PN without a network

[dfsal]

If I understand correctly, PN is intended to be used in a network environment, right? Can project team members work on a project together using project navigator without a network? If so, what is the best way to go about this?

[stelthorst]

If I understand correctly, PN is intended to be used in a network environment, right? Can project team members work on a project together using project navigator without a network? If so, what is the best way to go about this?

Hi dfsal,

First, Welcome to AUGI and congrats on your first post. :)

If you have multiple people working on a project it would be easier to have the project files on a network so that all people can access the project. What we do when working remote from the project is save the project drawings on a flash drive with the same file/folder structure as our networked project to avoid having to re path any files. When returning to th office the person then transfers the modified files from the flash drive back to the network.

It is kind of a pain and you have to make sure two people aren't modifying the same files (constructs, views, sheets) but it will work.

If you have access to a network location I would strongly suggest using it.

Hope this helps,

[dfsal]

Hi dfsal,

First, Welcome to AUGI and congrats on your first post. :)

If you have multiple people working on a project it would be easier to have the project files on a network so that all people can access the project. What we do when working remote from the project is save the project drawings on a flash drive with the same file/folder structure as our networked project to avoid having to re path any files. When returning to th office the person then transfers the modified files from the flash drive back to the network.

It is kind of a pain and you have to make sure two people aren't modifying the same files (constructs, views, sheets) but it will work.

If you have access to a network location I would strongly suggest using it.

Hope this helps,

Thanks for your reply, stelthorst. We don't have network in the office - there's only four of us. Since we don't usually team up on project production it's not much of a problem. From other posts I've read and from what you have said it sounds like the only issue to deal with is having to repath the project files which can be avoided by having the same project file/folder structure on each team members machine.

Are there any issues if you move a project file (instead of copying), such as a construct or view file, from one machine to the other for another team member to work on? We want to avoid having multiple versions of the same file floating around or two people working on the same file at the same time.

Thanks for your help.

[dzatto]

Depending on what your project is, another issue, or rather, part of PN that you can't use, is the ability to drag and drop Xref's into your drawing that you are working on.

For instance, if I'm working on my interior layout, I'll need to be able to drag and drop my exterior walls into that layout so I know what my parameters are for the exterior, if that makes sense.

Also, someone will have to have the entire project on thier machine so you can link the callouts and annotation to the correct construct or view.

Since you've spent about $20,000 with 4 seats of ACA, why not spend a little and at least get a small server from Dell and set up a small, simple network to save your files to? It will make your life sooooooo much easier!

Or, and keep in mind I know nothing of setting up networks, can't you use one computer (yours) and have a hub where everyone else can have access to at least one drive on it?

[dfsal]

Depending on what your project is, another issue, or rather, part of PN that you can't use, is the ability to drag and drop Xref's into your drawing that you are working on.

For instance, if I'm working on my interior layout, I'll need to be able to drag and drop my exterior walls into that layout so I know what my parameters are for the exterior, if that makes sense.

Also, someone will have to have the entire project on thier machine so you can link the callouts and annotation to the correct construct or view.

Since you've spent about $20,000 with 4 seats of ACA, why not spend a little and at least get a small server from Dell and set up a small, simple network to save your files to? It will make your life sooooooo much easier!

Or, and keep in mind I know nothing of setting up networks, can't you use one computer (yours) and have a hub where everyone else can have access to at least one drive on it?

With regard to dragging and dropping xrefs in PN - to use your example - is that because an other person working on an interior layout construct file won't have the exterior wall construct to drag-n-drop (since all other project files will be on another machine)?

I suppose all xreffing would have to be done prior to another person moving and editing the interior layout file on another machine and the exterior wall xref file would have to be moved with it.

I guess the bottom line is that all files should be kept on one single machine and any file to be edited by other team members should be moved to their machines (along with any xrefs) with the same path. You need to be diligent in making sure that file are handle properly when swapping back and forth and avoid two people editing the same file concurrently.

Unfortunately, a network, even a small one, is not an option for us right now - maybe with the next hardware upgrade! For now I guess we'll just have to be careful or do things the "old-fashioned" way.

Thanks for your input.

[dzatto]

Yep, exactly. I guess if you're really diligent about who has what files and is making what changes, it could work. It just seems to be a lot of extra work and extra worrying. If the project is that huge, maybe you could each create a project and work on an entire section. One person could do each floor, or each wing, from start to finish. Then you could put it all together once it's done. It's a thought.

[dfsal]

Thanks, dzatto. I guess for now we'll stick to doing things the old fashioned way until we're networked. Seems like more of a headache than it's worth.

[dzatto]

Thanks, dzatto. I guess for now we'll stick to doing things the old fashioned way until we're networked. Seems like more of a headache than it's worth.
Yep, which sucks because PN is soooooooo nice to work with (once you figure it out). I highly recommend using it once you are networked.

[burchd]

Dont use the default my documents locations for the projects. Buy and install an extra drive for all of your machines, and give it a new drive letter such as P: Put all of your projects in this location. you should be able to move the projects from one machine to another much easyer.

The default location, is placed into a user location and is different for each user. This causes the projects to need to be repathed.

also, once you get your network in place, replace the internal drives on all machins with P as a drive letter, and everyone can work the same.

[dfsal]

that's a good suggestion, burchd. since my last post we've decided to go ahead with pn and just be diligent in our file management and have set up system of collaboration that should work well. we've also set up the project in the same location as all our other non-pn projects instead of the my documents location.

one last question for anyone - when transfering construct files to another machine for editing is it necessary to transfer the accompanying XML file?

thanks.

[dzatto]

that's a good suggestion, burchd. since my last post we've decided to go ahead with pn and just be diligent in our file management and have set up system of collaboration that should work well. we've also set up the project in the same location as all our other non-pn projects instead of the my documents location.

one last question for anyone - when transfering construct files to another machine for editing is it necessary to transfer the accompanying XML file?

thanks.
Well, I think it depends. Are they going to just draw on the construct, then reinsert into the project? Then no, they should be able to just update the construct.
But if they need to drag and drop other Xrefs for reference, then you would need the .xml file so the computer knows what level, division, etc the Xref belongs..

Of couse, They could always Xref something, then manually put it where it belongs. As long as they are diligent and make sure it's in the correct location.

[stelthorst]

that's a good suggestion, burchd. since my last post we've decided to go ahead with pn and just be diligent in our file management and have set up system of collaboration that should work well. we've also set up the project in the same location as all our other non-pn projects instead of the my documents location.

one last question for anyone - when transfering construct files to another machine for editing is it necessary to transfer the accompanying XML file?

thanks.

If you want to use the transfered drawing in the PN environment you'll need to include the XML file. The XML file tells PN what division and level the drawing is associated with and the folder location within PN.