Offline Sync for Mobile Services – Part 1: Resources

Oct 21, 2014

The Azure Mobile Services SDK offer a very useful preview feature for syncing a mobile apps backend data with a local database on the device.

I have looked into how to best support offline sync capabilities in a future Universal App of mine.
My main scenarios to support are:

  • a user can switch between using the app on his tablet or phone
  • a user can work with the apps data while being offline
  • many users can work with the same data

I have tried out a couple of tutorials and some spikes syncing a local SQLite database with a backend Azure SQL database. In my opinion, Offline Sync for Mobile Services seems to be a perfect match to solve these common scenarios.

This post list a collection of resources to be used to dig deeper into the topic. I will return with more useful information when I actually have implemented the complete offline sync feature in my app.

I especially recommend Rob Tiffanys session from TechEd New Zealand for both a great overview and into details like how to use data object views. I am also looking forward to see Donna Malayeris session “Mobile apps that work, even when your network doesn’t” at our Øredev conference in November.

Posts

Using offline data sync in Mobile Services
http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/mobile-services-windows-store-dotnet-get-started-offline-data

Handling conflicts with offline data sync in Mobile Services
http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/mobile-services-windows-store-dotnet-handling-conflicts-offline-data/

Offline Sync for Mobile Services
http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/07/30/offline-sync-for-mobile-services/

Deep dive on the offline support in the managed client SDK
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/azuremobile/archive/2014/04/07/deep-dive-on-the-offline-support-in-the-managed-client-sdk.aspx

Videos

Build offline apps with Azure Mobile Services
http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Windows-Azure-Mobile-Services/Build-offline-apps-Azure-Mobile-Services

Episode 155 of Cloud Cover: Offline Sync with Donna Malayeri
http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Cloud+Cover/Episode-155-Offline-Storage-with-Donna-Malayeri

Supercharge your Mobile LOB Apps with SQLite and Offline Data Sync via Universal Apps for Windows, TechEd New Zealand 2014, Rob Tiffany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCerDE8f780

Learn how Vesper built offline sync using Azure Mobile Services
http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Windows-Azure/Learn-how-Vesper-built-offline-sync-using-Azure-Mobile-Services-

Future Sessions

Mobile apps that work, even when your network doesn’t – a session at Øredev 5 November 2014
http://oredev.org/2014/sessions/mobile-apps-that-work-even-when-your-network-doesnt

Samples

Todo offline sample – Windows Universal
https://github.com/Azure/mobile-services-samples/tree/master/TodoOffline/WindowsUniversal

Azure Mobile Service sample – Insurance agency
https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Azure-Mobile-Service-678a5855

Field Engineer
https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Field-Engineer-501df99d

SDK

Latest Beta release of Windows Azure Mobile Services including Offline support
http://www.nuget.org/packages/WindowsAzure.MobileServices/

Social Media

@AzureMobile
https://twitter.com/AzureMobile

Microsoft Azure Mobile Services
http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/services/mobile-services/

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