Not long to go now to Christmas so I've got a bit of catching up to do. I hope to have a few more blogs out to keep you all going until after the Chrissie break.
Tonight I was to go through a really easy way of locking your variables from a single cfg file.
You may remember the Config Loading tech tip I put up:
http://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/peer_blogs/b/bear_blog/archive/2012/10/09/tech-tip-config-loading.aspx
Basically, the way I have my builds is to set my site configs and then number all of my cfg files so I can control loading order:
ie. 10_folders20_main25_viz30_inclusions40_refdir50_apps60_user70_<a surprise for later :-) >
What I usually do is have the last cfg file as 70_locks. By doing this, I can see all of my locks in the one file, and lock all of my variables before the ucf file is run. The effect here is that users can set what ever they like in the ucf file, as long as I lock it at the site level here, they can't create chaos.
Next thing you're going to ask me if what about setting variables in the pcf files after site has run. Well, the simple answer is I don't use them. Gave up on trying to use pcf files and getting things to run in the right order. I use site, project and client cfg files and load them from my 30_inclusions cfg file. To get some more on this, check out:
http://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/peer_blogs/b/bear_blog/archive/2012/10/09/the-build-part-3-all-aboard-the-cfg-ride-site-cfg-s.aspx
I'll have some more on this soon.