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XpertSync

Manual

CAXperts XpertSync – Manual

2

Copyright

Copyright © 2002 CAXperts GmbH. All Rights Reserved.

Including so6ware, file formats, and audio-visual displays; may be used pursuant to applicable so6ware licence agree-

ment; contains confiden;al and proprietary informa;on of CAXperts and/or third par;es which is protected by copy-

right law, trade secret law, and interna;onal treaty, and may not be provided or otherwise made available without

proper authoriza;on.

Restricted Rights Legend

Rights reserved under the copyright laws of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Warran es and Liabili es

All warran;es given by CAXperts about equipment or so6ware are set forth in your purchase contract, and nothing

stated in, or implied by, this document or its contents shall be considered or deemed a modifica;on or amendment

of such warran;es. CAXperts believes the informa;on in this publica;on is accurate as of its publica;on date.

The informa;on and the so6ware discussed in this document are subject to change without no;ce and are subject to

applicable technical product descrip;ons. CAXperts is not responsible for any error that may appear in this document.

The so6ware discussed in this document is furnished under a licence and may be used or copied only in accordance

with the terms of this licence. THE USER OF THE SOFTWARE IS EXPECTED TO MAKE THE FINAL EVALUATION AS TO THE

USEFULNESS OF THE SOFTWARE IN HIS OWN ENVIRONMENT.

Trademarks

CAXperts is a registered trademark of CAXperts GmbH. Intergraph, the Intergraph logo, SmartSketch, FrameWorks,

SmartPlant, INtools, MARIAN, PDS, IGDS, RIS and IntelliShip are registered trademarks of Intergraph Corpora;on. IGDS

file formats ©1987-1994 Intergraph Corpora;on. Microso6 and Windows are registered trademarks of Microso6

Corpora;on. Bentley, the Bentley logo “B,” and MicroSta;on are registered trademarks of Bentley Systems, Inc.

ISOGEN is a registered trademark of Alias Limited. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respec;ve

owners.

Introduc�on

3

Contents

1.1 General conven;ons .................................................................................................. 5

Typefaces ................................................................................................................... 5

Symbols ..................................................................................................................... 6

Uninstall ..................................................................................................................... 6

Setup command line (for administrators) ................................................................. 6

1.1 Architecture ............................................................................................................... 8

1.2 Defini;on of terms .................................................................................................... 9

1.3 Workflow ................................................................................................................... 9

1.4 Transfer concept ...................................................................................................... 11

2.1 Local Configura;on .................................................................................................. 14

2.1.1 General SePngs-Tab .................................................................................... 15

2.1.2 Scripts SePngs-Tab ...................................................................................... 16

2.1.3 Email Alert SePngs-Tab ............................................................................... 17

2.1.5 Non-PDS SePngs-Tab .................................................................................. 18

2.1.6 Support-Modeler SePngs-Tab .................................................................... 19

2.1.4 Advanced SePngs-Tab ................................................................................ 20

3.1 Licensing .................................................................................................................. 22

3.2 Add new share ......................................................................................................... 22

3.3 Modify share ............................................................................................................ 24

3.4 Delete share............................................................................................................. 24

3.5 Reload data from remote share/Commit changes to remote share ....................... 25

3.6 Define primary site (administrator mode only) ....................................................... 26

3.7 Filter defini;on (administrator mode only) ............................................................. 27

3.8 Set e-mail alert events ............................................................................................. 30

3.9 View data on share .................................................................................................. 31

7.1 Project ..................................................................................................................... 38

7.2 Models and drawings .............................................................................................. 38

Create project synchroniza;on task ........................................................................ 39

Start and Stop synchroniza;on task ........................................................................ 40

Remove a synchroniza;on task ............................................................................... 40

7.3 RDB .......................................................................................................................... 41

Piping RDB ............................................................................................................... 41

Equipment RDB ........................................................................................................ 41

Frameworks RDB ..................................................................................................... 41

Raceway RDB ........................................................................................................... 41

HVAC RDB ................................................................................................................ 41

