Quick links:
1) Intro: some concepts you need to understand as you start.
"Tabble sharing" is the codename of a set of features allowing user to share with each other the tagging - i.e.: I tag a file, you can see it, tag it a bit more and I can see that too.
Tabbles does now have it's own database folder (Documents\Tabbles\Databases) along with 2 more groups of folders:
- - Folders where it "exposes" some or all the tabbles
- Folders where it reads other users' databases
2) What you can ask Tabbles to do:
Sharing your tabbles (sharing-output)
- Share the tabble "project" in the folder P:\projects\tabblesdb: in order for this to work, you need make sure you have access right on that folder. Everyone who has read access to that folder will be able to see your tabble "project" and its files.
Share the tabbles "invoices" with the folder P:\projects\tabblesdb and with the dropbox folder "shared" and the powerfolder "work": you can share a tabble in as many folders as you want, just keep in mind it works on shared-drives, cloud-storage services (and Trev told he did set it up over an ftp too).
Share my who database in the folder P:\shared: if you do so, your hole database will be visible to anyone who as access to P:\shared
Do nothing: no one will see your tabbles!
Reading someone else's tabbles (sharing-input)
- Add the folder P:\project\tabblesdb as input folder: your tabble will read all the databases(portions or whole) shared by other people in that folder, merge them in your Tabbles client and present all the databases as one.
Add folders P:\shared, the dropbox folder "shared and the powerfolder "work" as input folder: same as above, you can add as many input folders as you want, the only limitation is your RAM/CPU here!
3) In what situations will it work? Check the next post for test results
This sharing solution is purely peer-to-peer, requires no databases server and it's based on folder sharing.
Therefore it will work on:
- * Folders shared on LAN: the infamous P: drive that happens to be root of evil in any company on this planet.
* Shared folders accessed via VPN or just via internet (NetBIOS or whatever): as long as Windows can see it as a folder, Tabbles can use it to read/write shared tabbles.
* Cloud-storage services: we're testing it with the popular dropbpox and Powerfolders. It will probably work with any cloud-storage service that uses a desktop client to syncronize files to the cloud (I guess Microsoft Live Link and Sugar Synce will work fine as well).
* FTP: a user reported it to work on FTP, using Netdrive or Gladinet
4) How does it look like and how do I make it work? A little HOWTO:
I) Start by enabling the sharing:
From the main menu: Sharing > Enable sharing
II) Sharing a tabble: telling Tabbles to "expose" a tabble into a shared folder
Your goal is to make the "share-hand-icon" appear under the tabble - then you'll see it is shared.
To share a tabble, start by right-clicking it. You can also select several tabbles at once and share them at the same time. Then pick the folder where you want the sharing to happen: this folder must have been agreed with the other sharers as they need to have (at least) read access to it: everyone who has access to that folder will be able to see your tabbles and what files they're linked to (not necessarily the files themselves! They also have to be in a folder reachable by the other users... we'll work-out a system of warnings for this).
The tabbles you wanted to share has the "share-hand-icon" below it, this means that you're done!
III)Sharing-input: browse someone else's tabbles
This is even easier: from the main menu Sharing > Configure tabble sharing, then add a folder or pic one from the list.
Note: from the same window you can define folders where your whole tabbles-database will be shared. You can do this by ticking the "Share all tabbles" checkbox. By doing this, each tabble will automatically be shared to that folder and whoever has access to it will be able to see your tagging - stay away from that if you have privacy issues...you're warned!
IV)What happens when I did all of this?
You'll have a folder where every 2 mins all the Tabbles save their shared tabbles. Each Tabbles will save the portion of its db containing the tabble sharing into a zipped xml file. This is what a "shared-db folder" looks like:
Plus, you'll need to get familiar with all these graphics:
5) Our to-do list - small but growing
Before you post a bug/request, please have a look here:
- - Show if you're looking at someone else's tabble (now it looks the same as yours) DONE!
- Give a warning when you're trying to tag (with a shared tabble) a file which is not in a shared folder (therefore not accessible from other users)
- Right-click on a tabble to see who has that tabble in his own database DONE! (you need to hover your mouse over the tabble to see it)
- Create-tabbles on the fly when try to tag a file with someone else's tabble (a tabble tha you can see in your db but it's being read from someone else's database)
- Managing complex situations like: the shared-tabble A is linked to file.doc which is also linked to not-shared-tabble B. We'll try to have the tabble B shared as well, but only for the files in common with the tabbles which are actually shared - we're holding back on this... let's see if someone needs this for real.
=== HELP US TESTING PLEAAAAAAAASE! The more the better!!!! ===
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Download
Currently the tabble sharing functions are available as beta in the standard Tabbles installer, the one from the Download page.
(if this is the first time you install Tabbles, remember that you need the .net framework 4)
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Well, get a fresh drink and enjoy!
