Data synchronization transparent to application

摘要

Synchronization of data accessible by an application program is performed transparent to the application program. After a data item is instantiated by the application program, the synchronization engine performs data synchronization without or with minimal intervention of the application program. The synchronization engine may be part of an operating system. The synchronization engine is preinstalled on a computing device; therefore, application program developers can simply define whether the data items associated with the application programs should be syncable, and if so, to what extent the data items should be syncable. The application program developer is relieved of the task of developing the synchronization engine or other software components associated with data synchronization.

主权项

1. A method of operating a computing device, the method being performed by one or more processors and comprising:
operating an application that accesses a data item associated with the application; using a lock table, modifying, in an attributes table, an entry from a first value to a second value to prevent the data item from being syncable, the entry corresponding to the data item in order; determining that the application has finished accessing the data item; and in response to determining that the application has finished accessing the data item, modifying the entry back from the second value to the first value to enable the data item to be syncable; wherein the lock table defines data to be locked from synchronization while the data item is being accessed by the application.