Unable to Load Custom PCL Functions from !!PATH in Patran (Windows)

[nekcorp]

I’m currently working on customizing Patran 2020 on Windows by creating my own PCL functions and placing them in a dedicated folder. According to the documentation, Patran uses !!PATH to search for PCL files, so I’ve configured it accordingly.

Specifically, I’ve added the following files to the directory:

C:\Users\user\msc\patran_2020

This directory is listed when I run the !!PATH command inside Patran.

The files in this folder are (attached):

• p3epilog.pcl
• swap_bw.pcl
• color_swap.plb

Inside p3epilog.pcl, I load my function file. However, when I launch Patran and try to call the function swap_b_to_w(), I get an error saying the function does not exist.

Strangely, if I copy these three files into the same directory as my .db file, the function works perfectly.

My objective:​

I want to be able to keep all my custom PCL code in a single shared folder, independent of where my .db file is located. I would like to avoid duplicating the files across each working directory.
Eventually, I also plan to add a custom menu or toolbar to access my functions easily.


Could you please clarify:

• How to properly set up !!PATH so that functions defined in external PCL files are always found?
• Whether !!PATH is only used for certain types of lookups (e.g. !!INPUT) but not for function definitions?
• Any recommended approach to manage reusable PCL libraries?

Thank you in advance for your help.