DRW RDB ................................................................................................................. 41

Isogen ...................................................................................................................... 42

Orthogen ................................................................................................................. 42

3DTracker ................................................................................................................. 42

Non-PDS data........................................................................................................... 42

Clash ........................................................................................................................ 42

Create RDB synchroniza;on task ............................................................................. 42

Start and Stop RDB synchroniza;on task ................................................................ 43

Remove RDB synchroniza;on task .......................................................................... 43

7.4 Clash ........................................................................................................................ 44

Concept.................................................................................................................... 44

Architecture ............................................................................................................. 44

Create Clash synchroniza;on task ........................................................................... 44

Start and Stop Clash synchroniza;on task ............................................................... 45


4

Remove Clash synchroniza;on task ......................................................................... 46

8.1 Overall Reports ............................................................................................... 47

8.2 Status Overview of Models/Drawings ............................................................ 50

Introduc�on

5

1 Introduc on The program XpertSync is designed for the synchroniza;on of PDS® projects located on different

sites over a central repository, realised through a Windows share or FTP server. XpertSync can

be administered using an innova;ve GUI (graphical user interface) from every internet capable

computer.

XpertSync can be used to synchronize the following:

• Models (Piping, Equipment, FrameWorks, Raceway, HVAC, and Non-PDS)

• Drawings

• Piping RDB (including PDS forms)

• Equipment RDB (including PDS forms)

• FrameWorks RDB

• Raceway RDB

• HVAC RDB

• Drawing RDB

• Isogen settings

• Orthogen settings

• 3DTracker data

• Non-PDS files

Clash database (including marker files)

1.1 General conven ons

This document contains many visual cues to help you understand the meaning of certain words

or phrases. The use of different fonts for different types of informa;on allows you to scan the

document for key concepts or commands. Symbols help abbreviate and iden;fy commonly used

words, phrases, or groups of related informa;on

Typefaces

Italic Indicates a system response, which is an explana;on

of what the so6ware is doing. For example,

The text is placed in the viewing plane.

Bold Indicates a command name, parameter name, or dia-

log box ;tle. Command paths are shown using an ar-

row between command names. For example,

Choose File → Open to load a new file.

Normal

typewriter

Indicates an actual file or directory name. For exam-

ple,

The ASCII report is stored in the layout.rpt file.

Bold type-

writer

Indicates what you literally type in. For example,

Key in original.dat to load the ASCII file.


6

Symbols

This document uses the following symbols to iden;fy special informa;on:

Note – important supplemental informa;on.

Map or path – shows you how to get to a specific command or form.

More informa;on – indicates there is addi;onal or related informa;on.

2 Installa on Requirements:

▪ Supported opera;ng systems:

▪ Microso6 Windows Server 2003 or later

▪ Microso6 Windows 7 or later

▪ RIS Client

▪ Bentley MicroSta;on SE or later

▪ FrameWorks Plus 6.4 or later

▪ Microso6 Excel 2007 or later (to export reports and use e-mail alerts)

▪ Local domain service account and none expiry password

Administrator rights are required on each computer to install XpertSync.

Uninstall

To uninstall the so6ware, select Control panel from the start menu, click Programs and features.

If you're using category view, under Programs, click Uninstall a program.

Select the program you want to remove, and click Uninstall/Remove. Alterna;vely, right-click the

program and select Uninstall.

Setup command line (for administrators)

The following command line op;ons are supported by the installer:

/S:<<op onal ini file>>

Allow an install to be run in silent mode. As a result, no screens or dialogs will be shown.

This command line op;on also has an op;onal INI file that can be passed containing session

variable values. For example:

"C:\output\setup.exe" "/S:C:\setupvars.ini"

This will cause the session variables in the INI file to be used for the setup. The INI file should be

in the format:

[SetupValues]

Installa�on

7

%AppFolder%=C: Program Files\MyProduct

/U:<<XML config file>>

This command line op;on must be used when calling the uninstall program from the command

line. This command also has an op;onal XML file that can be passed containing session variable

values. For example:

"C:\Program Files\MyProduct\uninstall.exe" "/U:C:\Program Files\MyProd-

uct\irunin.xml"


8

1 Overview

1.1 Architecture

This chapter describes the basic architecture and workflow of XpertSync, helping to understand

how it works.

