Tool Palettes Sharing

[EliseB]

If we direct (via Options> Files> Tool Palettes File Locations) two computers to the same .ATC file on the server, both will show the tool palettes. 

However, if a new tool is added or deleted from the shared palette on one computer, this change is not reflected on the other, in spite of the fact that the timestamp on the edit changes to reflect the edit. 

So, the .ATC file may hold all the information for the tools available to each palette, but which tools to display from each palette seem to be stored locally on each machine.  Perhaps in the current profile?  Can anybody confirm this?

Thanks for your help!

[rkmcswain]

Whether you have 2 or 2000 people sharing tool palettes, just make sure that only ONE person (login) has "Write access".

When a change is needed, that one person should make the change, then exit AutoCAD.

The changes will be written to the file(s), and everyone else will see the update the next time they close AutoCAD and restart.

We've been doing in this way since tool palettes came out with zero problems.

If multiple people have write access, then the last person to close AutoCAD wins.

[EliseB]

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@rkmcswain wrote:

Whether you have 2 or 2000 people sharing tool palettes, just make sure that only ONE person (login) has "Write access".

When a change is needed, that one person should make the change, then exit AutoCAD.

The changes will be written to the file(s), and everyone else will see the update the next time they close AutoCAD and restart.

We've been doing in this way since tool palettes came out with zero problems.

If multiple people have write access, then the last person to close AutoCAD wins.

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"...everyone else will see the update the next time they close AutoCAD and restart." However, that does not seem to be the case for me right now...

Right now, if I direct two computers to the same .ATC file and I make a change (add or delete a tool) on Computer #1 and then close out of AutoCAD....when I reopen AutoCAD, Computer #1 still shows the reflected change and Computer #2 does not show any change.  

We also tried making changes to both computers (Computer #1, we added Tool A and Computer #2, we added Tool B) and then restarted AutoCAD on both computers.  After the restart, Computer #1 still shows Tool A (but no Tool B), and Computer #2 still shows Tool B (but not Tool A).  So, I see a different palette on each computer, each reflecting the changes made on that specific computer.

So how do you make sure that only one person has "Write Access"? 

[rkmcswain]

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@EliseB wrote:

So how do you make sure that only one person has "Write Access"?  

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I don't believe you are going to see the correct effect until you fix this ^^^^

You can do that with standard file permission (not file attributes).

Also, everyone else except the person with write access should be seeing a little lock icon in their palettem like this:

[EliseB]

rkmcswain wrote:

You can do that with standard file permission (not file attributes).

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When you say "standard file permission," are you referring to Windows permissions?

If so, why would locking the file make a difference?   At present, changes on one machine are not being reflected on the other, why would locking the file suddenly change that?  Any thoughts?

Thanks for all your help!

Elise

[rkmcswain]

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@EliseB wrote:

When you say "standard file permission," are you referring to Windows permissions?

If so, why would locking the file make a difference?   At present, changes on one machine are not being reflected on the other, why would locking the file suddenly change that?  Any thoughts?

Thanks for all your help!

Elise

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Yes, windows file permissions

I don't have an inside scoop into the inner workings of when and how the TP files on disk are written, but based on observation I believe it works like this.

If two or more users (say Bob and Jane) are mapped to the same TP location and both have write access, the last one out wins. That means if Bob makes an edit (say he adds a tool) and then closes AutoCAD, and then "Jane" does something (maybe even as small as opens or closes the TP), her changes are written to disk, overwriting what Bob just did. 

But if Bob is the only one with write access, then when Jane, Sally, Maria, Will, etc. open up AutoCAD, they will get the lock icon meaning their changes can't be written to disk, and as soon as Bob closes AutoCAD his changes will be saved. 

Hope that makes sense.

[dgorsman]

The user who doesn't see any changes will have an identical copy being read from somewhere instead of the common ATC.  There's a couple of ways this can happen.

Don't forget you need to manage the AcTpCatalog files as well.