CANSYNC: Middleware for Data Checkpointing and Synchronization for Disconnected Browsers

As web applications offload more application processing into the browser, there is growing interest in disconnecting browsers from servers. In a disconnected browser, applications are responsible for caching and managing application state without access to server resources. In this paper, we present CANSYNC, a lightweight data layer that executes on both the browser and server to manage data checkpointing and synchronization tasks for a disconnected web application. CANSYNC provides change logging and undo/redo features for browser-based application state management, as well as a customizable synchronization engine for reconciling browser state with the server. The CANSYNC API is accessible in Javascript on the client and does not require the installation of browser extensions. CANSYNC server-side components can be accessed using HTTP calls. We describe the design and implementation of CANSYNC in the context of a prototype bookmark sharing application.

By: Paul Castro; Frederique Giraud; Ravi Konuru

Published in: RC24544 in 2008

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