Change Log and Synchronizing Applications

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Synchronizing custom applications to Windows SharePoint Services is much easier in version 3.0. Applications that are built on the Windows SharePoint Services platform can use the Change Log to synchronize data. By querying the Change Log, a client can determine which content has changed since the last synchronization operation. Moreover, the Change Log structure and API make it easy to query for changes across different scopes.

The Change Log is maintained in the EventCache table of the content database, which stores information about database content that has changed. Each entry in the Change Log contains information about the SharePoint object that has changed. The object itself is not stored in the Change Log: the Change Log entry serves as a pointer to the object. Therefore, a client can use the Change Log entry to retrieve the object and replace or update it.

In This Section

Overview: Change Tokens, Object Types, and Change Types

Change Log Scopes

Using Changes to Query for Objects

Querying for Specific Changes