Using UPNP to synchronize data between android and desktop

[prl]

It's unclear what your use case is exactly, but I'd add two more 
potential problems:

6. If Gnucash on the server is working on the file when the 
synchronisation is done, it would either fail if the synchronisation 
respected the Gnucash file lock, or changes made in the synchronisation 
would be lost when Gnucash wrote out its file.
7. There doesn't seem to be any way of resolving conflicts if the 
account file has been modified on both the server and the Android device.

Peter

On 22/10/13 17:06, Niranjan Rao wrote:
> I tried sending this message to developer's list first, but it looks since
> I am not a member of the list it's being removed. Apologize if you see this
> message twice.
>
> I was playing Cling UPNP library (http://4thline.org/projects/cling/) and
> thought that this might be one more way to support data synchronization
> between gnucash and it's android companion. If things go as dreamed, it
> might be as simple as picking up a server when user exports android data
> and your data automagically will be updated using python calls. Android
> application user won't have to export to OFX format as python binding might
> be used to update the data. This approach also can be used to provide any
> other data that future android versions might need.
>
> Over the weekend, I wrote a POC which is able to serve the files desired by
> android version and is able to accept the files. It definitely looks usable
> from this angle.
>
> On the device and android emulator, my services do show up, though Cling
> demo code for android does not allow me to fire the service.
>
> I see following problems in this approach. Any other thoughts and/or
> criticism on this approach are greatly appreciated.
>
> 1. User needs to have java installed. There are UPNP libraries in python,
> but most of them are media oriented. I have not investigated python
> libraries yet.
> 2. User need to have python bindings installed.
> 3. To use UPNP, you need to have WIFI on your home router.
> 4. Stability of python API for gnucash
> 5. UPNP is not secure by design. But then android users can send emails to
> get the exported data and mobile users do use many UPNP features such as
> DLNA to steam media.
>
> Regards,
>
> Niranjan
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