Add Entries to Palm Databases from a PC

Posted By: Ed Tuesday, April 23, 2002 9:49:47 AM

Softick has released SyncLive! 1.04, which lets users immediately add entries to the built-in Palm applications from a Windows PC. These are saved directly to the Palm and a full HotSync isn't necessary. The app can add appointments, tasks, memos, and contact information. SyncLive! can also immediately install .prc and .pdb files. It is available now for $32.

SyncLive! supports serial and infrared connections. However, it does not yet support USB. The company is working on this now.

The app also allows users to copy text from Internet Explorer to the Memo Pad.

This isn't a complete replacement for the Palm Desktop. This app doesn't edit or remove entries, it just adds new ones.

Currently, SyncLive! adds records only to the built-in applications but Softick plans to support DateBk4 and Action Names in the future.

It requires Windows 98/2000/XP. Softick has tested it with handhelds running Palm 3.x and 4.0 and says users of even older versions of the Palm OS shouldn't have any problems.

Permalink |

Article Comments

(19 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Comments Closed
This article is no longer accepting new comments.

Alot of Potential

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/23/2002 10:14:07 AM #

This will be a cool app once they add all the features it really needs. USB is the obvious first. Until it gets that, about 5 people will buy it. I'd like to be able to totally drop the Palm Desktop. I want to put my palm in its cradle and be able to directly edit the entries in built-in apps from my PC. The Palm Desktop is a wierd, cludgy way to edit the data. I save data into one app so it can save data to the palm? Wait before I go home or most meetings to HotSync? Eliminate the middle-man, that's what I say.

When all this gets added, I'll pay $32. Not now. Not by a long shot.

RE: Alot of Potential

Altema @ 4/23/2002 11:39:49 AM #

I cut out the middle man by getting a PPK. Forget the desktop altogether! (except for new app installs)

RE: Alot of Potential

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/24/2002 5:25:44 PM #

I agree. The desktop at work has MS Outlook and two other PIMs, which I don't use because my little Palm is just better for keeping my schedule, contacts, etc. As for my home PC, this is rapidly becoming just an internet connection and (an expensive) backup medium for my Palm.

I think that it's great that all this new software is being released. Sometimes I wonder, though, if developers really understand how ppl use their Palms.

LOL !! Exists for FREE since 5 years !!!

ldrolez @ 4/26/2002 9:23:23 AM #

Yes !!!
You can do exactly the same thing with the open source forware 'pilot-addresses' from pilot-link:
- no full hotsync
- source code available (GPL)
- $0 !!!!

I cannot beleive some guys try to sell this !!!!

Ludovic.

--
for more open source software for the palm:
http://www.palmopensource.com/

No hotsync?!

montyburns @ 4/23/2002 10:31:36 AM #

So, if no hot sync is needed, how do the records added on the desktop make it down to the Palm?

Magic monkies?

RE: No hotsync?!

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/23/2002 10:46:58 AM #

Right, you don't have to do a HotSync. Why is that hard to understand? You say you want to add something to the Address Book, hit a command on your PC, and it gets added right then. No magic monkies are required.

A HotSync is done by the Palm Desktop and involves synchronizing all your apps, possibly running AvantGo, and all that. That's a big waste of time if all you want to do is add one memo.

RE: No hotsync?!

mtg101 @ 4/23/2002 10:52:57 AM #

You still have to press the HotSync button on the PalmOS device to start the synchronization. However, instead of HotSync being launched on the desktop, SyncLive! is used.

However you can't edit entries, use 3rd party conduits (think AvantGo, iSilo, Vindigo etc), or backup your device from what I can tell. That's where the speed improvement comes from - because it's not doing all the other stuff HotSync does.

However, if you just want a quick way to install .prc / .pqa / .pdb files to your Palm, you'd be much better off with PilotInstall, which is free.

---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: No hotsync?!

montyburns @ 4/23/2002 10:53:16 AM #

fair enough. It opens a connection to the palm, and lets the data flow. I get it now. thank you.

RE: No hotsync?!

mtg101 @ 4/23/2002 10:58:38 AM #

arg - I didn't read their homepage correctly did I?