XpertSync consists of three parts realised as independent programs:

• ControlCenter

This is the graphical user interface which allows to administer and configure software, mon-

itor and control synchronization processes and view reports.

• XpertSync

This background process will be called internally by Windows Task Scheduler to save PDS

projects to the share or load them from the share.

• SyncFiles

SyncFiles is also a background process. SyncFiles is responsible for the synchronization be-

tween the sites.

XpertSync synchronizes data with the help of two shares. One is the local and the other one the

global or remote share. The local share serves the purpose of a caching store (see chapter Work-

flow for further details). While the XpertSync process only works with the data stored on the

local share, the remote share will only be accessed by the SyncFiles process. Thereby every pro-

ject is handled by a separate XpertSync process.

The global share can be a shared folder on a Windows file server, worksta;on or any similar SMB

server so6ware on a different opera;ng system. Alterna;vely a share can be located on a FTPS

(FTP/SSL) capable server. In both cases the server don’t need any XpertSync component installed

on.

The global share contains the following data:

• Project data/sites data (models/drawings)

• Global configuration: access rights (also see Filter definition)

• Logfiles

This concept allows the central administra;on and monitoring as described in chapter

Manage sites and shares and Repor;ng.

The synchroniza;on of local and remote share will be done by one client equipped with the

XpertSync so6ware for each site. More than one clients of a site may have XpertSync installed

but the synchroniza;on process has to be controlled by only one (administrator or user share

access mode). The other ones may be used for monitoring and repor;ng purpose (read-only

share access mode).

For further details on the share access modes see chapter Licensing.

Several PDS projects may be synchronized using more than one share, but a single PDS

project cannot be split over more than one share so it can only synchronized with a single

share.

Overview

9

Every site creates an incremental backup of its own models and drawings and can restore data

of foreign models and drawings. For every item (model or drawing) a single file will be created

and stored on the local share. A6erwards these files are synchronized individually with the re-

mote share. Thus a faulty single file will not affect the synchroniza;on of the other files.

The own models/drawings features the same SiteID as listed in pdtable_101, in case of an

inequality of the SiteID, listed in pdtable_101, and the SiteID of the model/drawing these

items are foreign ones.

The synchroniza;on process will be done periodically by several Windows Task scheduler tasks

that call the XpertSync and SyncFiles background programs men;oned before in this chapter.

A6er the XpertSync process has started, first it restores the data of foreign sites and a6erwards

backups the own data on the remote share. Models or drawings that are not process able (i.e.

because of locking) will be skipped. During the next run XpertSync will again try to re-

store/backup all the models/drawings including these that were skipped before.

1.2 Defini on of terms

Primary site Responsible for the distribu;on of project (disciplines, areas, sub-pro-

jects) and RDB data. The coexistence of more than one primary site for

each project is possible - one can be responsible for project, another

one for Piping RDB, etc.

Satellite site Get the project and RDB data from the primary site. They are not able

to distribute RDB data.

Local site The site where ControlCenter is running.

Remote share Central windows share or FTP server directory where all sites store their

data on.

Local share A local directory used for caching purpose of remote share data.

1.3 Workflow

The user only works with the ControlCenter. Here the sePngs and configura;on will be done.

The other two programs will be called in the configured interval by the Windows Task Scheduler

process, which was configured before with the ControlCenter user interface, in the background.

This ensures that the synchroniza;on task will run reliable and not depending on the appearance

of the ControlCenter process. XpertSync must be installed and configured on only one PC per

site to ensure synchroniza;on of the site.

You may install ControlCenter more than one ;mes per site. In this constella;on only one

ControlCenter should be responsible for the synchroniza;on process. The other installa;ons

can be used for viewing reports and synchroniza;on monitoring (read-only mode, see licens-

ing for further details).

