Client needs a application which can work in disconnected mode from server and synchronise when connected

I have a clients requirement here for an application. The application is an extension on a client server application. Basically the client is a medical facility and they would maintain a central server for all of their data input. They commission surveyors and nurses to go and gather information from different health facilities and at the end of a specified period they would then bulk input whatever they had gathered into the central system.

The client requires that the surveyors would have on their systems an application that would allow them to collect the information and later on at the end of the day they would be required to synchronise it with the central database yet be able to maintain a local copy of the data which is only the data they collected on their laptops or whatever they use to gather information.

This is more than what a simple php MySQL web application can do here - I would like some ideas 开发者_如何学Goon how to pull this one off.

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I would recommend that you take a look at CouchDB. One of its core design goals is to make this kind of data replication easy.

• It is an Apache organization project http://couchdb.apache.org
• CouchDB is being actively developed at couchbase http://www.couchbase.org
• There is a book: http://guide.couchdb.org

CouchDB is a document database, not an SQL database. It is not a perfect fit for every situation, but from what you are describing, this is where I would start. CouchDB has support for a number of languages and frameworks, and is also available for mobile on Android, and now IOS(beta).