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Help Me / Re: Assisting a Friend Remotely with TD Setup – Keeping Files In Sync
« on: September 11, 2023, 08:59:28 PM »how are you doing this? Are you simply copying the modified files from your desktop over to the laptop?
I'll be putzing with all sorts of settings, layouts, stats, etc etc. And worry about capturing everything.
- Is there a way to do a sort of master backup so I can move all changes I've made over to the second machine? I want to make this as idiot proof as possible!
-can you save all data, config, setup files etc in a cloud location where both PCs can access them?
For me, I usually modify layouts and rounds schedules and those types of files on my desktop PC, and I transfer them manually (as in I make note of which files I changed and make sure to transfer those files). I used to use a thumb drive but now I just drop files into my Dropbox folder to facilitate the transfer.
If you don't want to worry about which files to transfer, and just want to move everything, you can use the backup/restore features found on the Database tab. The backup feature allows to to pick and choose items to backup (broadly, such as your player database and/or your templates folder, etc). Whatever you select will be zipped up into a single file, making it easy to move it to another PC, where you can then restore the backup. This method is more foolproof and requires less work. But you do need to perform the steps of backing up, copying the backup, and restoring the backup any time you want to switch which PC you're working on. Otherwise you could forget to transfer something and accidentally overwrite it later.
And yes you can also use Dropbox or OneDrive or other cloud sync options to do this. You could configure your cloud sync provider to include the Tournament Director folder (in your Documents folder). I've not done this before, but just a quick glance at the settings in Dropbox and I see where you can configure your Dropbox folder.
Alternatively you can configure the TD to save its data in the default cloud sync folder. There are two ways I can think of to do this. First would be to simply create another Data Store inside your cloud sync folder and use that. To do that you need to create a new Data Store folder and move your existing data from the default Data Store folder to your new one.
To do that, you just need to press the Data Stores button on the Preferences tab, create a new Data Store, and make it the Active data store (right-click and select "Make active"). You would probably then want to exit the TD and copy all of the data from the original Data Store to the new one. As an example, if I were to do this I would:
* Press the Data Stores button on the Preferences tab
* Press the New button
* Press the Browse... button and browse to my Dropbox folder (or OneDrive or whatever cloud sync app you're using). In my Dropbox folder I would create a new folder named TournamentDirectorData
* Once I've selected the folder the Data Store name will automatically fill in with the folder name. Press OK. You'll be prompted to initialize the data store. Don't bother, just press Cancel
* Right-click on the Default Data Store and and select Explore folder. This will open Windows File Explorer to your current Data Store.
* Select all files (should be all folders) and press Ctrl+C to copy them
* Back in the Data Stores window, right-click on the new Data Store and select Explore folder. When the folder opens in File Explorer, press Ctrl+V to paste, which will copy everything from the current data store to this new one in your cloud sync folder.
* Back in the Data Stores window, right-click on the new Data Store and select Make active
You have now moved all of your data to a new location, which is cloud sync'd, and told the TD to start looking in this new folder for all of those files.
Another way to do this would be to simply tell the TD that your "Documents" folder is somewhere else. Since the TD, by default, stores all preferences and saved data in your Documents folder, if your Documents folder were inside of your cloud sync folder (or the TD thought it was), you'd get cloud sync automatically. This method is a little easier, and you get the benefit of including the TD preferences file in your cloud sync. To configure this method, you just need to create a new file in the right place with the right contents. In Windows File Explorer, enter %appdata%\TheTournamentDirector into the location bar at the top and press Enter. This should navigate to one of the TD's installation folders. For me it opens C:\Users\Corey\AppData\Roaming\TheTournamentDirector. In this folder, create a new file named "specialFolders.txt" (right-click and select New -> Text Document). Double-click the new file to edit it and add the following:
documents=C:\Users\Corey\Dropbox\TournamentDirectorData
You'll need to put in the path to the folder you want to use in your cloud sync folder. I used mine from the previous example. Once you restart the TD, it will simply pretend the folder you specified is your actual "Documents" folder. You will still need to copy all of your data from the default data store to this new location.
A note about using cloud sync: while I cannot say this with absolute certainty, I believe some bug reports I have received may be due to the cloud sync software locking files while it syncs. When this happens, the TD is unable to access the files (even to read them), and you may run into issues. One issue I have yet to publish the fix for is if the TD is unable to access the data stores preference file when the TD starts up, there's a bug in the TD that will cause the TD to exit instead of continue, and you cannot continue until that file is unlocked.