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Achieving “Content-ment” with AutoCAD®

Architecture's Content Browser Douglas V. Bowers, AIA – Avatech Solutions

AB204-3 If you have created object styles in AutoCAD Architecture and want to learn how to easily share those styles, this is the class for you. We’ll learn to customize the Content Browser to share object styles and other tools via Tool Palettes from within the Content Browser. Learn tips for managing the Content Browser to make standards and styles consistent throughout your office.

About the Speaker: Doug is a senior consultant with Avatech’s Building Solutions Division, providing education and implementation services for AutoCAD Architecture (formerly Autodesk Architectural Desktop), Revit, and AutoCAD. He is an AUGI CAD Camp speaker and a highly rated ATC instructor. Doug is an Autodesk AutoCAD Architecture Certified Expert and a registered architect with over 27 years of experience in the AEC industry. He has managed Autodesk products since AutoCAD Release 10 and was a “Cadence” magazine “Top Dog” winner at Autodesk University and an AUGI CAD Camp “Top Dawg” prior to joining Avatech Solutions.

[email protected]

Achieving “Content-ment” with AutoCAD® Architecture's Content Browser

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What is the Content Browser? Autodesk has provided the Content Browser as part of AutoCAD Architecture and can be a valuable resource to CAD Managers if it is properly utilized. It is a repository of tool catalogs, tool palettes, and tools that can be shared among AutoCAD Architecture users within a company.

While Autodesk Content Browser gets installed during the AutoCAD Architecture installation process, it is a separate program that actually runs outside of AutoCAD Architecture. That means that you can run Content Browser without even having AutoCAD Architecture running.

Content Browser works in conjunction with AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD MEP, and Autodesk Viz, so it is possible to have information in the Content Browser for all three software packages. By default, each software package installs its own copy of the Content Browser and will point to different folders so one Content Browser does not show tools from the other software packages. Tools in one Content Browser will not necessarily work in a different software package other than the one intended. Note that it is not available within AutoCAD and to AutoCAD users.

Disclaimer:

This class will deal only with working with AutoCAD Architecture and the Content Browser installed with it, and will not address using it with AutoCAD MEP or Viz. Information in this class will also be based upon default installation parameters. This class also assumes that the user is familiar with the usage and creation of tool palettes within AutoCAD Architecture.


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Why would I want to use it? The primary reason to use the Content Browser is to make sure that all users in your company have access to and hopefully use the same tools. We continually strive to improve speed, accuracy, and consistency within our companies and the Content Browser can help with that goal. By using the Content Browser as our central location for shared tools and content, we can ensure that every member of our design team has access to the most up-to-date tools.

The following are some typical specific examples of usages for the Content Browser:

• Custom product or project type palettes -- Many architects work on a variety of types of projects which have varying needs, so you can create a group of palettes specific to a project type so users only see the tools used for that project type. A set of palettes can be created for school projects, while another set of palettes can be created for strip centers, and yet another set of palettes can be created for homes. Many companies have project teams that are divided into project types, so it makes logical sense to divide palettes into project types.

• Project specific content -- If you are using Projects and the Project Navigator, you can set things up so the only information seen in the Content Browser is the content desired for each specific project.

• Office specific content -- Many companies have more than one office and each office may have its own needs or desires for what is used in their office. The Content Browser can be set up so that each office has its own section.

• Custom AutoCAD Architecture styles -- Most companies have developed their own custom styles for the various object types, such as walls and doors. You can use the Content Browser to separate out the company styles from the out of the box (OOTB) styles that come with AutoCAD Architecture.

• Standardized AutoCAD Architecture content -- AutoCAD Architecture comes with a lot of content that is never used by many companies. You can separate out the content that you actually use from the rest of the content. AutoCAD Architecture ships with 13 different north arrows and how many companies really want the user to use all of those different arrows.

