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This file defines the "sync API", an interface to the syncer
backend that exposes (1) the core functionality of maintaining a consistent
local snapshot of a hierarchical object set; (2) a means to transactionally
access and modify those objects; (3) a means to control client/server
synchronization tasks, namely: pushing local object modifications to a
server, pulling nonlocal object modifications from a server to this client,
and resolving conflicts that may arise between the two; and (4) an
abstraction of some external functionality that is to be provided by the
host environment.
This interface is used as the entry point into the syncer backend
when the backend is compiled as a library and embedded in another
application. A goal for this interface layer is to depend on very few
external types, so that an application can use the sync backend
without introducing a dependency on specific types. A non-goal is to
have binary compatibility across versions or compilers; this allows the
interface to use C++ classes. An application wishing to use the sync API
should ideally compile the syncer backend and this API as part of the
application's own build, to avoid e.g. mismatches in calling convention,
structure padding, or name mangling that could arise if there were a
compiler mismatch.
The schema of the objects in the sync domain is based on the model, which
is essentially a hierarchy of items and folders similar to a filesystem,
but with a few important differences. The sync API contains fields
such as URL to easily allow the embedding application to store web
browser bookmarks. Also, the sync API allows duplicate titles in a parent.
Consequently, it does not support looking up an object by title
and parent, since such a lookup is not uniquely determined. Lastly,
unlike a filesystem model, objects in the Sync API model have a strict
ordering within a parent; the position is manipulable by callers, and
children of a node can be enumerated in the order of their position.