Congregation WebDAV Sync Removal/Replacement?

[advenimus]

Hello Friends,

Just curious to find out if I'm understanding the deprecation notice correctly.

With the version being released next month, will there no longer be any functionality to sync congregation media from one device to another, such as the current way? (ie. is WebDav being replaced with something else?)

Please let me know, thanks!

[Supamav]

Would love to know this, we use this heavily for our meetings. Both congregations in our hall use it, without it, it presents us with a challenge to be able to prep the meetings in a timely manner.

Thanks so much, for the hard work that goes into this amazing program!

[e-Feitosa]

It is a resource that I like very much, I know many congregations that I know use this resource and I consider essential. But in the other posts, the developer, responds to comments about the new summer that is an advanced feature and that many have difficulty using or do not know how to use (some like this). I particularly appreciate this feature and will make it difficult. Even using alternatives like Dropbox, Google Drive to sync home media with KH’s PC, many will have difficulties to include the media in the new M3. But let’s see if the developer (@sircharlo ) reconsiders including this great feature. I really would like it to stay available.

Read more about this subject at the link:
sircharlo/mmm-refactor#2

[sircharlo]

Hello Friends,

Just curious to find out if I'm understanding the deprecation notice correctly.

With the version being released next month, will there no longer be any functionality to sync congregation media from one device to another, such as the current way? (ie. is WebDav being replaced with something else?)

Please let me know, thanks!

Good day @advenimus and @Supamav!
In short, your understanding is correct.

Quite frankly, it has become very time-consuming to both find free and reputable WebDAV providers and to play whack-a-mole with them to try and ensure compatibility. WebDAV is an old protocol, and support and implementation is far from universal across providers. It doesn't help that essentially all major vendors no longer support (or have never supported) this file syncing and sharing protocol.

In the upcoming update, M³ now stores media in a new way, in that no path needs to be configured by the user; everything "just works" out of the box. For this reason, those who would like to make use of a cloud sharing solution like Dropbox could use a workflow like either of the following ones.

Workflow in current version of M³

• The AV coordinator adds any needed additional media files to the cloud share from home using M³.
• After arriving at the KH, the AV operator opens M³ on the media computer and waits for the sync to complete.

New workflow 1

• The AV coordinator uploads any needed additional media files to the cloud share from home.
• After arriving at the KH, the AV operator opens the cloud share folder on the media computer.
• The AV operator downloads all files from the cloud folder.
• The AV operator drags and drops all downloaded files into the M³ window and reorders them as needed.

New workflow 2

• The AV coordinator creates a JWLPLAYLIST file with any needed additional media files, in the correct order.
• The AV coordinator uploads the JWLPLAYLIST file to the cloud share (ex.: Dropbox) from home.
• After arriving at the KH, the AV operator opens the cloud share folder on the media computer.
• The AV operator downloads the JWLPLAYLIST file from the cloud folder
• The AV operator drags and drops the JWLPLAYLIST file into the M³ window.

New workflow 3

• After arriving at the KH, the AV operator adds the song (for public talks) using the Import menu.
• The AV operator drags and drops any additional pictures from a flash drive into the M³ window and reorders them as needed.

In my testing, new workflow 2 is my favorite, as it is very quick to implement and does not take significantly more time than the workflow in the current version of M³. Realistically however, most congregations seem to already use new workflow 3 in practice, which (to be fair) works well too.

Hopefully this makes sense; I'm open to any feedback you might have.

[advenimus]

Is it complicated to simply adapt the current webDAV implementation into the new version and state that is is an unsupported feature (ie. use at own risk, etc). I understand some tweaking would be necessary still as you've changed how folders are storing the media.

[e-Feitosa]

@advenimus,
Re: How can I go about getting a copy of the new version to test this with? Is it in the repo?
https://github.com/sircharlo/mmm-refactor/releases/latest

[advenimus]

@e-Feitosa That's not the new version (25+)

[e-Feitosa]

@advenimus , This has not yet been published, I am also waiting.

[e-Feitosa]

@advenimus v24.9.10
https://github.com/sircharlo/mmm-refactor/releases/tag/v24.9.10

[advenimus]

Hi @sircharlo , can you please confirm the latest version without the major changes? We’ll probably need to use this moving forward. Thanks again for all your hard work!

[mtdvlpr]

Hi, v24.4.x will be the latest version before the big update. As long as the big update is not yet available, there might be small maintenance updates to this version. This release with its downloads will continue to be available for those who do not (yet) want to upgrade. You can disable auto updates in your settings to prevent accidentally updating.

After the official release of the big update, the old version won't receive any maintenance anymore.

[e-Feitosa]

So guys, any more ideas for a WebDav in the new version of M3?

[sircharlo]

If WebDAV is a dealbreaker, I would suggest staying at the current version and disabling auto-updates for now.
While I may explore this down the road, it's not high on my list of priorities at the moment.

[advenimus]

Thank you @sircharlo for your help. Will the banner stating final release be removed after new version is released? Or is that static forever for final version?

[advenimus]

Also, @sircharlo can you provide some brief info on how your new version stores data on the local machine? (ie. what directory, how are specific meetings identified in the directory?) This may perhaps allow us to automate some synchronization via FTP to add the required media.

[e-Feitosa]

@advenimus , Did you get any alteranativa for the new version? My idea at the moment is to use Google Drive, but testing here, I have noticed that some will have quite a difficulty, especially when you send the file by mobile to a folder of Google Drive, it deletes the extension of the file. For example, when sending an image to a shared folder with the name image1.jpg, here it changes to the device name and removes the.JPG. Some have no difficulty in solving this, but others, simply can not put the file name and extension .JPG. The practicality of inserting media by WebDAV and download in KH is sensational. Any other practical suggestion you tested, share here with me doing a favor.

[advenimus]

@e-Feitosa
Unfortunately I did not. However, I will be forking the old version final build and be stripping off some of the features such as Zoom integration and keep it to the basic OBS and WebDAV integration so that the most important features remain.

[e-Feitosa]

@sircharlo, would it be possible to include an advanced and optional configuration in the M3 for it to detect media in a folder? For example, when setting up Dropbox/OneDrive/Google Drive in KH and pointing this folder to M3, it would display a warning upon opening, indicating that there are additional media files, and ask if you want to import them. If it were possible to include this advanced option, it would solve the problem we will have with WebDAV.

[sircharlo]

Continuing this in #2767

[mtdvlpr]

I think you mean #2782

[sircharlo]

I'll mark this as awaiting release, since the folder watch feature is now implemented and will be released in the next point update!