• Standard AutoCAD block library -- Even plain AutoCAD blocks can be put on palettes, so it is easy to organize your company’s existing AutoCAD block library into a section of the Content Browser.

• Hatches -- Everyone has their favorite hatch patterns that they use. Put those on a palette with the correct properties so that everyone else can use the same hatch and be consistent.


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How do I get to it?

Because Autodesk Content Browser is a separate program, it can be launched from either outside AutoCAD Architecture or from within AutoCAD Architecture.

To launch the Autodesk Content Browser from outside AutoCAD Architecture, go to the Windows Start menu and go to All Programs -> Autodesk -> AutoCAD Architecture 2008 -> Autodesk Content Browser.

The AecCB.exe file in the C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Architecture 2008 folder is the file that is being executed, so you can also launch Content Browser by clicking on this file from within Windows Explorer. (Note that this file will be in a different location if AutoCAD Architecture was installed to a different location on your computer.)

To launch Autodesk Content Browser from within AutoCAD Architecture, you can do one of the following techniques:

• Type ContentBrowser at the command line; or • Press the CTRL and 4 keys simultaneously; or • Select Content Browser from the Window pulldown menu.

• Select the Content Browser button from the Navigation toolbar; or


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How is it organized? The Content Browser contains the following items as part of its structure:

Library, Catalog, Category, Palette, Tool

Library The main page of the Content Browser shows the Catalog Library. The primary purpose of the Library is to show various Catalogs that are accessible. The Library is simply a file that contains references or pointers to Catalogs and it is possible to have a library that is empty with absolutely no catalogs available. A Library page can only display catalogs.

By default, each AutoCAD Architecture user (based on the Microsoft Windows profile) on a computer has their own library and that library will have the user name listed at the top of the library. It is possible to create a deployment image that has each user look to one specific location (usually on a server) by default when they open their Content Browser. That capability is discussed later.

The graphic at right illustrates the default appearance of the main page of the Content Browser for AutoCAD Architecture 2008.

The icon buttons in the upper left corner of the Content Browser allow you to move around in the Content Browser similar to using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. You also have the availability of using the Search feature to find specific information anywhere in the Content Browser. Typing text in the Search box and picking the Go button will search through all information listed through the catalogs shown on the page. If the Search function is used when inside a catalog, only that one catalog will be searched.


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Along with the Sort and Filter buttons, the Preferences icon at the bottom of the screen allows you some limited adjustment to how you see information within the Content Browser. A popular adjustment is made in the Preferences to increase the number of rows per page to see more information on a page as this affects all pages throughout the Content Browser.

Catalog A Catalog is a container which holds related tools and can be grouped in various ways. The following are various types of catalogs that you might have in a library:

• Stock catalogs provided by Autodesk • Shared company custom catalog(s) on a network • Local User custom catalog • Web page from outside organization

The graphic at right illustrates the Catalogs that appear by default on a typical AutoCAD Architecture installation when installing both Imperial and Metric information. These catalogs point to the location specified during the AutoCAD Architecture installation process.


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New Catalogs can be created or existing Catalogs can be added to a Library.

Unlike a Library, a Tool Catalog can contain any of the following items, which will be discussed in more detail later:

• Category • Package • Palette • Tool

The “My Tool Catalog” is specific to each user on the computer for them to have a personal catalog.

Category A Category is a way of subdividing a catalog into smaller divisions. It is a good idea to use categories when you have a great deal of information and need to divide it up into manageable and logical pieces. It is not advisable to create a lot of categories simply for the purpose of having them. You want to make it easier for the user to find something and not harder. It is easy to get carried away creating a lot of categories that only have a few tools into them.

This graphic illustrates the many default categories that are within the Design Tool Catalog – Imperial. Note that the categories are listed on the left side of the screen and graphically shown in the main window.


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Categories can contain other categories, along with Palettes, Packages, and/or Tools.