Within the synchroniza;on process these files are copied on the remote share. The same pro-

cess in the other direc;on will be done with items from foreign sites. Thereby synchroniza;on


10

processes for the different sites are completely independent of each other.

Concerning the global configura;on the synchroniza;on is only unidirec;onal. It is stored on

the remote share and will be downloaded by the sites automa;cally during ControlCenter start

up or manually via the Reload data from remote share command.

The following figure shows the essen;al XpertSync concept:

Overview

11

1.4 Transfer concept

For each project XpertSync creates the following directory structure:


12

2 Ge:ng started

When you start the XpertSync ControlCenter for the first ;me you will be prompted to create a

new share. The following dialog box appears.

See Licensing in this document to learn more about XpertSync licensing. A6er entering the li-

cence key the so6ware will check if it is valid and the share is accessible. If the tests succeeded

the screen will look like this:

Ge!ng started

13

The local share has to be stored on the physical local drive.

A6er you confirmed your entries with the OK buVon the following window appears:

Provided that the given remote share exists and already data stored on it, a click on Yes will load

the global configura;on, concerning the sites, from the remote share. Otherwise you will be

prompted to select a PDS control file (only in administrator mode).


14

This window lists all the projects of the relevant proj_file alphabe;cally. Open a project by double

clicking the project name or by selec;ng the project and clicking OK.

2.1 Local Configura on

When you start XpertSync for the first ;me, you have to do the local configura;on for the task

scheduler service. This has to be done for each project below the shares. Right click on the pro-

ject entry and select Proper es from the context menu.

This configura;on is not necessary if the share is in read-only mode. See chapter Licensing for

further details on this topic.

The following dialog window appears:

Ge!ng started

15

2.1.1 General Se:ngs-Tab

• Project configuration file – The file where this configuration should be saved

to and loaded by default. To make a backup copy of the configuration it can be

saved to an alternative location by pressing Save as….

• Run scheduled tasks as – Username and password under which the synchro-

nization processes should run. This user must have appropriate rights on the

local machine.

• Perform scheduled tasks – the appropriate interval for the synchronization

tasks.

It is recommended to set the synchroniza;on frequency of the download task at least

twice the synchroniza;on of the Project/RDB/Clash task. That minimises the transfer errors

and guarantees that the foreign site’s data are already stored on the local share when the

Project/RDB/Clash task is running.


16

2.1.2 Scripts Se:ngs-Tab

Scripts for pre- and post-processing can be defined as follows:

• Pre- and Postprocessing scripts for task – The task where the script should

assigned to.

• Enable preprocessing script – Tick this checkbox to enable the preprocessing

script entered in the textbox below.

• Enable post processing script – Tick this checkbox to enable the post pro-

cessing script entered in the textbox below.

Ge!ng started

17

2.1.3 Email Alert Se:ngs-Tab

In E-mail alert the e-mail notification account and events can be set as follows:

• Outgoing mail settings – Set up the mail account which is provided to send the

e-mails.

• Alert event settings – Choose the event from the combo box and assign one

or more recipient addresses to. Multiple addresses can be entered semicolon

(;) separated at once.

• Subject – Enter the subject of the email. You may customize the subject string

with the listed variables below.

A6er a successful configura;on the e-mail alerts have to be switched on per site and event

to work.


18

2.1.5 Non-PDS Se:ngs-Tab

Synchronization of NON-PDS data – You can define multiple directory on your

Primary-Site. This directory is flagged with a Tag-Name. On your Satellite-Sites

you define any directory with the same Tag-Name. The data in these directories

then are synchronized between the sites from Primary to Satellite-Sites. You

can define the files-types what should be transferred. For a correct synchroniza-

tion on all sites the file extensions should be the same.

Data files that are already transferred from the Primary-Site to the Satellites are

not deleted on Satellites once when they removed from Primary-Site. They re-

main in the specified folder.

Synchronization of NON-PDS data is executed as part of the RDB-Task. (Chapter

7.3). Therefore this option has to be activated.

