topic Re: Publisher Set and environment variables in Collaboration with other software

Publisher Set and environment variables

jamesMorris — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 07:53:22 GMT

Hi

We use Dropbox for our files. Unfortunately we are almost unable to use Dropbox with the Archicad Publisher set.
The problem is, that every user has a different path to the project.

For example John has this path:
C:\Windows\Users\John\Dropbox\TestProject\

and Monica has this path:
C:\Windows\Users\Monica\Dropbox\TestProject\

I tried to mitigate the problem by using windows environment variables like %HOMEPATH% or %HOMEPATH% but only get errors.

Any idea on how to solve this problem?

Re: Publisher Set and environment variables

Laszlo Nagy — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 00:47:17 GMT

It is possible to specify a different folder for Dropbox. So you only need a folder that every user has. It could be in the

C:\Users\All Users\Dropbox

folder, or

C:\Dropbox

folder or just about any folder you want to specify.

Of course, you will need to do this on every computer.

In Dropbox Preferences, go to the Sync page and click the "Move" button to specify a different Dropbox folder:

Re: Publisher Set and environment variables

jamesMorris — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 07:52:22 GMT

I have also thought about moving Dropbox to C:\Dropbox.
Do you know anyone who uses this in real life on a daily basis?

Concerns I have:

- Users can see data from other users on the same PC
- How does Dropbox behave with selective sync? In theory it sould work but real life?

Especially the first point is a showstopper in my opinion. Especially when it would be so simple to just environment variables.

Re: Publisher Set and environment variables

Laszlo Nagy — Wed, 12 Feb 2020 20:10:52 GMT

Yes, if the Dropbox folder is not under the User's Profile folder then others will probably be able to see it.

So, here is another idea:

On each computer, in Windows Explorer, select "This PC" in the list, then use the "Computer>Map Network Drive" command on the Ribbon.
Map a drive letter (such as drive "Z:") to the Dropbox folder (e.g. "\\Joe-machine\C\Users\Joe\Dropbox"). You mush provide a full network path (so "C:\Users\Joe\Dropbox" will not do). Make sure the "Reconnect at sign-in" checkbox is also checked.

Now, in Publisher Sets, set the Publishing path to "Z:" and it will always publish into the Dropbox folder of the current User.

Let me know if this works.

Re: Publisher Set and environment variables

jamesMorris — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 08:18:50 GMT

LaszloNagy wrote:
Yes, if the Dropbox folder is not under the User's Profile folder then others will probably be able to see it.
On each computer, in Windows Explorer, select "This PC" in the list, then use the "Computer>Map Network Drive" command on the Ribbon.
Map a drive letter (such as drive "Z:") to the Dropbox folder (e.g.o "Z:" and it will always publish into the Dropbox folder of the current User.

Let me know if this works.

That is our current solution. The downsides are, that you need a Dropbox PC with all the files, that is sharing them. This solution has some problems.

- You need an extra PC
- This PC needs to be Windows Server if you wanna share with more than 25 users (Win Pro restriction)
- Dropbox is not made for 24/7 and will crash once a week. You need to restart the service
- You are unable to track who did what, because Dropbox will see all changes from the user you assigned to that PC

So again, a complicated solution (extra PC) to a simple problem (environment variables).

I will have a look into environment variables. Maybe I can trick ArchiCad into it. Like Archicad sees C:\User\Testfolder but in reality this folder is C:\%username%\Testfolder