[v5.2]
[ Click here to go to the ProximitySync Web Site ]


What is ProximitySync?

ProximitySync automates the process of keeping the information on your computer and mobile bluetooth device (phone or supported PDA) in sync. ProximitySync can be configured to sync your calendar and address book up to twice per day when your bluetooth device is brought near the computer, or when waking or logging into your computer while the device is nearby. Additionally, ProximitySync provides a menu on your mobile device that lets you initiate a sync with the computer remotely, or get status or change configuration settings. With ProximitySync your mobile device and computer intelligently keep each other up-to-date on any changes made, regardless of where the change originates, and without a moment's thought from you.


Requirements

- Salling Clicker v2.0.1 or higher (2.1 recommended)
- Either one of (or both):
    o iSync v1.1 or higher
    o MobileSync v1.0.3 or higher (at the time of this writing, 1.0.3 is only available as a beta release. Check here if you need a copy)
- Must meet all requirements of Salling Clicker and iSync/MobileSync
- a bluetooth device which Salling Clicker support phone events with.

Installation

A) Setting up Salling Clicker

You must have Salling Clicker installed and should have verified that it is working correctly before attempting to install ProximitySync. Refer to the Salling Clicker documentation for further information.

1. Set Salling Clicker to "auto-connect on restart". From the Salling Clicker preference pane, click on the "Settings" button in the lower-left corner. From the resulting dialog, ensure that "auto-connect on restart" is checked.


B) Setting up your syncing software

Before using ProximitySync, the syncing software you wish to use (either iSync or MobileSync) should already be configured to use your bluetooth device and you should have completed at least one sync to the device. You should also verify the settings for your device to ensure that the data is being handled as you wish. To check these settings in your syncing software, click on the device icon in the main window (refer to your syncing software's documentation if you require further assistance).

For unattended operation, you must set your syncing software to not display an alert on the computer if data is being changed by the sync. Complete the following steps to ensure your syncing software is setup correctly.

1. Launch your syncing software (iSync or MobileSync) application.

2. Open the Preferences window (e.g. with iSync, select "Preferences" from the iSync menu).


3. Ensure that the "Show Data change alert" checkbox is not checked.

Note: If you seriously distrust technology, you can leave this setting checked, however, you will not be assured of unattended operation (which is kinda the whole point behind ProximitySync).

4. Close the Preferences window

While you have your syncing software running, you should also confirm that it is synchronizing the data you want for your selected device. Do this by clicking on the icon for your device in the main window. A list of options for that device will be displayed.


5. Quit your syncing application.

C) Installing and enabling ProximitySync

6. Open the Salling Clicker preference pane by selecting "Open Salling Clicker Preferences" from the Salling Clicker device menu in the menu bar.


7. Drag-and-drop the "ProximitySync Clicker Action Suite" file onto the scripts list of the Clicker Items pane of the Salling Clicker preference window.


7a. If Salling Clicker displays a "This content may be unsafe" dialog, click on the "Install" button to continue the installation.

7b. If you had a previous version of ProximitySync installed, SC should display an "Overwrite Actions?" dialog. Click on the "Replace" button to continue the installation.

8. The ProximitySync menu action, can be added to any menu that Salling Clicker enables on your phone. To add it to a menu, select the "Menu" tab in SC. Then drag the "ProximitySync" action from the list on the right to a menu on the left.


9. The ProximitySync phone event action will automatically be recognized by SC and added to the list of available phone event actions. To enable it, go to the "Phone Event" tab in SC an make sure that the checkbox for "ProximitySync: Automatic daily sync with iSync or MobileSync" is enabled.


This action will, as the title suggests, automatically synchronize your computer and phone with iSync up to twice per day.

10. Click on the "Apply Now" button in the lower right corner of the SC Preference Pane. You may then close the Salling Clicker Preference pane.

D) Setting up ProximitySync for the First Time

11. On your bluetooth device (phone, PDA, etc), select "ProximitySync" from the location you added it in step #8 or, alternatively, turn the device off for a few seconds and then turn it back on while in proximity of your computer. Either one of these actions will start a configuration wizard will automatically start on the computer.


Note: If the configuration wizard does not appear on your computer screen, ensure that the Salling Clicker menu is published for your device (refer to Salling Clicker documentation if you need assistance). If the menu is published, turn your bluetooth device off for a few seconds and then turn it on again while within proximity of your computer.

Note: If you are upgrading from a previous version of ProximitySync, the configuration wizard will only be displayed if necessary to update your preferences.

This is a one time process. Answer the questions presented on the computer screen (refer to the following section for help with the configuration options). Once the configuration wizard is complete, if you used the phone menu to enter the wizard then the ProximitySync menu will be displayed on the phone, otherwise, ProximitySync will attempt to synchronize.

Once complete, ProximitySync is setup and will automatically synchronize as specified when your phone is brought within bluetooth range of your computer.


Configuration Options

ProximitySync has a number of configuration options. These may be set either initially from the configuration wizard that launches the first time the proximitySync Event is activated or from the ProximitySync Menu. The following is a brief description of each available option.

Syncing Application

ProximitySync uses third-party software to preform the actual syncing of data with your bluetooth device. You need to tell ProximitySync which software to use, either iSync or MobileSync. Selecting iSync will utilize Apple's standard syncing software for synchronizing iCal and Addressbook. If you use Microsoft Entourage, you can choose to have ProximitySync utilize MobileSync to sync the calendar and address book information from Entourage to your bluetooth device. If you are unsure which option applies to you, select "iSync".