Ge!ng started

19

2.1.6 Support-Modeler Se:ngs-Tab

To transfer Pelican Forge Support Modeler data define location of Support Modeler database: Ora-

cle or Access.

Without correct sePngs here XpertSync transfers only model DGN.


20

2.1.4 Advanced Se:ngs-Tab

In the Advanced tab changes to miscellaneous directory paths can be done.

Enable backup – Tick this checkbox to enable the backup of models/drawings be-

fore changing the site. Enter the directory path in which the backup should be written.

• Remove models/drawings from filter – Tick this checkbox to remove mod-

els/drawings from the filter of the owner site before changing the site. Only in

Administrator mode.

Project root directory for task – Enter the directory which is the project root

for the PDS-Project.

• FrameWorks settings directory – Choose the path where the FrameWorks

configurations file (config.dat) can be found.

If defined XpertSync replaces config.dat file for each new sub-project with the file from

this folder.

• Orthogen settings directory – Choose the path where the Orthogen configu-

ration can be found. XpertSync will not accept any directory that doesn’t con-

tain the file sdi_info.sdi.

• Exclude model/drawing files from transfer – Exclude unwanted files-exten-

sion from the transfer. Define the file-extensions that should be neglected.

Ge!ng started

21

• Use share name in place of PDS local – if enabled, XpertSync stores in pd

schema paths by using share names (\share\folder) instead of local paths

(c:\pds\folder). This allows to handle long paths properly (>36 characters).


22

3 Manage sites and shares

In this chapter you will told how to add, remove and modify shares, manage access rights using

filters and modify site sePngs. The topics marked with administrator mode only are only avail-

able if you got administra;ve access permission to the relevant share (also see Licensing). The

permission to compress par;;on numbers has to be given in addi;on to Administrator mode

licence.

3.1 Licensing

The XpertSync licence concept does not affect a copy of the so6ware but a share as an object.

An individual licence key for your share access will be provided to you by your XpertSync con-

cerned supervisor or administrator. Within the licence key the share describing informa;on is

encoded:

• Remote share location

• Username and password for FTP access

• Date of licence expiration and installation date

• Windows domain and local computer name the licence is issued for

• Licence type (remote share access mode)

Three different remote share access modes are possible.

• Read-only mode

- View primary site settings and filter configuration of the local site.

- View all site reports.

• User mode

- Read-only mode permissions as listed above.

- Start and stop the synchronization process for each project of the local share

- Change SiteID of local drawings and models

- Set up e-mail alerts

- Compress partition numbers if allowed by license key

• Administrator mode

- Add or remove PDS projects to or from the local share.

- Change primary site and filter configuration.

- User mode permissions.

3.2 Add new share

The synchroniza;on of a PDS project is done via a central repository (remote share) located on

a FTP server or a Windows fileserver. Mul;ple shares may be added in a ControlCenter. For each

share a separate licence key will be needed. The appropriate access permissions and remote

share loca;on is coded in the licence key.

Adding a new share in the ControlCenter is done by right-clicking on the top node (Share) of the

tree. A6erwards select Add new share….

Manage sites and shares

23

You will be prompted to enter a licence key for the site. If you want to learn more about the

XpertSync licensing concept see chapter Licensing.

A6er you entered the key XpertSync will check the validity and print the encoded informa;on.


24

Finally enter the local share directory and click OK.

The local share has to be stored on the physical local drive.

3.3 Modify share

You may change the remote share by replacing the licence key or change the local share directory

of a share defini;on. To do this right click on the share you want to modify and select Proper es.

A dialog window similar to the one you have seen while the add process will appear allowing you

to change the sePngs. In case of a changed local share directory the data from the current folder

will be moved to the new loca;on.

3.4 Delete share

If you want to remove a share from the ControlCenter view right click on the appropriate share

and select Delete.


25

If you want to remove all the shares at once right click on the Shares top node and select Delete

all shares.

The consequences of this step will be:

The synchroniza;on of all projects on this share will be stopped, and the appropriate Task

Scheduler tasks will be deleted.

