How are conflicts dealt with in Tiddlywiki when used with different devices?

#1

Ok, I open my TiddlyWiki on my desktop computer and add 3 tiddlers. I then go my iPad and launch Quine and open my TiddlyWiki file and add 2 more tiddlers and save it.

Then, the next day, I go back to my desktop and maximize whatever tool I use to edit my TiddlyWiki file, add some more TIddlers and click save. Will the stuff I added on my iPad get wiped?

The obvious solution is to just not do what I am doing. But I know it’s going to happen at least once.

Can TiddlyWiki be set to auto-refresh off the saved files on some kind of interval?

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#2

It depends on your sync method. If you sync the whole HTML using dropbox, then there may be some conflict.

If you use a sync adaptor or a selective syncer like tw-mobile-sync plugin, you will be able to only sync changed tiddlers without conflict.

I’m using this to sync between desktop TidGi app and Android Tiddloid app. It only sync newly changed tiddler to desktop and vise versa.

#3

What file is Tiddloid opening?

And can you sync two desktops together?

Is there better documentation? It looks like the translator failed to translate a good chunk of the installation instructions.

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#4

You do not say whether you are using standalone Tiddlywiki - are you new to Tiddlywiki - if so then you might be using a standalone setup in which case there would be no syncing between your devices and you would be responsible for copying new tiddlers from say your ipad to your desktop yourself using export and import.

#5

I have translated readme in GitHub - tiddly-gittly/tw-mobile-sync: Sync data between Mobile HTML (Tiddloid) <-> Desktop App (TidGi) and GitHub - tiddly-gittly/tw-mobile-sync: Sync data between Mobile HTML (Tiddloid) <-> Desktop App (TidGi)

Tiddloid is opening a HTML wiki file.

First scan the code on your cell phone, open the current knowledge base page, then save the HTML file and open the saved HTML file in Tiddloid (Or quine2) (You may need to move the file out of the download directory first or Tiddloid will not have access to it, see its Instructions for details).

For sync between two desktop, I just use TidGi and it will sync to github repo every 30min.

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#6

I am a returning TiddlyWiki user. I have played with various other tools that offer syncing, but none of the ease of use that TiddlyWiki has.

So, I want to switch back. But I need multi-device syncing.

On desktop I would prefer to run it in node.js, since that gave me the best experience. But that doesn’t give me a mobile experience.

I’m using Quine on my iPhone and iPad and that requires an HTML file. I probably could set up some kind of port forwarding to access node.js from my phone, but I woud prefer to have a local copy on my phone/tablet I can sync up with desktop at home.

I would prefer NOT to use something like Google Drive, and instead use my home Nextcloud server. But I am willing to entertain other options for accessingn TiddlyWiki on my phone and mobile devices and keeping it all in sync.

In a perfect world, all copies would be offline, but could sync with each other.

Maybe TiddlyWiki just isn’t the right tool for this. But I just like the way TiddlyWiki works bettwe than other open source toosl like Joplin or free tools like Obsidian.

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#7

It also depends on what saver you are using on the desktop. For example, I use TiddlyWiki in Firefox with the File Backups extension. It automatically generates backup files irregardless of my syncing method, which is Dropbox. I try to be pretty diligent about avoiding conflicted copies, but as this actually happened recently I was able to use one of the File Backups backups to compare to the current version and manually make the changes.

I don’t edit TiddlyWiki on mobile, but I do use multiple computers with TiddlyWiki. On some of these computers I cannot install the Dropbox client, but I can access the Dropbox web interface. Even though I have File Backups extension installed on these computers, I don’t always sync my changes back manually with the Dropbox web interface by syncing the whole file, but instead I just export the selected tiddlers I’ve modified and upload those to Dropbox. Later when I’m on one of my regular computers, I edit the TiddlyWiki file with the changes. The Emergency Tiddler Export method describes how to do this.

I use a slightly different filter than specified in Emergency Tiddler Export, but the concept is still the same.

[all[tiddlers]modifier{$:/status/UserName}day:modified[-0]sort[title]!prefix[$:/state]!prefix[$:/temp]!prefix[$:/History]!prefix[$:/Story]]
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#8

TidGi starts a NodeJS wiki for you.

I personally use git-sync (built into TidGI with git-sync-js ) to make backup and sync to clond and clone at another device.

#9

Can the tw-mobile-sync plugin be used without Tiddloid? Could I use it on a local file on my iPhone in Quine to sync against a node.js copy running on a Linux server?

#10

@apastuszak the simplest and easiest remedy is to ensure that

  • autosave is on, so every change is committed to file.
  • consider closing the browser tab when you have stopped using the wiki on any device.
  • When returning to your wiki on any device before making changes hit reload.

These can be somewhat automated to make it more obvious and even automatic but using the above guidelines I mange to avoid any problems 99% of the time.

  • One way to think of it is what if you kept your wiki on a USB device? You would save all changes before ejecting your USB and you would load the wiki afresh after mounting it on another device?

Some other advice;

  • Mobile device apps are great for wiki that lives on the device. If you want to access your wiki from the desktop you can access it via file access, after saving and closing the app. That is the tiddlywiki file remains always on the mobile device. If the mobile is always with you this may be the best approach.
  • If you always have internet access then hosting your wiki anywhere on the internet is the best approach, again with autosave active and my above guidance.
    • If you always have internet access and a VPN into a LAN that you can safety host a bob install of tiddlywiki in, and your desktop can access on the LAN, then you can make use of Bobs tiddler level locking, every edit tiddler is committed to the server. At most if you did not save a tiddler or two only those you could not edit from another device.

I have done most of the ground work for a device check in and out process for one user to safely move across devices. And there are a lot of other opportunities that do not yet have a mature plugin solution yet.

How to stimulate User Growth of TW?
#11

Yes you can, it’s just a tw plugin.

#12

Ugh. So many other apps have a sync mechanism built-in that “just works”. Why can’t TW be that way?

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#13

Actually please note I was explaining the “the simplest and easiest remedy” there are many different ways and the reason there is not one “best” way is tiddlywiki is flexible enough to use in many different applications.

I would think there is value in you giving us a “snapshot” of your particular use case with as much overall detail you can and we find you a solution.

Not withstanding this I agree we need to simplify and make some straightforward

options for the different use cases.

[Edited] Post Script:
If you do detail your use case try and describe your situation and what you want without complicating it with “how you currently do it”.

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#14

phone + laptop. mostly use phone. don’t always have great cellular reception (so tiddlyspot or whatever it’s called doesn’t work for me). i access my notes/journal fairly frequently (dozens of times a day) to jot things down. for this reason i like to leave it open

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#15

How often do you switch between Mobile and desktop? And which mobile / app?

I assume you almost always have your phone with you, not always your desktop?

#16

Very infrequently. I only ever use my laptop at the end of a workday, or on weekends, and even then I often prefer to just use my phone.

I was using Tiddloid. But I wouldn’t be opposed to using something else that works just as well.

Yes. I always have it with me.

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