Message Display

This option allows you to choose the level of onscreen messages that ProximitySync will use to alert you of its operation. These messages are displayed on your computer screen. You may choose between displaying only error messages, only messages displayed during the synchronizing process, or all messages.


Sync Triggers

This option allows you to set the number of times per day and the time(s) after which ProximitySync will activate a synchronization. Selecting "Calendar" will enable one activation per day which occurs at midnight. Selecting one or two triggers will allow you to set either one or two specific times, respectively, during the day after which activation should occur.


Most people would probably want to use two triggers; one set a little before you normally wake up and the other set before you get home from work. This setup will have ProximitySync attempting to synchronize the first time the phone comes within proximity in the morning and once after you get home from work. The optimal trigger times for you may differ.


Check Delay

Normally, with the Check Delay set to "no delay", ProximitySync will check to see if a synchronization is necessary everytime the device comes within proximity of the computer. However, some devices fade in and out of proximity at different times. If you notice that ProximitySync is being activated too often or, for example, while you are on phone calls, you might want to activate the Check Delay feature. The check delay forces ProximitySync to only activate a maximum of once every 5 or 10 minutes.


Notes

Some devices and computer/bluetooth combinations seem to drift in and out of proximity while on a phone call. To avoid ProximitySync getting activated every few seconds while on a call, ProximitySync now can be configured to wait for up to 10 minutes since its last check before running. This delay time may be changed in the setup wizard during configuration, or via the ProximitySync menu action in the "Settings" menu.

If you are experiencing problems with ProximitySync asking you to re-register often, try setting "Check Delay" to "No Delay".

iSync does not appear to have very good error reporting and sometimes, although rarely, reports that a sync was successful even if it was not. This is not a ProximitySync issue and hopefully will be rectified in later versions on iSync.

MobileSync will quit after 60 seconds. If you find that it is not enough time for MobileSync to complete your synchronizations (it should be more than enough), you can increase the delay by editing the prefs file at ~/Library/Preferences/ProximitySync.txt and changing the last item ("60") to the number of seconds delay you require.

If using both MobileSync and iSync, make sure that both apps are correctly configured to sync only the information you want or the information from one may overwrite the other.


Legal

This software is provided on an AS IS basis only. In no event shall the author or its agents and/or suppliers be held liable for any damages whatsoever arising out of the installation, use, or inability to use this software.


Contact Info

Brad Dolman
e-mail: proximitysync@braddolman.com
web: http://www.braddolman.com/proximitysync


Version History

v5.2 (Sept 19, 2004)
- Added ability to use both iSync and MobileSync at the same time for users that have some data being sync'd in one and some data sync in the other. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS!
- MobileSync now quits after 60 seconds.
v5.1 (Apr 13, 2004)
- fixed a bug that periodically forced users to re-register on some computers when check delay was enabled. (Sept 13 - turns out this hasn't been completely fixed on all systems. If you are experiencing problems with re-registering, try turning off the Check Delay feature.
v5.0 (Feb 27, 2004)
- added "on connected" handler to attempt to do syncs on wake
- added log entries for "proximity" and "connected" handlers
- added detailed error reporting
- improved error reporting in log file
- substantial changes to accommodate MobileSync
- added "Select Sync app" to setup wizard
- added "Rest Config" option to settings menu
v4.1 (Jan 7, 2004)
- removed coersion from version check, should correct following problems:
o error appearing in AppleScript Log
o setup wizard does not start
- PS Menu: added ability to run setup wizard from phone menu (read me also updated)
- improved version reporting in prefs and checking
- PS Menu: added "about" menu item to show version info (for tech support)
v4 (Dec 1, 2003)
- compatible with OSX 10.3 (Panther)
- better compatibility/integration with SC v2.0 (supports "phone event" handlers)
- support for one or two syncs per day (or the original, after midnight behaviour)
- user can specify trigger times for syncs to occur after
- will wait 10mins after checking if a sync is necessary before trying again (user definable)
(the t68i drifts in/out of proximity while on a call)
- maintains a log file in ~/library/logs (although this may get quite big after a while, I suppose)
- a ridiculously detailed setup wizard
- not backward compatible with previous versions of SC, so performs a version check
- much-improved registration interface (please register!) ;-)
- keeps track of more stats - yeah! more stats! well, I don't do much with them though
- PS Menu (was ":Remote") got a major overhaul, syncing basically on par with PS Event now
- PS Menu some on phone reporting, in case you can't see the computer screen.
- PS Menu, allow user to view stats
- PS Menu, allow user to change settings
- PS Menu, allow user to register or view registration info
- many, many, annoying little bugs and glitches I didn't bother to note
v3 (July 7, 2003)
ProximitySync
- remembers preferences after shutdown/restart
- works around a problem where sync would fail if turning on phone while in proximity
- attempts to handle potential iSync errors - even though iSync is lazy and doesn't report them
- general optimizations
ProximitySync:Remote
- renamed from Synchronize
- updated error handling to more closely match ProximitySync
- added feedback on device display (phone)
- minor message text improvements
v2 (July 2, 2003)
ProximitySync
- No longer launches iSync unless sync is required
- keeps track of # syncs and # of times checked
- screen reporting all/sync only/errors only/off
- first time configuration wizard
v1 (June 29, 2003)
Initial release