The local share directory will be deleted. All files not backed up on the remote share will be

lost.

Dele;ng a share with administrator licence will affect the remote share too. All data on the

local as well as on the remote share will be lost. In this case all other sites will not be able to

do synchroniza;on because lack of remote share.

3.5 Reload data from remote share/Commit changes to remote share

In case of changes which affects the global configura;on a manual commit must be done to

publish the global configura;on on the remote share. This step is necessary subsequent to the

following ac;ons:

• Define or change a primary site (see Define primary site)

• Change filter settings (see Filter definition)

• Add and delete projects

• Changes concerning the defined sites of a project

•


26

Note: If a configura;on change has been made, the share node will be coloured in red to

signalize that the change needs to be commiVed.

• To commit changes for a share, right click on the share and select Commit

changes to remote share as shown in the following figure:

•

• A commit of changes can only be done in administrator mode (see Licensing).

• Vice versa the configuration data also can be loaded manually from the remote

share if necessary.

This reload step is required if the share is in read-only access mode, because in this mode

no automated synchroniza;on is running. In both of the other share access modes this step is

only required before the SyncFiles background process has been ac;vated to run periodically.

See Licensing and Synchroniza;on for further details on this topic.

• This step is done during the start of ControlCenter if you click Yes on the following

dialog:

•

• Otherwise right click on the share and select Reload data from remote share.

3.6 Define primary site (administrator mode only)

To ensure a correct synchroniza;on a primary site for each of the following synchroniza;on

groups must be defined.

• Project (Disciplines/Areas/Sub-Projects)

• PIP

• EQP

• FW

• EE

• HVAC

• DRW

• Isogen

• Orthogen


27

• 3DTracker

• Clash

• Sites which are defined as primary will provide the RDB data specific for its disci-

pline. All satellite sites get the data from this site in a unidirectional synchronization

process. RDB data which is already on the local share of a satellite site will be overwrit-

ten without any warning. If a discipline lacks of a primary site no synchronization of this

discipline will be performed. The primary site can be changed anytime.

• Right click on the appropriate tree node of the site and select on or more entries

from the Set as primary site for submenu.

The primary site for clash must contain all models in its filters.

Finally these changes have to be commiVed to finalise the process. See chapter Reload data

from remote share/Commit changes to remote share for further details.

3.7 Filter defini on (administrator mode only)

By default every site only has permission to store its own data on the remote share. Access to

foreign site’s data is not granted. To permit access from one site for the others data a filter must

be defined.

The filter sePngs are propagated from the primary to the satellite sites.

Right click on a project or a site and select Set filter… to define or modify filter sePngs. Alter-

na;vely a bunch of sites can be chosen by ;cking the checkboxes in front of.


28

Some windows will show up one for the complete project and the other represen;ng the se-

lected sites. By default all site windows are empty. This means that no site was granted access

to the project data stored on the remote share.

To permit a site access to models or drawings check the appropriate entry in the project tree

(Complete Project window) and right click on it. Select Add to site… or Add all checked to

site…. The first op;on grants access to the selected (right clicked on) branch and all sub nodes.

The other one only grants access to the nodes which were checked before. Alterna;vely you may

move selected nodes with drag and drop to another site.


29

A6er this step was done the appropriate site window contains a sub tree of the project. As you

can see in the figure above all branches that were not completely mapped are coloured in blue.

In this case the filter will affect only the model/drawing level. That means for example if a new

model (i.e. model2) was added to the Equipment branch area2 won’t appear in Ismaning’s or

Toronto’s filter automa;cally. On the other side it would be added automa;cally if the complete

Equipment branch has been added to Toronto’s or Ismaning’s filter.

Press the Report to Excel buVon to export the informa;on shown in the tree view into an Excel

sheet.

The filter sePngs did not affect the synchroniza;on of disciplines, areas, sub-projects and

RDB and Clash data except of Isogen sePngs.

