How do I share an openlp database?

If you're looking to point openlp.org to a specific shared folder for the three machines to point to, then I don't think this is possible. You can't specify your own settings folder as far as I'm aware.

openlp.org data is held in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\openlp.org " on XP or "C:\ProgramData\openlp.org" on Vista.

The best I believe you can do, is set everything up and install Bibles etc on one machine. Then copy the above folder to the relevant place on the other machines. From that point on you will have to use the builtin song and theme import/export facilities (On the File menu) to keep these in sync.

You can of course export to your samba share, and then the other users can check this folder before they begin to see if there is anything to import. But there is nothing to automate this.

Is there no way to make openlp.org look to a different directory. IE, where is it stated in the program that "C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication Dataopenlp.org" is the directory of choice?

Wonder if there is anything like symlinks in Win32. I dunno, anywho.

The importing/exporting in-and-out between the three users will probably not work too well for us. The users will probably not adapt well to it. :( 

Thanks,

Kevin L.

Ok, so assuming the directory location of the program is never customizeable, I looked up whether or not I could do something like symlinks under Windows. It appears that Windows 2000 introduced something called Junctions along with NTFS 5.0.

SysInternals has a write up about it and their implementation of a tool at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

I guess the next thing is to see if I can use it to link a directory on Windows to a directory on a Samba share. Then I suppose I should see if I can do so with the "openlp.org" directory under "C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication Data"

Kevin L.

Hi Kevin, this is something we're planning on adding in openlp.org 1.2 (amongst other things). We haven't had much of a demand for it, but it has been something we've thought about. 

*Warning: Technobabble Alert*

Due to the nature of databases, I would suggest that this feature request be changed to synchronize the openlp database with another location rather than allow a shared database. Unless the plans include connecting to a central machine running a database server, it's not really a good idea.

In my experience, when more than one computer has read/write access to a database, Bad Things(tm) happen, including corruption, file lock issues, etc. For the same reason, it's not recommended databases in general be open in read/write mode even during file backup operations.

*Okay, here's the paraphrase version* 

Using a synchronization solution would accomplish the same thing, just go about it in a safer manner. 

This is something I was going to ask about because atm we are using Livewords and I curently add the new songs on my home pc and then just copy the database.sdb file from the home pc to the church laptop using a usb memroy stick and wondered if it was possible to do the same thing with openlp.  I am waiting on this feature to be implimented first before I introduce openlp to the services for ease of use to my other media team members.  Good software though thanks for making it free :)  Expect a donation soon from me soon.

You can create a new order of service at home, and then bring just the order of service file to the church. openlp.org saves the songs in the order of service file, and will import them into your database if they don't exist.

All of this happens automatically, so all you need to do is save your order of service to your memory stick, and then open it on the computer at church.