Using the i-dropper, a category can be dropped into your AutoCAD Architecture workspace. When a category is dropped, a tool palette group will be created and any tool palettes in that category will be dropped into the tool palette group in the workspace.

Why use Categories?

• A company with different project focused teams can have different categories for each team. For instance, a team working on schools may use different styles of walls, doors, windows, etc than a team working on strip retail centers.

• A manufacturer can provide content to the AutoCAD Architecture community and have their product easily added to a user’s Content Browser. For instance, a window manufacturer can have a Catalog for their product with each of their product lines in a separate sub-category.


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Package A Package allows you to pack up Tools together. It allows you to copy a lot of tools at once, as dropping a package into AutoCAD Architecture will place all of the tools in the package onto the active tool palette. It does not create a palette.

Tool Palette A Palette contains a collection of tools. This class will not deal with the creation and usage of palettes within AutoCAD Architecture.

Tool A Tool is an individual item that can perform any one of a variety of tasks. This class will not deal with the creation of tools within AutoCAD Architecture.

An important note is that while the Content Browser can contain tools, the tool can NOT be created in the Content Browser. It must be created on a palette in the user’s workspace and copied to the Content Browser either individually or as part of a palette.

How do I customize it? Change to a different Library

An important note is that it is possible to only have one library open at a time. If you desire to open a different library, you will need to make sure that you are at the Home page of the Content Browser. You can get to the Home page by selecting the house icon at the top left portion of any page within the Content Browser.


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While on the Home page, right-click in an open area of the Content Browser and select Open Library… from the shortcut menu. In the dialog box, browse to the location that contains the desired library file (with the .cbl extension), select the file, and pick the Open button.

If you desire to create a new library file, follow the same procedure as above except for selecting the New Library… option from the shortcut menu and then specifying the desired name and location for the new Library file.

The default location and filename for the AutoCAD Architecture 2008 Content Browser Library file is C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Autodesk\My Content Browser Library\ACD-A 2008\ContentBrowserLibrary.cbl.

Default Content Browser Library file names for recent releases: o ContentBrowserLibrary.cbl (Architectural Desktop 2004) o ContentBrowserLibrary45.cbl (Architectural Desktop 2005) o ContentBrowserLibrary47.cbl (Architectural Desktop 2006) o ContentBrowserLibrary50.cbl (Architectural Desktop 2007) o ContentBrowserLibrary.cbl (AutoCAD Architecture 2008)


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Make the Content Browser look at a different Library by default There are a couple of different methods to make a different library be the default when the users open their Content Browser.

The first methods is when using the Deployment Wizard utility. This method is only valid during the installation process of the software when installing seats via a deployment image.

While in the Deployment Wizard, go into Configuration and select a Custom installation type. When you get to the Configure Content Packs page, place a checkmark next to the “Modify Content Browser Library file location” option. Directly under that option, specify the desired location for the library that will be referenced by all users. (This location is shown in the illustration below.) Complete the configuration process as desired.

Note that when a server-based Library file (.cbl) is specified, the user will not be able to edit their Content Browser preferences to display it differently. This prevents a user from being able to display a different number of rows per page which is a common change for users to desire.

The second method of pointing the Content Browser to a different library is done after AutoCAD Architecture has been installed on the computer.


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You can create a ASCII text document named ContentBrowser.ini and put it in the root folder of the AutoCAD Architecture 2008 install directory. This file lets you direct Content Browser to the location of the desired content browser library (.cbl) file.

In this new ContentBrowser.ini text file, you must enter the following text making sure that you add a carriage return after the last line:

[Files] Library=<Complete path and filename to the .cbl file>

The following is an example for a library named “MyCompany” located on the L: drive:

Add a Catalog to a Library There are multiple ways to add a Catalog to a library.

1. The first way to add an additional Catalog is to right-click in an open area of the Content Browser and select Add Catalog… from the shortcut menu; or pick the Add Catalog (open book appearance) icon from the lower left corner of the Content Browser.

