How to sync multiple clients with a cloud database not platform specific

Question

I'm sure our scenario is not unique but with the rise of varying platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone and of course Windows, Mac, etc. there can be varying clients all sharing the same data. Our cloud database is SQL Server 2008 R2 and we are building an app for multiple devices. Even if just on iOS, we still have a single user with multiple devices (iPhone and iPad).

We need to build a sync system so a single user can keep Device1, Device2, and Cloud (SQL Server) in sync. Can anyone suggest a system for going about this? I can only imagine that we'll have to get a list of UniqueID's (GUID) and row versions (and/or LastUpdatedUtc time stamps) and pass a list to the cloud, do a compare with the cloud's data, then apply updates, return changes required for that device, and do this for each device. Is this the proper way to handle this? Then how do you build such a system that performs well?

I'm open to any suggestions on building a sync system, again for the scenario of one user, multiple devices (cloud, device1, device2).

Thank you.

Answer 1

have a look at the Sync Framework Toolkit

you should find samples there for WP, iPhone, HTML5, etc...