Offline access

17417Spanky · Post by **17417Spanky** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:46 pm

So, let's assume I use a laptop and I'm a big fan of Zimbra. I run into trouble with my ability to access the internet while I'm away from any decent Wi-Fi hotspots and my UMTS/EVDO coverage is non-existant.
Does this mean that I can not access my email or contacts at all? I'd like offline support so that I can ensure that I never lose the ability to pull up my calendar or contacts.
Cool?

14319KevinH · Post by **14319KevinH** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:49 pm

For offline support we have IMAP and POP today. We are looking to expand this in the future with other options.

thatstephen · Post by **thatstephen** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:53 pm

A sensible architecture for this would seem to me to be a client side Java app that communicates with the server through SOAP to create an offline cache since last sync.
AJAX is never going to provide client side persistence without a lot of headaches I would have thought.

jmcknight · Post by **jmcknight** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:09 am

Thunderbird uses XUL(instead of HTML) + Javascript + RDF(datasource) to handle local data while refreshing from the server.
The real problem for offline storage lies in permissions for writing via a browser to a local file. We have done quite a bit of XUL and web app development, I but I (personally) have never done any kind of web app that needs to write to a file.
I'm sure others can tell you if that is possible.

14319KevinH · Post by **14319KevinH** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:13 pm

Yes a seperate java app, or XUL are options. We also are working on a MAPI provider for Outlook for those would rather use Outlook.