Question:

How can I define preference seeds for civil command?

Answer:

A new configuration variable CIVIL_PREFS_CIVIL has been added that will point to a folder that can optionally contain civil 'seed' preference files.  When OpenRoads Designer is launched , the contents of the CIVIL_PREFS_CIVIL folder are copied to the $(_USTN_HOMEPREFS)\civil\ folder. When a tool that uses an xml preference file is launched: 

• If the corresponding 'seed' preference exists in the $(CIVIL_PREFS_CIVIL) folder, copy the file to the $(_USTN_HOMEPREFS)\civil\ folder.
• If the corresponding 'seed' preference does not exists in the $(CIVIL_PREFS_CIVIL) folder, create the new xml using default settings. 

Also added is the CIVIL_PREFS_SURVEYTOOLS  variable which will populate the survey preference to the $(_USTN_HOMEPREFS)\surveytools\ folder.  This will copy the "SurveySetting.sds" file which stores settings like the column display settings from the Survey Details command.

A couple of notes on these two variable:

1.) Civil_Command preferences are not included in these two variables.  Most of these commands are data specific, so saving the preference is undesired. 
2.) For administrators setting up these seed folders, it is advised to copy ONLY those XML files for the specific commands for which a seed is desired.