• Data Manager User's Guide
    • Introduction to Data Manager
    • How to ...
      • Open CSPro Data Files
      • Navigating Data Manager's Windows
      • Filtering Cases and Display Options
      • Converting CSPro Data Files to Other Formats
      • Export Data
      • Downloading and Synchronizing Data
      • Run Production Synchronizations
      • Get Help
    • Appendix

Downloading and Synchronizing Data

There are two features within Data Manager that allow you to download or synchronize your data from a synchronization service that was used for data synchronization. These options only work with CSPro DB (.csdb) and Encrypted CSPro DB (.csdbe) data sources.
Downloading Data
  1. Click the File menu and select New and then Download Data From Synchronization Service.
  2. Select the synchronization service and provide any relevant details (e.g., a server URL).
  3. Click on the Show Available Data button. If the connection details are valid, Data Manager will display a list of data stored on the synchronization service.
  4. Select the data set that you are interested in downloading.
  5. Provide a description of where this downloaded data should go on your local machine.
Data Manager will download all the cases from the data set into the designated CSPro DB or Encrypted CSPro DB file. If you reference a file that already exists, the file will be overwritten.
Synchronizing Data
  1. Open an existing data source.
  2. Click the File menu and select Synchronize (or press Ctrl+Shift+S).
  3. Select the synchronization service and provide any relevant details (e.g., a server URL).
  4. Select the synchronization direction. There are a few options, though generally you will choose the default option, GET:
    • Upload changes to server (PUT): Only data that is modified on the device will be sent to the synchronization service. No data will be downloaded from the service. This is the most common option for interviewers when all interviewers work on unique assignments.
    • Download changes from server (GET): Only receive modified data from the synchronization service. No local changes to the data will be uploaded to the service. This might be used for a supervisor who wants to see what changes interviewers have made but does not want to make changes themselves, or for a user at headquarters who wants to review data.
    • Sync local and remote changes (BOTH): Send local changes to the synchronization service and download changes from the service. This option can be used when multiple interviewers need to work on the same assignments. Note that if both interviewers modify a case at the same time, one will overwrite the changes made by the other.
  5. If relevant, specify a universe. A synchronization universe is matched against the ID items of each of the cases. Cases are only transferred when the string of the ID items concatenated together starts with the universe. For example, if the universe is "123", then cases with IDs "1234" and "1235" would be synced but a case with IDs "2345" would not.
You can choose to download and/or upload all the cases in the data source, making sure that the cases in the data source match the cases stored on the synchronization service. This process can be automated by running a production synchronization.
Synchronizations With Local Files
For faster downloads of large datasets stored on Dropbox, you can choose Dropbox with the Use Local Dropbox (when possible) option. When this option is selected, rather than downloading the data from Dropbox over the Internet, Data Manager will extract the data from the synced Dropbox folder on the computer. In order to use this option, you must have installed the Dropbox client software on your computer and configured it with the same Dropbox account that you are downloading data from. As long as your computer is connected to the Internet, the Dropbox client software will continuously download data from the Dropbox servers to the local computer. Data Manager can then use the data that was already downloaded to create the CSPro data source.
For faster downloads when you are running an FTP server on the same computer that you are using to download data, you can choose Local Files rather than FTP. When you select this option, you must then enter or browse to the FTP folder on the computer where the FTP server has saved the data. The folder you choose should be the FTP server home directory, which should contain a folder named CSPro.