The
syncserver function runs a local server that allows peer-to-peer synchronization between two devices using Bluetooth. No Internet connection is required, but the two devices must be in close physical proximity because
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology.
The function waits for a connection from another device, the "client," made when the client calls
syncconnect to start
Bluetooth synchronization. You can use the
setbluetoothname function if you want to set the server device's Bluetooth name that the client sees when trying to make a connection.
Once the two devices are connected, the client calls functions such as
syncdata and
syncfile to copy data and/or files to and from the server. Finally, the client calls
syncdisconnect to end the session.
The server in a peer-to-peer synchronization is passive. It does not call any synchronization functions. It simply responds to requests initiated by the client. The Bluetooth server runs until either the client successfully disconnects (after connecting), or the operator cancels the synchronization.
If the client's synchronization logic depends on data from the server, such data can be passed between devices by having the client send a
message using
syncmessage or
Sync.sendMessage, which the server responds to using
OnSyncMessage.
The
syncserver function displays a dialog to the operator indicating that it is waiting for a client to connect. During this time, no other logic on the server is executed. Once a connection is made, the dialog displays the progress of the synchronization. When the client disconnects by calling
syncdisconnect, the dialog is removed and
syncserver returns. If no connection is made, the operator can use the dialog's cancel button to cause
syncserver to return and continue executing any logic that follows. The server only allows connections while the
syncserver function is running, so the server must call
syncserver before the client device calls
syncconnect.
The first argument must be the keyword
Bluetooth. The second argument,
file_root_path, is an optional string expression of the path to use as the base directory from which to transfer files when the client calls
syncfile. The remote path specified in the call to
syncfile is appended to this base directory to determine the full path of files on the server. In other words,
"/" in a
syncfile call from the client refers to the
file_root_path directory on the server. For example, if
file_root_path is
@"C:\MyApp\MyFiles" and the client calls
syncfile(GET, "/Images/image.jpg"), then the file
image.jpg will be read from the directory
C:\MyApp\MyFiles\Images\ on the server. If no
file_root_path is specified, the application directory is used. The rules that dictate what files can be synced on the server differ depending on the operating system. On Android, only files within the
csentry directory can be synced. On Windows, any file can be synced.
The function returns a logical value of
1 (
true) if the synchronization was successful and
0 (
false) otherwise.
// start a peer-to-peer Bluetooth server with the application directory as the file root path
syncserver(Bluetooth); // start a peer-to-peer Bluetooth server with the application parent directory as the file root path
syncserver(Bluetooth, "..");