I'm in the process of implementing changes to our companys workspace to get Connect Edition running.
We have previously had a very simple method of running Aecosim V8i, the only thing we did was setting a Windows System Variable (_USTN_WORKSPACEROOT) to the network folder where the workspace was, and everything was running nicely.
This isn't working anymore,as _USTN_WORKSPACEROOT is not the same anymore.
First thing therefore was undefining this Windows System variable, and instead running V8i with command line switch "-wrM:\Microstation\Workspace\".
V8i still working the same way as before, which is a nice thing.
My question now is, can I do the same thing with Connect Edition?
The purpose would be the same, the program shouldn't look for the 2 configuration files ConfigurationSetup.cfg and WorkSpaceSetup.cfg on a local drive, but on the network.
That's a bit of a "hen or egg" problem, as I didn't have any networked custom configuration yet.
But as far as I understand it should be possible to fix that by changing the configuration files.
The ConfigurationSetup.cfg looks like that:
[General]_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION = M:/Microstation/Workspace_Connect/Configuration/_USTN_CONFIGURATION : ${_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION}
[SetConfiguration]%if !defined (_USTN_USER_CONFIGURATION)%if defined (_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION) && ($(_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION) != "") && exists ($(_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION))%endif%endif
So far that looks good.
I do have another problem with configuration in addition, but I'll open a new post.
Hi Andreas,
ConfigurationSetup.cfg should not look like that! Which Update are you running?
The content should be as my example. AECOsim (and MicroStation, etc.) write to the ConfigurationSetup.cfg to keep the file in sync with the WorkSpace selected by the user. If the structure is changed the file may not be parsed correctly and will not be rewritten correctly.
Andreas Zieritz said:That's a bit of a "hen or egg" problem, as I didn't have any networked custom configuration yet.
You can install AECOsim and include the network location before the network location is ready, it will work with the locally installed dataset and example projects. Once the Custom Configuration is ready users will be able to select it.
Until the Custom Configuration contains at least one WorkSpace CFG file (e.g.: \\hal\CONFIGURATIONS\CE\WorkSpaces\DemoSets.cfg) it will not appear for selection in the UI.
To test things out you could create a Custom Configuration locally, e.g.:
Note:
The project data is in a separate folder structure from the configuration.
The DGNWS files are also stored with the project data as they need to be user-writable.
Once that is ready for testing on the network you can simply copy the contents of _SERVER to the network and change the path in ConfigurationSetup.cfg.
Please read through the posts I mentioned before, I've tried to document all of the necessary steps.
Regards
Marc
I am using Aecosim Update 3.
I've checked again, and as far as I can see the first difference is that I have moved everything in a subfolder on the network (/configuration), so that would explain the difference in the _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION variable.
But to simplify things and to have the same setup you have described, I have changed that now, so my network files are in M:\Microstation\Workspace_Connect now.
Further on I did uninstall my Aecosim installation, and made a new installation from scratch. However here I do run into a little problem, as I don't get the question if I would like to have a networked workspace. Run installation twice, but no change.
Which gives me an installation WITHOUT any ConfigurationSetup.cfg.
So I guess we need to do that manually anyway.
If I do run your ConfigurationSetup.cfg unchanged (except for "Workspace-Connect" instead of "Workspace", I have those key variables (starting up with no workspace).
That's wrong, it should use network configuration instead.
Just some supplements.
Andreas Zieritz said:ConfigurationSetup.cfg seems to be dynamic. I haven't read about that before, but your last reply specificly says so.This is the first time I have experienced that from Bentley. Just wonder what happens if you open 2 files from different workspaces / worksets...
The instance that was opened first would continue to operate with the variables, etc. as set by the WorkSpace/WorkSet selection when the file was opened.
The last instance to close would be the last to write to ConfigurationSetup.cfg.
However, you only have one Configuration location: M:/Microstation/Workspace_Connect/Configuration/ so the configuration statements would not be changed unless the second user switched to the Example project on the C:\drive.
If you check (when ABD is closed!) that your ConfigurationSetup.cfg contains the text listed above, when you open the ABD it will open in the Examples. Change the WorkSpace to your own, open a file then close ABD and see what has been written to ConfigurationSetup.cfg.
Andreas Zieritz said:WorkSpaceSetup.cfg apparently must be on the local drive, and not on the network drive.Just to make sure that I didn't screw the configuration, here are the active contents from my local WorkSpaceSetup.cfgMY_ORGANIZATION_LOCATION = M:/Microstation/Workspace_Connect/Organization/MY_WORKSPACES_LOCATION = M:/Microstation/Workspace_Connect/WorkSpaces/
ConfigurationSetup.cfg will direct MicroStation or ABD to the network. Unless you want to change the name and/or location of the Organization and/or WorkSpaces folders you can leave WorkSpaceSetup.cfg in its delivered state with everything commented out.
(I've asked development if we really need to have the options offered here in a separate file or if we can roll them into the Standards.cfg to simplify things a little.)