You can drop a plain ASCII file with Discipline/Sub-Project/ Areas/Model or drawing names

(separated by line breaks) on the tree view to automa;cally ;ck the check boxes of the listed

objects. Wildcards (*, ?) may also be used to define model/drawing names in the ASCII file.

Discipline/Sub-Project/Areas names should match exactly wildcards are not allowed.


30

It is not allowed to remove anything from the filter of primary site for Clash.

In order to select models or drawings by site_id/model_status press the Tree Filter… buVon.

Close the filter windows. For every site changes were made you are prompted to save the

changes.

Finally you have to commit the changes to the remote share to finalise the process. See chapter

Reload data from remote share/Commit changes to remote share for further details.

3.8 Set e-mail alert events

In case of errors during synchroniza;on XpertSync can be configured to send an alert message

by email. Right click on the site and select Set e-mail alert events and check or uncheck the

events the submenu. The following events can be used to trigger a message transmission. Con-

flict, Warning and Error are similar to the message types in the report (see chapter Report).

• Conflict

• Warning

• Error


31

• Not synchronized – if the synchronization has been inactive or not successful

for the given time period

See chapter Local Configura;on for details according the e-mail alert configura;on.

3.9 View data on share

To examine the project schema stored on the share right click on the share you want to have a

look at and select View data on share….

The project will be displayed in a tree view. Behind the name of every model and drawing which

is available on the share the owner’s site is displayed. Addi;onally own sites are scripted black

while foreign sites are in grey script.


32

Compress par��on numbers

33

4 Compress par on numbers

Compress par;;on number will re-allocate as required par;;on number sequences to exis;ng

models such that all gaps in the sequences are removed and all internal pointers (data and

graphic) reliant on these are adjusted accordingly to maintain PDS integrity. This u;lity shall only

be processed when no work-share ac;vity is occurring.

The permission to compress par;;on numbers must be given through the licence key.

The synchroniza;on task for the sites which belong to this project have to be stopped.


34

5 Change site of models and drawings

Every model and drawing has its owner site. That means each model and drawing belongs to a

single site. Only this site is permiVed to store these models/drawings on the remote share. The

other sites may only get them if they are permiVed by the filter sePngs.

This change is done in the following two steps:

The site will be changed in the local PDS database and a new entry to the ToDo list is appended.

A6er the change in the local PDS database the model/drawing can’t be edited on this site any-

more because it belongs to another site now. Nevertheless the model/drawing will be passed to

the other site un;l it appears in the foreign site’s schema.

When the model/drawing is recorded as “owned by new site” in the project schema of the new

site the change is definitely completed. The appropriate ToDo list entry is removed and the

model/drawing will be distributed from the new site with immediate effect.

The manual change of site (without the use of XpertSync, i.e. directly in PDS) of models/drawings

results in a conflict because the changes were not passed correctly to the foreign sites. For ex-

ample Satellite Site B is recorded in Donor Site A as the owner of the model/drawing but in the

project schema of Satellite Site B Donor Site A is recorded as owner of the model/drawing.

To change the owner site of a model or drawing right click on the node represen;ng the local

site and select change site of models/drawings. This change can only be done from the current

owner site and in administrator mode (see Licensing).

A new window will appear showing the models/drawings that belong to the local site:

Change site of models and drawings

35

In brackets behind the model/drawing name the current owner site will be listed. Models and

drawings which are listed in black script are owned by the local site and may be changed. Models

and drawings owned by foreign sites are scripted grey. They can’t be changed.

Right click on the model or drawing you want to change the owner’s site and select Change to

site and the target site. If you want to modify more than one model or drawing ;ck the check-

boxes in front of the models/drawings you want to change. Right click on some node and select

Change all checked to site and the target site.

You can drop a plain ASCII file with Discipline/Sub-Project/ Areas/Model or drawing names

(separated by line breaks) on the tree view to automa;cally ;ck the check boxes of the listed

objects. Wildcards (*, ?) may also be used to define model/drawing names in the ASCII file.

Discipline/Sub-Project/Areas names should match exactly wildcards are not allowed.