Yeah - you have to run a program on the Palm - and so get around having to use the HotSync button...

---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk

RE: No hotsync?!

seanhennessy @ 4/23/2002 12:00:31 PM #

I think it's a shame they didn't use the magic monkeys. You can never have too many magic monkeys.

RE: No hotsync?!

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/23/2002 12:52:52 PM #

> I think it's a shame they didn't use the magic monkeys. You can never have too many magic monkeys.

Yeah, right. Try and tell that to my next door neighbors :}

Why flog yourself?

sandbuck @ 4/23/2002 1:01:42 PM #

If you add recs to your Palm Apps' databases directly, that creates issues on the next hotsync. Why no just add recs through Outlook or the Palm Desktop app?

RE: Why flog yourself?

Altema @ 4/23/2002 1:30:02 PM #

At the next hotsync, the Palm Desktop app would go by which records were updated most recently, so it should not cause any hotsync problems. Data entered using the software in this article would be treated the same as if you did it directly on the Palm using Graffiti or a keyboard.

If you do make changes to the same record on the Palm AND the Desktop, then hotsync will keep both versions of the updated record on both the desktop and the Palm.

An example would be if you changed the address book entry for "Miss Jones" to "Mrs" on the Palm, then changed the same record to "Ms Jones" in the Palm Desktop software without performing a hotsync.

At the next hotsync, the system would see changes to the same record on both sides, and would keep both versions. What you wind up with is an entry for "Mrs. Jones" AND "Ms. Jones" on both the Palm and the Palm Desktop. This is so you don't loose any updates, and you get to choose which one gets deleted.

And yes, you could use Outlook or the Palm Desktop for editing or entry,.. but some do not like doing it that way.

Hotsyncing to a diskette

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/23/2002 6:55:07 PM #

I'm a [poor] student and some of the workstations have USB ports. I can use my m500 GoType! Pro Keyboard (wonderful product!) to provide remote synching. I would like to put Palm Desktop on a Zip disk and sync to it is this possible? I tried installing directly to the disk but the machine froze. Can it be run remotely? Are registry entries needed?

Sounds like this program would be great for exactly this purpose, once USB support comes. But I'd also like to sync Wordsmith files, etc, which this doesn't provide.

RE: Hotsyncing to a diskette

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/23/2002 10:31:36 PM #

You did not mention what OS the desktops were running, but I assume it's Win95 or above which would need the software installed in order to be registered by the OS. Also, if you plan on performing a standard hotsync, the hotsync manager will need to be running on the desktop as well. SyncLive may behave differently, and probably does not need the Palm Desktop or Hotsync Manager installed. Your best bet would be to contact the makers of SyncLive via their website, and ask if SyncLive can be run from a zip drive directly without being installed on the PC hard drive.

Altema

RE: Hotsyncing to a diskette

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/24/2002 5:37:09 PM #

Hi, totally off topic ...

I've seen Pilot Instal run off a diskette to reinstall backuped data after a hard reset. But it's a one way sync only: disc -> Palm not the other way round.

RE: Hotsyncing to a diskette

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/25/2002 6:08:20 PM #

Yeah, I looked at Pilot Install too, and I'll use it if I have to.

It took mulitple tries but I finally got the setup file to install to the Zip disk. The only problem is the registry entries and Palm USB drivers which are also installed. It seems that Palm Desktop puts a key entry for ".../Core/Path" which sets the path of the base file folder, this besides any other entries which I don't know about. I would need to be able to create and then delete these entries on-the-fly, possibly through a batch file.

The USB drivers seem to be available from Palm's web site under the PalmConnect USB kit.

Anyway I hope this thread is helpful to someone. I'll post this to the forums after I register.

So what is new?

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/24/2002 2:27:23 PM #

This is the same as beaming. My laptop does this with infrared already. Drop a text file on the wireless link and it ends up in memo pad. Drop a .vcf file and the contact is added to address book.

Pilot Install does installs

PIC mobile user @ 4/29/2002 7:47:32 AM #

Pilot Install will do the installation of apps without a hotsync. It will even install pictures onto a Palm. It, however, will not install info straight into Palm databases. But it is free.

http://pinstall.envicon.com