X-Ref question- Updating changed save folders

[cfee]

I have a situation where X-Reffing may be a useable tool. HOWEVER- In the past I've avoided X-Ref because I could discover no effective method for selecting the reference file in a new folder (you know how network managers can be...) and have the new path update to the X-Ref. I'm figuring there's a method I've just not succeeded in discovering, and I want to explore X-Reffing on a serious basis for an upcoming task that could turn into a full-fledged "Project" (fingers crossed, everyone...!)

Ok, Specifically-
Is there any way to directly replace the path of the file with its new location, and have my ACAD drawing reload the file from the new location ?

Thanks-

C. Fee

 

[Ziggypump]

In the x-ref manager, you should be able to redefine the path to the file.

 

[chicopee]

Have you looked at the File folder of the Option DB; there is a temporary external file location entry. If you indicate the path in that entry or if you have Xref's in your drawing, the program will automatically list the paths. Then name a profile in the profile folder and make it current at which point anytime you open a new drawing, the paths to the Xref's files show show up.

 

[IFRs]

Will "Relative Path" work for you?

 

[cfee]

Uhmmm- ok. But what I want to do is reassign the new current path to the xref that didn't catch at drawing load because the referenced file was moved. The X-Ref dialog box comes up, but there's no discernible way to click on a file and search to the known new location and say "reload".

Thoughts ?

 

[Ziggypump]

What version of Acad?

 

[cfee]

2011.
I'm sure its in there. I'm just not familiar with it enuff to dig this out.

I have someone else who uses 2005. He does some details and some assemblies (2D & 3D) that we want to use. We've established the 2004 file-type as our standard platform, so everything is "compatible" back & forth. This has worked beautifully for us.

I'm hoping to be able to X-Ref his input, because he can stay free to make his edits and they come up native with his mods in our parent assembly (cool !) without having to "reinsert" like you do with embedded "blocks". All very good, either way "works" but you can see we have a situation where some of these capabilities we're researching could be very nice for us ! The only real speed bump is that from time to time I-T changes things around in order to "improve efficiencies". They do a great job, but we need to know how to compensate smoothly, that's all.

I've dug into the Help system, and really it comes up short. I've asked around here at work, and all people know is workarounds. So- I came here.

Thanks everyone for your input. We're still seeking a solution, and all your input is GRATEFULLY sought !

Tks-
C.Fee

 

[IFRs]

In the XRef dialog, (XR on the command line) you can edit the "Found At" box to specify a new location. One option is to map a drive to the folder and when the folder changes location just change the drive mapping.

 

[cfee]

Yes- that's what I want to do - Change the drive mapping. I looked in the dialog box. You can change the drive mapping, but you have to reinsert the drawing. I know I'm missing something. I guess I'm looking for a "reload". I'll keep looking.
Tks-
C.F.

 

[IFRs]

You can "Reload" by right-clicking the XRef to see a drop-down list. But, changing the path should force a reload anyway, no?

 

[cfee]

You'd think it would. I'm probably doing it wrong, but I right-clicked, found the new location, and it wants me to reinsert. I'd expected it to just reload in-place, like if the path wasn't changed if say, the referenced component was changed and how the master drawing reloads everything at startup.

Which begs another question- what if the referenced component gets updated while you're working in the parent assembly drawing? is there a "reload" command ? Maybe that's what I'm looking for once I change the referenced path.

As you can easily tell, with some years of ACAD use, this is my first SERIOUS foray into X-Reffing. Seriously- THANKS !

C.F.

 

[IFRs]

When a referenced drawing changes during your session, a pop-up appears telling you of this. If you are not at your desk, it goes away and you are none the wiser. However, a look at the XRef dialog shows you which ones need to be reloaded. Regarding the need to reinsert when the path has been redefined, if you used mapped drives you would not have to change the path.

 

[cfee]

... that is unless I-T moved the files to a different folder on the same or a different drive, but kindly told you which new folder so you could re-map them.

 

[ohiocad]

Think I understand what you're asking, and if I understand it, we have run across something like this here, and the way we work around it is this:

Attach xrefs with "no path" if all the folders change names or "relative path" if only the parent folder changes, and the sub folders stay the same.

Then under options, files tab, support file path, add the directory of where the xrefs are stored. Then if a folder changes, all we have to do is remap the support path, and it finds everything.

Some version of that might be what you're looking for. Just remember to delete the old support paths once they're no longer used.

