ("my contacts") or the records for that user which are flagged to be done that day ("my appointments for today"). You get to build the found set using whatever scripts you'd like--you're in FileMaker after all--and GoZync will package up the resulting found set for the mobile user.

Here is how it works.

There are two scripts in GoZynConnector that control bringing data down to a mobile device. The fist of these, "Get Records From Host ( RecordType )" simply branches to decide what kind of records you're looking for (are you pulling contacts or products, for example). The real work is done in the scripts called by "Get Records From Host ( RecordType )", such as the script "Package up Products" in our example file. (You might have many of these in your deployment, having copied "Package up Products" to create "Package up Contacts", "Package up Workorders", etc.)

If you look in the script "Package up Products" you'll see the following comment:

"Control which found set comes down to Mobile: replace this show all records with a find if you do not want to send all these itesm to mobile"

And in our example this is followed by a simple Show All Records script step... because in our example we always bring down all the products to the mobile user.

To send a subset of records to the mobile user, just replace that Show All Records step with a scripted find that grabs the records you want your user to get.

Tips for building found sets.

Authentication. Remember, your mobile user has logged into GoZyncConnector at this point (has been asked for a user name and password) so you can use Get ( AccountName ) to determine who they are and search for just their records.

Check Out. In addition to "my" records, you may want to have mobile users download records that have been tagged somehow: such as deliveries that need to be made that day. Including this Tag in the find criteria is easy, and you can often use this tag to prevent users back at the office from editing records that a mobile user has "checked out".

Note that the scripted find which builds your found set can set fields in the found set to, for example, mark that a record was not just "tagged" for Jim to download, but that Jim actually connected and downloaded it. You can see how easy it is to extend this into a check out system where you know when Jim grabbed the record. and when he returned it. You'll see some of this chcek out behavior in the forthcoming Worx example file for GoZync.