Graphic User Interface redistribution

Hi Brian,

Unknown said:

I would like to duplicate a Graphic User Interface (tool bar layout) on all my PC's

The right way is to share dgnlib file with GUI customization. Create your standard GUI customization in dgnlib, share it in your network and set MS_GUIDGNLIBLIST to point to this dgnlib file.

Unknown said:

It would also be nice to make the individual interface for each user available when they move from workstation to workstation.

It's pretty the same as the standardized GUI, only store it in a different file and define the variable in different configuration file.

It can look like:

• MS_GUIDGNLIBLIST > X:\shared\standard_gui.dgnlib, defined in e.g standards.cfg
• MS_GUIDGNLIBLIST > X:\shared\username_gui.dgnlib, defined in a proper user configuration file (.ucf)

The exact solution depends how you workspace is set, your network configuration and also if users use own ucf files or they just login to Windows under different account (or both).

But the general concept is for sure to share dgnlib with GUI customization and a proper MS_GUIDGNLIBLIST (or MS_DGNLIBLIST) definition.

[Edited] There are some other files, that store current GUI configuration (what is docked where), but I am not sure if they can be easily shared without problems.

With regards,

  Jan

Unknown said:

[Edited] There are some other files, that store current GUI configuration (what is docked where), but I am not sure if they can be easily shared without problems.

What about the Config-Vars

MS_USERPREF
MS_USERPREF_APPS
MS_USERPREFSEED

for distributing the "GUI-files" (*docking_xml a. o.)  to a local user directory and pointing this variables to that!

Hi Frank,

of course I know the mentioned variable. By sharing without problems I meant these files are, as far as I know, not intentended to be shared by more users in read/write mode, because simultaneous write can cause problems or even a file corruption. I guess there can be also problems with the docking file if it's shared between computers with substantially different display configuration ... but have had no time and change to test it ;-)

But in general, you are right, these variables can be used to extend GUI customization sharing, at least between different computers for the one user.

With regards,

  Jan

Hi Brian,

    user preference files and docking xml information cannot be shared between users, meaning that each users should have a local copy of these files on their workstation.

What you could consider is creating a .upf seed file on one machine, and then define the "MS_USERPREFSEED" and "MS_DOCKINGPREFSEED" variables in your standard.cfg file,  pointing them respectively to the upf and xml docking seed files you created.

This way every time you create a new user or delete an old/corrupt .upf file, the new files will be created using the above specified as seeds, including all the settings and preferences you saved in them.

If you also need to share custom tools or toolbars, then this can be done by creating these custom tools in a dgnlib library, store in a shared workspace and configuring the variables MS_GUIDGNLIBLIST to include the library paths.

I have created the variable in an PCF that all users access through the login. This file resides on the server. So at least that apart is covered. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction