[ORD 2019 R2] Workspace on a Network

Has anyone found a way to have a workspace on a network, but have the delivered workspace still located at its default location? Generally, we want users to access our workspace for its settings, but if they need to do a self paced training, we would also want to allow them to use the training and example workspaces. We would rather not put a full copy of them on the server, but only have files needed for our workspace located there.

I have a very good grasp of pre-ORD workspaces, but this is pretty much starting over from scratch.

In the past, I have managed to have PCF files that change folders of UCF files and UCF files that change folder of PCF files. I'm hoping I can select a Workspace and the list of worksets will change, and that some of these will be on the users C: Drive and others will be on the network.

Any ideas or tips will be greatly appreciated. 

  • Hi Chuck,

    Has anyone found a way to have a workspace on a network, but have the delivered workspace still located at its default location?

    yep, I think we have it set up like you desire. The delivered configuration is local and accessible to the users. Our configuration is stored on the network.

    This is done in the ConfigurationSetup.cfg by defining the variable  _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION

    I'm hoping I can select a Workspace and the list of worksets will change,

    This is the way it works, WorkSets are children of their WorkSpace. The WorkSets are CFG files in a single location, local or network.

    that some of these will be on the users C: Drive and others will be on the network.

    It doesn't work like this, all WorkSets .cfg file are stored in one location. You can have a workset point to its data files anywhere you want.

    Hope this helps.

    ~HTH

    John.

    yep

    Answer Verified By: caddcop 

  • I'm going to assume you are correct and run with this. Thanks.


    Charles (Chuck) Rheault
    CADD Manager

    MDOT State Highway Administration

    • MicroStation user since IGDS, InRoads user since TDP.
    • AutoCAD, Land Desktop and Civil 3D, off and on since 1996
  • No Problem let me know if you have any questions. And to answer your questions directly I updated my response.

    ~HTH

    John.

    yep

  • OK, this was not working for me. (Initially!)

    In C:\ProgramData\Bentley\OpenRoads Designer CE\Configuration\ConfigurationSetup.cfg

    it contains the following lines:

    # If your organization has its own Configuration directory, you can define
    # _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION to that directory path and use it as follows.
    #
    #_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION = D:/.../MyConfiguration/
    #_USTN_CONFIGURATION : ${_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION}

    But when I add these lines to my file:

    _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION = $(_MDOT_ORD_WORKSPACEROOT)Standard/
    _USTN_CONFIGURATION : ${_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION}

    The first assignment was successful, but not the second. As a last resort, I changed the assignment from a : to an = and that seemed to fix it. That's what I get for following instructions explicitly.

    So now I see the dual list of Workspaces. However, when I select one of the network Workspaces, the CFG processing never reads the WorkspaceSetup.cfg file. The Organization\standards.cfg file is still read from the local location.

    Apparently, the WorkspaceSetup.cfg file needs to also exist on the network in a matching relative location. I'm still figuring out what's the best approach for the Organization-Civil files. According to the Bentley Civil approach, this is where are agency wide standards should reside with that ideally being on the server. But to also allow the training and examples to function from a local workspace, we would want those workspace to retain a local Organization-Civil folder.

    I' thinking the rather terse introduction comments in the Configuration Setup.cfg could use a bit more detailed information to get this up and running.

    Does anyone know if there is an actual guide on how to really implement this type of installation. It looks like the tools are all here, but my PHD in configuration files has apparently expired.


    Charles (Chuck) Rheault
    CADD Manager

    MDOT State Highway Administration

    • MicroStation user since IGDS, InRoads user since TDP.
    • AutoCAD, Land Desktop and Civil 3D, off and on since 1996
  • Chuck - are you using 'workspace' in the v8i sense? This is now called the configuration. Do you want to put your custom configuration on the network, with its relevant WorkSpaces? For example, is _MDOT_ORD_WORKSPACEROOT pointing to a WorkSpace (CE meaning) folder or a configuration folder?

    _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION = $(_MDOT_ORD_WORKSPACEROOT)Standard/

    I will have a look at this tomorrow and see if I can get something put together. As I understand it, you want the delivered configuration on local drive, but your agency-wide standards on the server. Correct?