Developer Center Blog

Using Dropbox to Share and Backup Your Code

We typically use this blog for posts related to LabVIEW Partner Program business, including changes to our programs and for tips & guidance from the Marketing wizards in our group. After a recent return to using Firefox (back from Google Chrome), I was pointed to several useful Add-ons to Firefox (Adblock Plus and FireFTP) and decided I'd post a blog entry to share a bit about a tool I find very useful on a day-to-day basis, Dropbox.

What is Dropbox?

Think of Dropbox as a shared folder on your PC.

The files in your Dropbox folder are automatically backed up to Dropbox servers in the cloud.

You then have access to your files from:

any PC you configure as a client (easy to do, you run an installer and provide your Dropbox account login)
your iPhone or other mobile phone with a supported client
through your secure login on the Dropbox website

Why does this matter?

Let me show you the features I find most useful in Dropbox and how I take advantage of them.

File Sharing

Dropbox makes sharing files across multiple systems very easy by automatically backing up files from your system to Dropbox servers in the cloud and then pushing updates down to PCs you've configured as clients. I use this to sync my code across multiple development machines (at work or at home) and to virtual machines and PCs used for testing. I've found I no longer rely on my USB flash drive and have since repurposed it as a Linux/RT boot drive.

Sharing files among users is another feature of Dropbox. I configured this through the Dropbox website and it allows me to share files with other Dropbox users. Every time a file is added or updated, everybody in my group share is updated and notified! It's like a network share that doesn't require IT to configure it for you! Just be sure to keep confidential files off of your Dropbox share -- I know it's tempting, but your organization may not appreciate it!

I've also been using Dropbox for public file sharing of pictures and other documents. I've been on a mission lately to collect articles, pictures and letters about my grandfather's time as a POW in WWII -- it's a great story, be sure to ask me to tell it during NIWeek next year! Anyway, I wanted to share the documents and images I've compiled, scanned, etc. with my family, who don't have Dropbox installed on their computers. I found sharing these files is as easy as dropping them into a folder marked as a 'public share' and emailing out a link. (This is also a useful feature when "supporting" the family with PC issues.)

Backups

The files synced to your Dropbox account on the cloud are not only encrypted during transfer, but Dropbox also maintains a backup of all of your files and this includes revisions of files (I believe it is a 1 month history). I was recently working on a utility to view & update the VI properties for a folder of VIs from the same dialog window. At one point I decided to test a feature on a directory containing an API I've been working on (JSON parsing in LabVIEW) and discovered I'd named every control and indicator in my API as 'error in (no error)'! Similar to a source code control utility, Dropbox allowed me to restore my API to an earlier revision and override the changes introduced by my bug, problem solved.

Storing files in the cloud was also very helpful when battling with a Solid-State Drive company for the past 8 months -- to make a long story short, our team purchased SSDs which proved to brick themselves by entering a "panic" state when resuming our laptops from sleep. If we had not stored backups in the Dropbox cloud, much of our data would have been lost...several times over!

Mobile Access

I mentioned accessing files from other PCs I've configured as clients and sharing files with other Dropbox users (or public sharing). One other useful feature is to access your Dropbox folder from mobile devices (I use my iPhone) and through the Dropbox website from machines without a Dropbox client. Never again will I be caught with a dead laptop battery, no charger, and no access to my PowerPoint slides!

Try it out!

A 2GB account is free and you can get started with this link or by going to Dropbox.com to register: http://db.tt/nXmzcSN (I should note -- by using the link to the left, you and I both get a 500mb increase in capacity! This is a perk Dropbox offers for referring others ).