Bad points for this, are that it has to be remapped on every machine to be used on the project. If there's only a few users, it's not bad, but if there are 100? Unpleasant.... Also, if there are different dwgs brought in, on different jobs, that are the same xref filename, XRtitleblock, for instance, it can be a mess. Different machines may load different xrefs with the same name, depending on the priority of different search paths loaded.

 

[cfee]

ohiocad-
Yes- you've described a solution to the problem. I can't imagine however, that this is the only method built into ACAD for this function, that's supposed to be a major selling point for ACAD ! I mean, as much as they've built into X-Reffing and there's no discernible "reload" function ? Oh well. Yes, I can see it'd be a major pain with lots of systems to manage. Fortunately we don't have that many. But even so, we have Hundreds of drawings that might be potentially affected, and this workaround may make the whole thing moot. I'll run the drill as outlined, tho, and if there's anything major to report, including a favorable discovery of some sort, I'll post back here. Thanks !
C. Fee

 

[ohiocad]

First, my apologies on writing a book. Xref's have been on of the biggest headaches here, as well as one of the biggest time savers. We deal with a lot of different clients, with different standards, and have run into a lot of different..... clusters.... as far as xref management goes. Anything that I can share on that to save someone else a headache, I will.

There are another couple options that we've used, but they're a bit more of a hassle to do, didn't mention it before, because, frankly, I didn't think about it at the time. (Sorry if this is something you already know, just listing it in case not, because we had a heck of a time working all this out with large volumes of files)

First method:
(based on acad 09, again, figure 2011 should be close)
There are two slightly different dialog boxes that you can get for the xref manager. They are dependent on "single drawing compatibility mode" setting. (If autocad opens multiple drawings in one session, or opens a new session for every drawing) I don't think there is a check box under options anymore, the only way to change it is command line.

SDI = 1 is single drawing per session, SDI = 0 is multiple drawings per session.

With SDI set to 1, if you open the xref manager and highlight one of the xrefs in the drawing, you can type in, or browse for a new path for the xref, and it will reload from the new location. Unless it finds it in the search path, you can't just hit "reload" and have it go.

With SDI set to 0, if you open the xref manager and highlight one of the xrefs, in the details area at the bottom of the window, you can do the same thing as the other version, it just looks slightly different, with most of the options available through right click.

Either of these steps needs to be done, in each drawing, for each xref, which can be a pain if there are a lot.

If there ARE a lot, then I prefer the method mentioned in the previous post, or the one listed below.

Second method:
If you know which xref, by name, is attached to which drawing, you can remap them using a script file. This is extremely useful if it's the same file over and over, like a plan, or titleblock. It is a nightmare if different files are xref'ed into different sheets.

If you're familiar with script files, that's a big help, if not, it's basically the exact command string you'd type into the command line. If you were changing the xref "title" from "folder_one" to "folder_two" for the xrefs, it might look like:
-xref p title c:\drawings\folder_two\title.dwg
There's more to it than that, but without more specifics, don't want to drown you in gibberish.
But, the line breaks down into -xref (dash suppresses dialogue box), p is path, title is the xref to change the path of, and then the new folder path.

If that works, then you take a list of the drawings you want to update, and add the command string to it, and run it.

Danger in this, with typoes, or filename glitches, is it is possible to map different drawings to the same name, in different drawings, like remapping xrtitle to use the file xtritle.dwg in the first file, and xrplans.dwg in the second drawing.

At that point, I'd want to take a vacation and come back after the project was done.

 

[IFRs]

If mapped drives don't work try using AutoCad's "Project Files Search Path" which among other things tells AutoCad where to look for xrefs.

 

[cfee]

IFRs-
Ok, so if the file isn't in the original location, ACAD will look in the search path listed in the"Project Files Search Path" under the Files tab in the Options Dialog ? Sounds like the ideal simple solution ! Seems then that all I have to do is get the new save location for the files in question, and include that location as mentioned above, and when that changes, do it again. I guess have to do this for all CAD PC's affected, but this is doable, as the number of CAD PC's is small compared to the number of drawing files affected.

Its disappointing that I can't directly attach the new path to the drawing file name, but this may be preferable, if the file was attached with no relative path, forcing a search each time. Very nice. BUT-

What about if the referenced file is open for editing and you want to reload the results as the other person saves their changes ? Probably something similar I'd guess...

Thoughts ?

Thanks-

C. Fee

 

[IFRs]

As long as Autocad found the file in some search path, it should reload in the xref dialog, or prompt you to reload when the file is saved, just like usual.

 

[cfee]

Ok- THANKS !
C.F.