As of the writing of this blog post there I’m finalizing the last part of how the new synchronization. The changes to Shuffle is that we introduce a hidden state for Tasks, Contexts and Projects. Hidden entities are in essence deleted, but the state is maintained even when it’s deleted.
This change allows the synchronization to ignore hidden projects, contexts and tasks.
For Contexts and Projects this is straight forward. However in Tracks, completed and hidden tasks are left out of the listing of tasks. This means that a task that is left out in Tracks is either deleted or completed.
Previously in Shuffle we just marked these tasks as completed. However now we can handle them properly. Below is a flowchart of how the suggested synchronization process of tasks works.
The flow-chart starts in a state where the tasks are downloaded from Tracks, then it’s compared to the entities in Shuffle by the chart.
The interesting part here is that the check if a task is completed or deleted is a remote check, which means it’s slower. Also any task not in Shuffle but in Tracks is naturally added to Shuffle.
I’d appreciate feedback on this, before I mark the task as Completed in Shuffle. 
#1 by CanyonR on August 1, 2010 - 14:48
This sounds like a great flow for checking the status.
I know that some people have asked for a someday/maybe list in shuffle. In GTD the someday list is for projects that you aren’t currently working on. I use Hidden projects in Tracks as my someday list. If you did sync hidden projects and just show them in their own list instead of the main project list, this would fill peoples need for a someday list on their phone.
Thanks for all the hard work! I can’t wait to try the new version.
Canyon R
#2 by Morten on August 6, 2010 - 08:07
@CanyonR
Thanks for the encuragement. It’s funny, as you pointed out, the model that includes hidden entities does allow for someday/later tasks. Even if this wasn’t the initial intent.
Here is a tought question I thought of that isn’t expressed in the diagram. What should I do with a Task that has been hidden in Shuffle and is going to update tracks. Is that a deleted task? Tracks doesn’t support a hidden property on tasks.
#3 by Rob on August 17, 2010 - 23:48
I’d suggest it would be simplest and therefore cleanest/less error prone to use the same active/completed/deferred status values as Tracks rather than introduce another flag locally in Shuffle. It would also allow deferred tasks (aka ticklers) to be displayed or hidden from the user (preferably on a user preference setting).
Sorry to come back late with my comments, I’ve just come back from holidays and couldn’t reply sooner.
I also just wanted to echo Canyon R’s thanks for the hard work – I love Shuffle and the sync with Tracks/GTDify is the killer feature!
Well done
Cheers
Rob
#4 by Morten on August 25, 2010 - 12:19
@Rob
Yes Rob that would be easy, I’ll take it up with the other Developer to see if it fits where we want to go with Shuffle.
#5 by CanyonR on December 9, 2010 - 18:43
Any updates on the status of Shuffle?
#6 by Morten on December 10, 2010 - 10:13
We implemented a “hidden” concept that changes the syncrhonization quite a bit to work as described in this blogpost. Now I know Andy has been working a lot with the views and I think a Tickler file.
I’ve been loaded up with my daytime job so there hasn’t been much time left for Shuffle, but there are some changes coming a long. However Right now I think Andy knows more about the stability of the code.
But there are things in development hopefully I’ll can focus on Shuffle during the holidays.
#7 by Alexandr on March 11, 2011 - 17:46
Any news?
#8 by Morten on March 13, 2011 - 13:41
There is a version being tested right now. However since I implemented the new synchronization the application has evovled, so there might be some issues with the synchronization due to the availablility of state in Shuffle. Right now I have a lot of work to do at work, but hopefully I get time to just look over the synchronization code to see if there are any issues with the models. But things are coming along, and not just with the synchronization. There are quite a few other goodies in there as well.
#9 by mrandy on May 25, 2011 - 14:44
I am using Shuffle and syncing wit Tracks 1.7.2. I find that if I mark a task as completed on Shuffle it never syncs the change up to Tracks. Also sometimes I will add a new task and after I sync it never gets pushed up to Tracks. Is there any sort of debugging I can turn on?
#10 by Morten on June 15, 2011 - 13:45
I know there are some issues with the track synchronization right now. Im sorry for this, im currently swamped at work and at home so my time for the moment is limited. I hope to put some more love into it when my vacation starts in a few weeks.
Meanwhile there intrest has been raised to help out with shuffle by two other developers. Something im greatly looking forward to. Both have shown interest with working with the tracks synchronization.
I hope to be available to them as much as possible to solve the issues with the synchronization.
Regards
Morten