The MobiForms Sync Server (MSS) is a complementary tool to the MobiForms Developer offering a true offline store and forward capability with sophisticated online synchronisation, bi-directional replication and offline data buffering.

Unlike most competing products, the MSS offers a solution for a once off licence fee that does not need to be hosted by a third party and does not incur any additional monthly service charges (other than the data usage paid to the mobile phone network provider).

The MSS provides a mechanism to create a seed mobile database containing a duplicate subset of tables from a centrally served database application. The tables are stored in the embedded HSQLDB database engine included with MobiForms, or SQLite on Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod. The mobile database is subsequently indentifed by the MobiForms Developer for the creation of a mobile application and deployment via the MobiForms Deployment Wizard to the mobile devices.

Where network routing is enabled, the MSS will replicate data from any central database server running Oracle Server, Oracle Lite, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Sybase SQL Anywhere Server, IBM DB2 Server, SQLite, MySQL, Firebird or HSQLDB over any wireless network, to any number of mobile devices running a MobiForms client.

When a mobile device connects to a wireless network it is usually given a dynamic IP address from the network provider (rather than a static IP address). Everytime this changes on the mobile device the MobiForms client reports it back to the MSS guaranteeing that the right data is replicated to the right device.

The MSS includes a sample Microsoft Access database and simple master database application (built using MobiForms).

The MSS includes a comprehensive step by step manual with the aim of teaching the user by example by showing how to build a simple mobile application synchronised from the master database application with bi-directional data replication. Tutorials include:

• How to define the database replication rules from the master database
• How to define a mobile user
• How to build a seed mobile database based on a subset of the master database
• How to create a mobile application using the seed mobile database and MobiForms
• How to deploy the mobile application and seed mobile database
• Demonstration of bi-directional data replication and status updates between the master database and the mobile client database

Using these examples as a guide it is entirely possible to build other similar applications such as for customer relationship management (with prospects and sales), field service (with jobs) or stock control (with parts).