Using the Backup Conduit
You may have an application that doesn’t require its own conduit. In such cases, you can rely on the Backup conduit. First, let’s discuss the types of applications that can profitably use this approach and then tell you what you need to do to your application.
The Backup conduit works on any application’s database that:
Has no other conduit
Has the backup flag set
Has been modified since the last sync
Whenever the Backup conduit is used, the data in the database is completely copied from the Palm device to the desktop and saved as a PDB (database) or PRC (application) file. This type of backup occurs during every sync, which is why you don’t want to use this as a solution for large databases or most applications.
Applications That Might Use the Backup Conduit
The Backup conduit is well suited to the following types of applications:
- Games
Where you save top score information
- Utilities
Where you save some user settings
- Alarm clocks or other timers
Where you save world clock information or other types of alarm settings
- Electronic books
Where you save display information, bookmarks, or the books themselves
- Newsreaders
Where you save newsgroup lists
Using System Prefs Instead
Another approach for these types of applications is to use the System Prefs database. This database contains a record for each application that stores preferences. These preferences are automatically backed up because the Systems Prefs database has the backup bit set.
Note
Actually, when you create system ...
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