Overview

The Windows Sync Agent provides sync between files or directories on the user’s Windows system and the Bigtincan cloud. Once published from the Sync Agent changes made to the content are reflected in the Story that is published from the Sync Agent to the cloud. Additionally, the Sync Agent maintains a database that can be periodically backed-up as needed either manually or by using the shell automation described in the appendix.

 

*Note:

• When publishing from a directory the Sync Agent can only sync content from the top-level; subdirectories and their files will be ignored.

• The Sync Agent relies on having a consistent path to the files or directory being synced- moving synced assets will result in the sync being broken and the Story will need to be re-published if sync is still needed.

• While the Sync Agent is running sync will occur every 10 seconds if changes or new content is found.

• Changes to content are synced bi-directionally although edits to the synced Stories should be made from the Sync Agent and not other Bigtincan clients (i.e.- web or device) to prevent the sync from being broken.

 

Requirements

The Windows Sync Agent requires Windows 7 or later along with .NET 4.6.2 or later

The Windows Sync Agent requires full read and write access for User, Administrator, System and Creator roles to it's home directory (C:\ProgramData\bigtincan)

Installation

1. Download from URL provided by Bigtincan

2. Launch the installation wizard

3. Accept terms and click install

   

4. Default installation will be to this location C:\Program Files (x86)\Bigtincan Sync Agent

   

5. Select Finish

   

6. After install is complete please go to the Windows Services screen and verify that the Sync Agent is up and running. If it’s not running just right click on the Bigtincan service and choose Start. By default the Startup Type should be set to Automatic as highlighted below.

User Platform Access

*Note: The user needs to make sure that the account running the windows service has all the read/write access to the folders being synced.

 

1. Ensure that desired hub sync agent user has at least “Windows” platform access

 

Bigtincan Hub Sync Agent Overview

To Login

1. Sign in with credentials

 

Synchronization

In this window you will see the syncing of your local files into Bigtincan which will allow them to remain identical whenever changes/edits occur in your local file directory.

1. This view will show active Story synchronization activity

   

2. Story folder sync starting to publish.

   

3. If you add another piece of content to the local directory you will see the file upload count increase during synchronization process.

   

4. Bigtincan Hub Sync Agent will monitor specified folder for changes and sync to the published Story. If files are added or removed, the changes will push to all hub users with permission to view channel.

Scheduled content

In this window you will see any content that you have scheduled to be published at a specific date into Bigtincan from your local file directory.

1.  Scheduled content view

   

2. Story scheduled to be published

Publish content

1. This view provides a user with publishing capabilities

   

2. Add a Title

   

3. Select the ellipsis (...) to the far right of the channel file to define publishing destination

   

4. Add tags if desired

    

   

5. Provide a description of the attached content.

   

6. If you are adding a folder to keep in sync with the hub, Select “Add folder” and navigate to desired content. The user can also drag & drop files and folders from the file explorer

   

7. Review/modify expiration date and security settings as desired. Then, select Publish later or Publish.

8. If you opt to publish later this view allows for future date and time selection settings.

Publish content - settings

• Expires at: Allows you to specify the expiry time that appears on the Story details

• Enable Sharing: Select this checkbox if you want to allow sharing of content

• Allow device’s: Select this checkbox if you want users to have rights to share from their device’s

• Limit number: Select this checkbox to put limit on how many times file can be downloaded

• Expire links: Use this if you want link to expire after a certain time period

• Description: This allows description content to be shared out

• Notifications: Allows users to get notified when various actions are performed on your Story

• Annotations: Allows users to annotate on files that are attached to the Story

Options

• Options view

  

• Export Stories- This allows the user to export a JSON record of the Sync Agent’s synced jobs. A backup JSON file is useful if the Sync Agent needs to be re-installed.

• Import Stories- This allows for the backup JSON file to be imported. Please note that the Sync Agent’s database relies on absolute file paths- if the JSON file is restored on a new system the Stories must have the same paths to their content for sync to continue without re- publishing.

• Clear stories- This clears the Sync Agent database and deletes all synced stories.

• Refresh stories – Checks and updates links between local and server stories

• Cancel downloads – Stops downloading updated story files

• Notifications – List of users who receive syncAgent usage notifications

View on iOS mobile device

1. Channel view

   

2. Story view

 

 

APPENDIX: Command Line Arguments

Sync Agent Client Command Line Arguments

 

Bigtincan Hub Sync Agent is a simple yet powerful Windows application that lets you quickly and easily upload content from your computer to bigtincan hub and keep it in Sync.

 

This guide will explain the process of using a command line to operate the Sync Agent client. This guide assumes working knowledge of the Sync Agent and its core functionality and is designed to advise on options available via scripting.

 

1. The SyncAgentClient will open the authenticated user database and perform a backup.

    

2. If there is no user authenticated, backup will fail. To authenticate, run the app normally and sign in.

 

Parameter Table:

 

Parameter	Optional	Description
-task	No	Task toperform. Options: “backup”
-filename	Yes	Full path of the file. I.e. “C:\Backups\file.backup” *** If you specify this parameter, all other parameters will be ignored.
Folder	Yes	Folder path where the file will be created. I.e. C:\backups” *** If you specify this parameter, only “-folder”, “extension”will be used.
Prefix	Yes	Prefix of the file. SyncAgentClient will add the current date in format “yyyy- MM-dd”. Default “-prefix”
-extension	Yes	File extension. Default “.json”

 

Example 1: File Backup

A backup in a fixed file path

hubSyncAgentClient.exe -task “backup” -filename “c:\backups\backup1.json”

 

Example 2: Backup with parameters

 

Backup in a folder specifying the prefix and extension of the file.

 

SyncAgent will add the current date (yyyy-MM-dd) in between prefix and extension.

HubSyncAgentClient.exe -task “backup” -folder “c:\backups” -prefix “syncAgentBackup_” -extension “json”

 

Responses:

Code	Description
0	OK. Backup successful
1	Cannot open database
3	User not authenticated
4	Back failed. Possible reasons: File already exists Path is not writable