When the Add Catalog dialog box appears, you can choose to create a new catalog or add an existing catalog. If you are creating a new catalog, specify the name for the catalog and pick the Browse… button to select a folder to place the catalog. If you do not choose a location, it will default to your local user folder. Catalog names can include spaces and can contain any characters except the following: \ / : * ? " < > |


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2. To add an existing catalog, choose the “Add an existing catalog or web site option”. Either type in the folder and filename for the catalog, or pick the Browse… button to select a folder that contains the desired catalog. Select the desired .atc file and pick the Open button.

3. Another method to add a catalog to a palette is directly from the Windows Explorer. In Windows Explorer, browse to the location of the desired .atc catalog file. Pick on the .atc file and drag it to the Content Browser Library. When you release the mouse button, the Catalog will be added to the Library.

4. To add a web site as a catalog, select “Add an existing catalog or web site” option in the above dialog box and type in the actual web site URL in the box. Be sure and include the entire URL including the http:// prefix.

5. Another method to add a catalog is with a registry file created for this purpose. The process to create a registry file is discussed later.

Make a Catalog on my computer be available to users from the server You may have created a Catalog on your computer and want to share that Catalog with other users. It is a common practice for the CAD Manager to develop it on their computer and then share it with others by putting it on the network server.

Go to the Home page of the Library. Place your mouse over the Catalog that is to be shared and select the Publish ‘XXX’ option on the shortcut menu (where XXX is the catalog name).

In the Publish Tool Catalog – Step 1 of 4 dialog box, specify one of the following options: o Move it to a new location; o Copy it to another location; o Leave it in its current location.

Select the Next > button.


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In the Publish Tool Catalog – Step 2 of 4 dialog box, either type the folder location to place the .atc file or select the browse button (shown at right) to browse to the desired folder and pick the OK button. You also have the option to create a new folder to contain the catalog file when using the browse button.

Select the Next > button.

In the Publish Tool Catalog – Step 3 of 4 dialog box, you specify the location for dependent files. You can either type the folder location or select the browse button (shown at right) to browse to the desired folder and pick the OK button. You also have the option to create a new folder to contain the catalog file when using the browse button.

Dependent files contain information that is referenced by tools in the catalog, such as drawings containing styles, tags, or mvblocks that are referenced by tools.

You have the option to automatically copy the dependent files into the specified folder if they do not already exist there. The purpose of this is to make sure that the styles are available to all users using the tools and that the styles are not at a location inaccessible such as the local hard drive of the catalog creator. If you do not select this option, verify that all of the referenced files within tools do actually exist in the specified folder.

You also have the option to “Report invalid catalog references”. This will create an HTML file containing a list of any dependent files that weren’t found during this publishing process. It is a very good idea to have this selected.

Click the Next > button.


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In the Publish Tool Catalog – Step 4 of 4 dialog box, you specify how others will access this catalog’s content. The “Directly from the location provided: option will typically be selected. The other option is great if you are posting the catalog for web access.

You can make the catalog items be read-only so users cannot intentionally or accidentally modify them. This is a good option if the specified folder is not controlled by Windows permissions and all users have full access to the folder. If the CAD Manager is in control of the folder via Windows permissions, then selecting this option is not necessary.

Palettes that are dragged from the Content Browser to a user’s workspace can be refreshable. If you never want the users to be able to refresh their palettes to match the Content Browser, then you would select that option on the dialog box. Typically, CAD Managers want the users to be able to refresh their palettes, so this option typically does not have a checkmark. This option does not control the auto-refresh feature associated with palettes.

Click the Finish button to publish the catalog to the desired location. Depending on the size of the catalog, this can take a few minutes.

Note that individual users can specify the location of dependent files on the AEC Content tab in the Options dialog box. The variable %AECCONTENT_DIR% is used for tool-dependent file references. This variable is updated to use the specified path.


