Relative Paths with Schematic Library

[eradford87]

Hello,

I have a shared network folder that I want to point all of our employees to when searching default and custom libraries. The standard folder is called AutoCAD Library, however I have situations where some employees navigate to the folder via C:/AutoCAD Library and others navigate via D:/AutoCAD Library. When editing the wd.env file, I tried using the relative path technique of ./AutoCAD Library, but AutoCAD does not seem to recognize that. Is there a way I can point to multiple directories to accommodate for all our employees to have their software point to one network folder simultaneously without having to change it for each and every project they start? 

Example: 

Thanks for any assistance that can be provided

[arshdeepsingh404]

Hello @eradford87 

I know something similar can be achieved when using virtual machines. You could setup shared folders and map them as a network drive to a virtual machine.

Now the actual path could be different for each employee when they setup the shared folders but the mapped address in the Virtual Machine would be same.

For Example: Mapping a folder called Schematic to VM

Host Path for Employee 1: C:\AutoCAD\Library\Schematic

Mapped Path in VM for Employee 1: Z:\Schematic

Host Path for Employee 2: D:\AutoCAD\Library\Schematic

Mapped Path in VM for Employee 2: Z:\Schematic

Maybe you can setup something similar folder mapping without using a Virtual Machine too, I haven't tried something like that though.

Also, have you tried adding both paths to Schematic Libraries?

[dougmcalexander · Accepted solution]

To setup for networking I copy the AeData folder to the root of a network drive and I rename the AeData folder on each local workstation to AeData_local.  I add this new location for the AeData folder to the top of the Support File Search Path of each work station.  Having the AeData folder on the network shares projects and catalog data.  Also, every workstation will use the wd.env file on the network, inside the AeData folder.  So you can direct all workstations to the same design environment.

To share the libraries, I copy the Libs folder to the network drive, parallel to the AeData folder.  You can either modify the Support File Search Path on each workstation to search for the Libs folder in the network path, or you can set it in the wd.env file.  I don’t recommend using the relative path approach.  Type in the full path.  I’ve run into occasional issues projects using the relative path approach.

Other data can be shared the same way.  Add a Menus folder parallel to the AeData folder and move the menus to this folder.  Set the projects to look for the menus in that folder.  You can do the same for Report files.  Create a Reports folder and move the .SET files into it.  Set the path in the wd.env file.

[rhesusminus]

You write that it is a network drive, but it seems to be mapped to different drive letters? The UNC path however should be the same for everyone, so why not use that?

\\SERVER\SHARENAME\AutoCAD etc.

[eradford87]

Hello @arshdeepsingh404 ,

I am not familiar with how to create a virtual machine but that does seem like a very viable way to achieve a solution to my problem. Could you explain further what you mean by setting one up? Do I need a dedicated server or anything like that? The problem is, our company doesn't have an actual network drive. We essentially share folders between each other. I did come up with a somewhat workaround of my current issue though. I basically duplicated the .env file and tailored one to be used by C:/ drive users and one to be used by D:/ drive users for specific things like catalog lookup and plc files. For the schematic libraries I put both paths in both .env files so users of either drive could still use and access the libraries regardless of what drive they are initially using. However, I would like to understand more about having a virtual machine accommodate for both C:/ and D:/.

Hello @dougmcalexander ,

I did end up trying something similar to what you suggested, but as I mentioned above, the "shared drive" is not a dedicated directory, but rather shared folders between workstations. So I have a "AutoCAD Library" folder which I can send a read/write key to other users and they dedicate that key to a folder they create which then allows syncing between the two workstations. I have put the .env file along with all the AutoCAD support files, libraries, catalogs, and plc info inside this "AutoCAD library" folder. So essentially I did the same thing as you, but without a dedicated directory. My workaround so far has been to list the library paths in the env file to reference both a c:/ and d:/ path. For catalogs I had to create two different env files since they can only reference one path each. So my plan was to have the C:/ users reference their env file from a folder called C-Drive defined in the support file search paths of AutoCAD and the D:/ users reference their env file from a folder called D-Drive defined in the support file search paths of AutoCAD. That's my workaround solution so far and I believe it will work in theory since they will only be reading their dedicated env. 

Hello, @rhesusminus ,

I may have not worded my request correctly so I apologize for that. The "network drive" is not a dedicated network drive or directory. Rather it is just a bunch of dedicated shared folders through a service called Resilio. 

Thanks everyone for your prompt replies. I'll keep testing with my methods and confirm whether or not they will work.

Thanks again!

[arshdeepsingh404]

I am not too sure if I am providing you best solution here after reading other experts views but I will explain the VM setup anyway. So virtual machines are just virtual computers inside a computer. You can run a VM with Windows XP on Windows 11 PC, VM with Windows 11 on Mac, VM with Windows 11 on Windows 11 PC. etc....

I use different VMs to run different software, It just gives you a more controlled environment especially if you do custom development and programming. I can easily restore a VM to last snapshot in case anything goes wrong and there would be no effect on the host computer.

Now for sharing content between the host and a virtual machine, A windows VM lets you map a folder on the host computer as a mapped network drive. For example:

Host path: C:\Users\Public\Documents

VM Path: Z:\Documents

The network drive map takes cares of how to access data and I could tell AutoCAD to look under Z:\Documents and it will work.

I was wondering if something similar could be achieved even without VM like this video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-8uV1rvryk