Application Options (Measurement Unit and Drawing Standard)

[PolemEngineering]

Hello,

I have a problem when importing our default ApplicationOptions.xml. Our customized templates (stored on a network location) are replaced with ANSI default templates every time an end-user reloads his Application Options. We are using the unit mm and standard ISO.

When  editing "Configure Default Template" the window every time shows inch and ANSI. Change it to mm and ISO, apply and restart Inventor give no result.

What is going wrong here?

Anyone...?

[cbenner]

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@PolemEngineering wrote:

Hello,

I have a problem when importing our default ApplicationOptions.xml. Our customized templates (stored on a network location) are replaced with ANSI default templates every time an end-user reloads his Application Options. We are using the unit mm and standard ISO.

When  editing "Configure Default Template" the window every time shows inch and ANSI. Change it to mm and ISO, apply and restart Inventor give no result.

What is going wrong here?

Anyone...?

---

Where are you writing the ApplicationOptions.xml file to?  Is it in a shared location and within your Inventor search paths?  I'm not sure of the default location for this, but I'm guessing that somewhere, there is a default options file that is being loaded instead of your custom one.  Look in "user"\AppData\Local\Autodesk\Inventor 20XX\Preferences for Inventor_Default_Options.xml.... or do a search on the user machines for this file.

My guess is, if you put your custom xml file in a shared Design Data folder, and eradicate the Inventor_Default files from each user machine.... this should do it?

[PolemEngineering]

Thanks for the respons, but afaik the ApplicationOptions.xml is just a transfer file. The helpfile only says that the default location for import and export this file is: Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor [version]\Preferences

Our ApplictionOptions.xml is located in a shared network folder. Can you tell how to change search path? I will try then and let you know.

[okaleja]

Hello,

ApplicationOptions.xml contains settings related to Default Templates as well. I have just verified that importing ApplicationOptions.xml with different default templates settings (e.g. mm, ISO) than current (inch, ANSI), will replace the standard templates to match the imported settings.

Oto Kaleja

Autodesk

[PolemEngineering]

If I quite understand:

The import of new ApplicationOption settings triggers a check and replace action to match the templates with the settings...?

Is this based on units or standard?

In fact I do not understand what settings in Application Options and templates I need to change to keep the current templates when reload the settings.

In the Document Settings of the .iam and .ipt templates I only see some unit settings (all have millimeter, degree, second and kilogram)

The .dwg template for annotation the "Polem Standard (ISO)". (In the early days based on ISO). In the style of this "Polem Standaard" the unit setting "Linear = mm "and "Decimal Marker = , Comma".

Is it possible there is something wrong in our templates. They're created in Inventor 2008 and migratited trough the years til current 2014 version.

Please help.

[PolemEngineering]

Enclosed the export of current settings.

When opening this file in an XML-editor I see a few paths to earlier Inventor versions (wich I can't find in the Application Options dialog screen.

[okaleja]

You are right. I have found 2 places in your xml where older Inventor version is referenced. But both seems not related to your issue, since they are:

1. General tab -> Startup action -> New from template (not checked)

2. Colors tab -> Background -> File name

I need to take a look in what cases the update of templates occurs when application options are imported.

Oto Kaleja

Autodesk

[mrattray]

My guess is that you're having issues writing to the Windows registry. The XML files just facilitate import/export functions. Your settings are actually stored in the registry. A number of things can cause problems with this, including insufficient user privileges, failure to close Inventor properly after applying settings (the settings are written upon exiting Inventor, a crash will prevent the settings from being "saved"), anti-virus software, etc.

Can I assume this is a fresh installation? Did you follow the AutoDesk Software Installation Guide?

[SBix26]

This has been happening to us for several releases now (started with 2012 or 2013).  Our application options specify a network location for templates, and when a user imports that .xml file the installed default templates are copied into that location, overwriting our customized templates with the same names.  The first service pack in whichever release this problem first appeared added the creation of an OldTemplates folder so at least our customizations were not completely lost, but it is still happening, and still annoying.  I'm sure this is by design, but I'm really not happy with this design!

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Inventor Professional 2014 SP1 U2
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M

[mrattray]

That's one reason why I always give my custom templates unique names. The other is so I can still have easy access to the default templates if I need them for whatever reason.

[SBix26]

We keep our templates named Standard so they show up in the drop-down New menu.  But even if we renamed all our customized templates, I still wouldn't want the standard ones copied into that folder every time a user imports our App Options.

Sam B
Inventor 2012 Certified Professional

Inventor Professional 2014 SP1 U2
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
HP EliteBook 8770w; 8 GB RAM; Core™ i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz; Quadro K4000M

[okaleja]

I have logged a new item in our internal database to track this issue. Thanks for reporting!

Oto Kaleja

Autodesk