Absolute path in wdp file

[kristib]

I understand from previous posts that the transition from ACADE2005 to ACADE2006 was when the .wdp file started using relative paths to record where the drawing files were located instead of absolute paths.
Does anybody know of any way to use absolute paths instead? Is there a setting to use to indicate preference? We're using both 2007 and 2009 in the office here.
Thanks,
Kristi

[Anonymous]

Kristi,

I don't believe there is an option to tell
Electrical to always use absolute paths in the WDP.  I am curious
as to why you would like to use the absolute paths. I like to hear from
customers how they would do things differently and why.  It helps to drive
the product.  Anyway, the reason we changed is because most people felt
that absolute paths were too restrictive.  In addition, you would run into
issues using data management tools like Vault, where a user can choose their
own working folder.  However, there is a situation, where Electrical
will use absolute paths.  This occurs if the project file is referenced
from a different drive letter than the drawings.  This is done, because
there is no way to express in relative format a folder location for a folder on
a different drive.  In theory you could reference your project file
using a different drive letter than your drawings and you would get
absolute paths.  So you could either physically separate the project file
and the drawings onto different drives or theoretically you could use SUBST to
create a drive letter, or on a network Map another drive letter and Electrical
would think the project and drawings were on different drives.  As long as
Electrical thinks they are on different drives, then it will use absolute
paths.  I don't think I would recommend this though because this has not
been extensively tested.

Regards,

Mike

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<
href="mailto:kristi.brooks@invie.com">kristi.brooks@invie.com> wrote in
message
href="news:6053150@discussion.autodesk.com">news:6053150@discussion.autodesk.com...

I
understand from previous posts that the transition from ACADE2005 to ACADE2006
was when the .wdp file started using relative paths to record where the
drawing files were located instead of absolute paths. Does anybody know of any
way to use absolute paths instead? Is there a setting to use to indicate
preference? We're using both 2007 and 2009 in the office here. Thanks,
Kristi

[BruTec]

You can also use absolute paths by manually editing the drawing paths in the project (.WDP) file using an external text editor such as Notepad. Every drawing path has to be edited.

[Anonymous]

I believe that manually editing them will work
until the project file is modified then the paths with return to relative
paths.

Mike

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<brutech@charter.net>
wrote in message
href="news:6054432@discussion.autodesk.com">news:6054432@discussion.autodesk.com...

You
can also use absolute paths by manually editing the drawing paths in the
project (.WDP) file using an external text editor such as Notepad. Every
drawing path has to be edited.

[kristib]

Mike is right on regarding this. I like to use absolute paths because when I am told I have to rearrange the way I organize my files I don't have to spend so much time re-editing each and every project file. I'm not sure how using relative paths would be an improvement. You're counting on something to stay the same and if that 'something' has to move then you have to edit every single project file affected. We save our drawings on a server (same server we save all our .wdp files and other necessary ACADE files) and when the server was renamed it was relatively easy to do a massive search/replace in every project file to rename the server in the path. Now I need to open each project and deal with the errors that pop up because the path to the files is incorrect.
I would wholeheartedly support having the option to go back to absolute paths.
Kristi

[Anonymous]

Kristi,

I guess I don't really follow how things are
organized.  With your example of renaming the server, with relative paths,
the project files shouldn't have to be modified at all.  As long as the
drawing files are found in the same place relative to the project file you can
move the entire project (project file, drawing files, and relative folder
structure) from machine to machine, or up and down in the folder structure
and everything should work without a problem.  Using relative pathing, the
only time where you should have to change what's in the project file, is if the
relative locations of those drawings changed.  For example, if you renamed
a folder where the drawings were found and that folder was not the same folder
as the project file.  However, you would have to change the project file in
that case whether the file paths were absolute or relative.  I suppose
the one situation where the absolute path would be beneficial is if you moved
the project file in the folder structure, and left the drawing files where they
were, thus invalidating the relative paths.  I don't see that as something
that would happen very often, but it would help me to understand how you have
things organized and what causes things to change, and how they change,
etc.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Mike

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<
href="mailto:kristi.brooks@invie.com">kristi.brooks@invie.com> wrote in
message
href="news:6054679@discussion.autodesk.com">news:6054679@discussion.autodesk.com...

Mike
is right on regarding this. I like to use absolute paths because when I am
told I have to rearrange the way I organize my files I don't have to spend so
much time re-editing each and every project file. I'm not sure how using
relative paths would be an improvement. You're counting on something to stay
the same and if that 'something' has to move then you have to edit every
single project file affected. We save our drawings on a server (same server we
save all our .wdp files and other necessary ACADE files) and when the server
was renamed it was relatively easy to do a massive search/replace in every
project file to rename the server in the path. Now I need to open each project
and deal with the errors that pop up because the path to the files is
incorrect. I would wholeheartedly support having the option to go back to
absolute paths. Kristi

[kristib]

Mike,
What I'm being asked to do it more complicated than just moving the whole project (project file and dwg files). It's your 2nd scenario that is closer to what I'm asked to do. I haven't been able to convince those in authority over me against another total rearrange. We do this every 12-18 months, with the assurance that this is the last time I'll be asked to do it.
Thanks for the explanation.
Kristi

[Anonymous]

Kristi,

Thanks for the explanation.  I will log this
request as a wish list.  Keep in mind, that this doesn't mean that we will
implement this functionality, just that it will be considered.

Thanks,

Mike

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"kristib" wrote in message
href="news:6055614@discussion.autodesk.com">news:6055614@discussion.autodesk.com...

Mike,
What I'm being asked to do it more complicated than just moving the whole
project (project file and dwg files). It's your 2nd scenario that is closer to
what I'm asked to do. I haven't been able to convince those in authority over
me against another total rearrange. We do this every 12-18 months, with the
assurance that this is the last time I'll be asked to do it. Thanks for the
explanation. Kristi