Native sync adapter for Android?

Question

The Android 2.0 press release states that the new version supports synchronization adapters so that emails and calendars cannot be synchronized only with gmail and exchange. However, there is no information on the Internet on how to write such a synchronization adapter. Has anyone tried this and some sample code?

Answer 1

These two articles by Sam Steel (January 23, 2010) focus on the implementation of the synchronization adapter http://www.c99.org/2010/01/23/writing-an-android-sync-provider-part-1/

http://www.c99.org/2010/01/23/writing-an-android-sync-provider-part-2/ https://github.com/c99koder/lastfm-android/ https://github.com/c99koder/AndroidSyncProviderDemo

Answer 2

This article, http://ericmiles.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/connecting-the-dots-with-android-syncadapter/ , is an excellent, albeit brief overview of the creation of a synchronization adapter and its pleasant perception within Android.

Answer 3

A simple basic explanation by Adam Pullen (last updated May 13, 2011). The article consists of two parts and contains an example of the ShowMyAccountAuthenticator project.

• http://www.finalconcept.com.au/article/view/android-account-manager-step-by-step
• http://www.finalconcept.com.au/article/view/android-account-manager-step-by-step-1
• http://www.finalconcept.com.au/uploads/files/showmyaccountauthenticator.zip

Answer 4

I was still studying, but this flow should help you understand a little.

http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg64769.html

Answer 5

Kyle Miller's article (March 10, 2012) briefly describes how to get started with the SampleSyncAdapter project contained in the SDK samples. It describes how you can add an account for an application to the system settings of your phone. It mainly explains how the AuthenticationService , Authenticator and AuthenticatorActivity classes are used to handle server authentication using a token. At the end of the article there are a few words about authenticator.xml , syncadapter.xml and contacts.xml .

Answer 6

Here is what i found

Implements SyncAdapter for Contacts

Not sure if this is what we need to help us launch our own contact sync service.

Answer 7

I found this viewable source code of the android exchange sync adapter from android sources:

http://grepcode.com/file/repository.grepcode.com/java/ext/com.google.android/android-apps/4.0.4_r2.1/com/android/exchange/adapter/ContactsSyncAdapter.java?av= f

They are not included when I manually checked android sources at http://source.android.com . Maybe someone can find the right sources for the original google calendar / contact sync adapter? (and not just MS-exchange)

Here is a German research document I found through google:

ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/library/medoc.ustuttgart_fi/STUD-2348/STUD-2348.pdf