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Add a Tool Palette to the Content Browser Adding an Existing Palette: Drag an existing palette from AutoCAD Architecture to the desired location in the Content Browser. Pick on the palette tab name to drag the palette.

Palettes must be copied one palette at a time to the Content Browser.

Adding a New Palette:

Select the New Palette icon in the lower left corner of the Content Browser to create a new palette.


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Add individual Tools to the Content Browser You must create or modify a tool on a tool palette in AutoCAD Architecture. After creating the tool, pick on the tool and drag it to the desired location in the Content Browser.

If the same tool already exists at that location in the Content Browser, you will presented with the following dialog box asking you if want to replace the existing item.


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Use the Tool Catalog Generator to create new tool palettes in bulk using object styles within drawings Autodesk has provided a great tool for us to use to quickly and effectively create tool palettes in the Content Browser. It allows us to quickly place a large quantity of object styles into the Content Browser so that they are easily accessible.

• From the CAD Manager menu, select Tool Catalog Generator. o If the CAD Manager menu is not displayed,

select the Window menu, then Pulldowns, then CAD Manager Pulldown.

• The following dialog box appears:


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• In the upper left corner of the dialog box, select the “Create a new catalog” option if you desire to create a new catalog. You will also need to give the new catalog a unique name and choose the location to place the catalog (.atc) file. By default, it goes to your local “My Documents” folder, but you will likely desire to place this on the server where other users can access the catalog.

• Next you need to specify where you get the information to place in the new catalog. In the upper right corner of the dialog box, you must specify whether you want to create the catalog from only one drawing or from all drawings in a folder.

o If you desire to use all of the drawings in a folder, then you will need to specify the folder that contains the source drawings.

All drawings in the folder will be used, so make sure that only files you want to use are in the folder.

Any drawings in nested sub-folders will also be used. o If you desire to use just one source drawing, then you will need to specify the one

drawing file that contains the desired information.

or


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• You will next specify how you want to organize the information in the catalog. You can either group the tools by the source drawing or by the object type.

o This is a very important decision as you want the users to easily find the tools that they will need. There is not necessarily a right way or wrong way as it depends on your company’s preferred way of organization.

o If you organize them by object type, a category will be created for each object type.

o If you organize them by source drawing, a category will be created for each source drawing.

o When you choose either one of the options, then you will need to choose whether you desire to organize them into Categories or into Palettes.

There are advantages to either option, so make sure that you understand how Categories differ from Palettes.

If both options are enabled, the catalog is first grouped by the drawings and then by the object type, generating categories from the drawings, and palettes from the object types. This can be very handy when you have many of the same object types to organize.

• You will next specify what type of information you want to be placed in the catalog. Any or all of the objects shown below can be added to a catalog. Select the objects for which you desire tools in the catalog.


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• Pick the OK button to start the process of creating the tools. Depending on the quantity of drawings and the quantity of object types selected, it can take several minutes to process the files so you will need to be patient. The following dialog box appears during this process.

• Each category and each palette is created in its own ATC file. The category and palette .atc files are placed in the Palettes or Categories subfolders within the folder where the new catalog is created.

How do I help other users add a custom Catalog to their Library?

After a CAD Manager creates a custom catalog on the server, you want to share that catalog with other users. Instead of having each user manually add the catalog as noted earlier, you can create a system registry file that can be run to add the catalog.

Go to the Home page of the Library. Place your mouse over the Catalog that is to be shared and press SHIFT when you right-click. Select the Convert to Registry File option on the shortcut menu.

Browse to the desired folder location for the file, type in a new file name, and pick the Open button. A new registry file will be created with the .REG extension.

If a user has proper permissions on their computer, when they double-click on the .REG file, the user will be asked if they want to add the catalog. When they answer Yes, the catalog will be added to that user’s Catalog Library.


