Optimize Sharepoint Integration

[hogi]

☐cool new feature
☑ could help many users!

☑ removes a (MS) „bug“

☐ nice to have

☐ nobody needs it

What inspired this wish list request? 

Many Windows users use Sharepoint to collaborate on the same files. Very convenient: synchronize the Sharepoint file with your OneDrive to have all the files accessible without the hiccups of direct Sharepoint access. This works great for Microsoft files like Word, Excel, Powerpoint...

For Jmp files, it can be very dangerous to have two colleagues working on the same file.

In the morning, Alice opens a file, modifies it and saves it at 9 am. She expects the file to be automatically updated in Sharepoint-but as long as the file is open in Jmp, OneDrive won't send the updated file to Sharepoint.
After lunch, Bob opens the file on his computer - unfortunately, still the previous version. He makes some changes, saves the file, and closes the file. Now Bob's file is sent to Sharepoint.
After a few more hours of tweaking, Alice is satisfied with her version and saves the file. It's now 22:00 and she closes Jmp as well. Now Onedrive tries to update the file in Sharepoint and notices that the file has been changed "in the meantime" (according to OneDrive: in the meantime =  after Alice opened the file in the morning). Therefore, a message will pop up saying that "there are now two versions of the file" - the official one and Alice's version saved with a different filename. Unfortunately, Alice is already on her way home and won't see this message.

Best case: The next day, Alice and Bob discover the problem - and after a few "seconds" of merging the files, they end up with the correct one.

Worst case: Nobody notices.

What is the improvement you would like to see? 

Please optimize the way Jmp works together with OneDrive and Sharepoint.

Within Jmp there exist thousands or "workarounds" to make things work via Eval(parse (...)).

I hope Jmp developers will find a creative workaround against this annoying behavior of OneDrive / Sharepoint.

suggestions:

Please optimize the way Jmp works with OneDrive and Sharepoint.

The ideal solution: working with Jmp files from OneDrive/Sharepoint works as seamless as for MS Office files.

This will be along way to go ...

Inside Jmp there are thousands of "workarounds" to make things work.

I hope the Jmp developers will find a creative Eval(parse (...)) workaround for this annoying behavior of OneDrive/Sharepoint.

Suggestions:

• Is a file stored in OneDrive? -> is there an API command? if not, maybe check the parent directories and search for "OneDrive".
• If a file is saved to a OneDrive folder, inform the user that the file won't be updated online until the file is closed.
• close the file and re-open it to trigger the upload (how long has it to be closed till OneDrive notices?)
• When a file is saved to a OneDrive folder, send an API command to OneDrive to trigger the upload.

Why is this idea important? 

The loss of data is one of the most serious problems.

other wishes from 

[hogi]

With the help of @jthi , here is a script which asks the user to close the data table after saving it:
  On Save ? 

- save

- close? -> yes

- check in Windows Explorer if the data table was sent to Sharepoint/OneDrive

- afterwards (! *) you can open it again in Jmp

*) if you don't wait long enough, the table might be opened in red-only mode - AND/OR the upload will get stuck.

dt = current data table();

Eval(Eval Expr (fsave = Function( {dtab, newpathname},
	ex = New Window( "Upload to Sharepoint",
		<<Type( "Modal Dialog" ),
		<<Return Result,
		V List Box( Text Box( "Close the Data Table to get it uploaded to Sharepoint?" ), H List Box( Button Box( "OK" ), Button Box( "Cancel" ) ) )
	);

	If(
		ex["button"] == 1 // not canceled
	, // then close
		Close( Expr(dt))
	);
)));
dt << Subscribe( "name1", On Save( fsave ) );

[Georg]

Great idea @hogi , my company is asking about similar things, thanks for starting the discussion.

Best regards, Georg

[hogi]

@Jonas_Rinne 

as discussed today...

I guess that many (!!) users in other companies have similar issues.

So, it might makes sense to advertise for this wish.

It's quite complicated to implement this workaround - and there are some pitfalls.

So, hopefully Jmp developers will find a more clever /  elegant / useful  way to fix the issue.

[Jonas_Rinne]

Hi @hogi ,

thanks for letting me know. Great work around by the way.

I guess you are not the only user group with this issue and hope more people will push this request.

Cheers,

Jonas  

[Georg]

Dear all,

I agree, this is getting increasingly important, as more and more fileshares will be converted to Sharepoint.

Another workaround is, to map the Sharepoint folders into the Fileexplorer under Windows with OneDrive,

(we use "Sync" in the Document Library of Sharepoint)

in that way you can work with JMP on Sharepoint-Files as if they were local files.

Best regards,

   Georg

[hogi]

Hi @Georg , adding the Sharepoint drive to the local OneDrive helps a lot.

But this where the issue starts: the disappointing story of Alice, Sharepoint access collisions and backup copies like 

- dataset.jmp

- dataset-notebook-2432544.jmp

- dataset-notebook-5464564.jmp

- dataset-notebook-2424424.jmp

...

-> added as an example to

Wish list - new Label: user experience 

[hogi]

Thanks to all for the many Kudos
great!

triggered by the JMP Wish List Prioritization Survey ?

[hogi]

hi @mia_stephens , did the survey help to prioritize this topic?

[SarahGilyard]

This request will be added to the queue for the wishlist survey. Thanks for posting this suggestion. 

[Sarah-Sylvestre]

We are currently developing a SharePoint data connector, which will be available as an add-in in the JMP Marketplace. While this does not fully address this request, the connector will facilitate data import into JMP from SharePoint.