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It is also possible to create a .REG file that will add multiple catalogs to the user’s Catalog Library at one time. To do that, you follow the above steps but select an existing .REG file instead of entering a new name. The catalog that you selected will be added to the .REG file.

While it is possible to automate the registry edit process, that capability is beyond the scope of this class and deals more with network administration.

How does it work with Projects? A Content Browser Library can be created that is project specific. This allows the CAD Manager or Project Manager to create a situation where the users working on a project will see only the tools that are desired for that project. If the folder containing the library file is made read-only to the users, then the user will not be able to add their own catalogs to the library.

Create a library as outlined earlier at a desired location on the server. This is often in a folder under the project’s folder structure. In the project’s properties dialog box, go to the box for the Tool Catalog Library and specify the location for the shared Library (.cbl) file. Whenever the project is set current, the user will be pointed to the specified location for the correct Library. The user will then have access to only the catalogs shown in that project’s library.

The CAD Manager or Project Manager can create catalogs based on the project’s standards drawings.

Note that the "Tool Palette File Locations" path settings in the Files tab of Options is for what tool palettes will appear in your AutoCAD Architecture workspace and does not have any relationship to the Content Browser.


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How do I make it so when I make a change to a palette in the Content Browser it changes

the user’s version? This is called “refreshing” the user’s palette, and there are two different ways to do this. The first way is to manually refresh (update) the tool palette. The second way is make the tool palette automatically refresh each time AutoCAD Architecture is opened.

When a tool palette is dragged from the Content Browser to the tool palette set in AutoCAD Architecture, it forms a link to the originating tool palette in the Content Browser. When the tool palette is refreshed in AutoCAD Architecture, the palette looks at the version of it in the Content Browser and makes it match the one in the Content Browser.

To make a palette be capable of being refreshed, right-click over the palette and select Properties from the shortcut menu. Place a checkmark next to the “Refresh from:” option.

To manually refresh a palette, go to the desired palette and either pick the refresh button at the lower right corner of the palette or right-click and select Refresh Palette from the shortcut menu.

To make a palette auto-refresh, right-click on the desired palette and select Properties from the shortcut menu. Place a checkmark next to the “Enable Auto-refresh” option and choose the OK button.


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What can go wrong? While there are a lot of different things that can go wrong with any software, I have listed a few different things that you might encounter while using the Content Browser.

• Automatic refreshing of palettes in the Content Browser can create severe speed issues. o It seems like a good idea to make a palette automatically refresh each time

AutoCAD Architecture is opened, but various factors can affect the time that is involved in the refresh.

o The decision to make palettes auto-refresh is one that needs to be made after reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of the feature.

• A palette will lose its associativity with the Content Browser and not be refreshable if the palette in the Content Browser is deleted. This occurs even if a new palette of the same name is created in the Content Browser.

o When a palette has been dragged from the Content Browser to AutoCAD Architecture to be refreshable, it remembers the ID of the palette in the Content Browser. AutoCAD Architecture actually links to the ID and not the palette name.

• The Content Browser Library becomes blank and loses all of the catalog references. o If this happens, the first thing to do is to make sure that you have the correct

library loaded. o If you have the correct library loaded, there are a couple of options available to

you. One option is to perform a Repair of the AutoCAD Architecture installation. Another option is to manually add each catalog back

• Not keeping the content updated can create problems for the users. If new object styles and other content is not updated in the Content Browser, users will not have confidence in the Content Browser and may stop using it.

• Poor organization and structure of the Content Browser can create a confusing system that is difficult for users to navigate. Keep the system straight forward and easy to use.

• Moving or renaming content referenced by the Content Browser will keep things from working correctly. Since object style tools in the Content Browser reference a specific style name in a specific file in a specific folder location, changing any of that information will make the tool not work properly.

Summary The Content Browser can be very beneficial if it is effectively used. Remember these key items:

• Organize it so it is easy to use. • Place important and commonly used tools in it. • Keep it updated.