36

Following this step the affected model/drawing will be scripted grey because it no longer owned

by the current site.

A6er you closed this window you will be prompted to apply your changes. Before the changes

are made the models and drawings will be backed up if the appropriate task was enabled (also

see Local configura;on). If you deny it nothing will be changed.

By clicking on the Report to Excel buVon the view currently shown on the right part of the win-

dow will be exported in a XLS file. Before the export begins you may set some op;ons:

• Report selected rows only

• Use Excel template file – give a file that already contains a logo or

header

Restore single model or drawing

37

6 Restore single model or drawing

Single drawings and models created by the backup task (see Local configura;on) for example

can be restored using the Restore single model/drawing topic in the project context menu. Right

click on the project and select Restore single model/drawing as shown below:

In the following dialog screen you will be asked for the file loca;on. Type in manually or hit the

browse buVon (…):

A6er a click on the Restore buVon the model/drawing will be imported into the selected project.


38

7 Synchroniza on

With the help of two background programs the data synchroniza;on will be done automa;cally.

These programs, which are described in Architecture, are frequently called by the Windows

Task scheduler service except if the share is in read-only mode (See Licensing for details).

7.1 Project

New or modified disciplines, sub-projects or areas and site_id defini;on (pdtable_105) are prop-

agated from the primary site to the satellite sites. In the case of a discipline, sub-project or area

that is only present on a non-primary site a conflict will be reported (also see Repor;ng). This

situa;on occurs if a discipline, sub-project or area was deleted on the primary site, because

XpertSync will never delete these data on the satellite sites. Another cause may be that the sat-

ellite site has created its own discipline, sub-project or area.

In this case the data on the satellite sites have to be removed manually to solve the conflict. If

no primary site for a discipline, sub-project or area was defined no synchroniza;on will be per-

formed.

Disciplines are iden;fied by the discipline_indx_no. The discipline aVributes from the

primary sites will be overtaken by the satellite site without any warnings.

FrameWorks sub-projects are iden;fied by sub_project_ndx_no. The sub-project aVributes

from the primary sites will be overtaken by the satellite site without any warnings.

If FrameWorks sePngs directory is defined in the project sePngs, XpertSync replaces con-

fig.dat file for each new sub-project with the file from this folder.

Areas are iden;fied by discipline_indx_no and area_index_no. The area aVributes from the

primary sites will be overtaken by the satellite site without any warnings. If the satellite site

has an area with the same area_index_no by in the different discipline the cri;cal error is re-

ported. The synchroniza;on of this area will be skipped.

In case of an enabled Project-flag, the site will also propagate pdtable_105 (site_id defini;on)

to all other sites.

7.2 Models and drawings

At first, foreign site’s models/drawings will be restored from the local share, than the site’s own

Models and Drawings will be backed up in separate zip files on the local share.

The backups are named model_index_no.zip, for models and dwg_index_no.zip for drawings.

In the case of an error, the faulty item is skipped and the next model or drawing is processed.

If models with same par;;on_no by the different model_index_no already exists on other sites,

a Conflict will be reported.

Models and drawings are iden;fied by the model_index_no and dwg_index_no. If a model exists

twice with equal model_index_no on two different sites within different disciplines a Conflict

will be reported. The same error occurs in the case of models with equivalent par;;on_no and

different model_index_no already lying on other sites. Also in case of an equivalent

model_no/drawing_no and different model_index_no and dwg_index_no this error will be re-

ported. If a model or drawings lacks of a SiteID it won’t be processed and a Warning will be

reported.

Own models or drawings that are deleted will be deleted on the other sites too.

Synchroniza�on

39

Before the backup or restore of models and drawings is started the appropriate lines of

pdtable_113 (models)/pdtable_121 (drawings) and the model/drawing DGN files are checked

for changes. Only if changes on this data were conducted the backup or restore process will be

started.

XpertSync will never overwrite files belonging to the model/drawing (model_name.*/draw-

ing_name.*) that are newer than in the backup file.

While the backup/restore task is in progress models and drawings are locked by XpertSync. This

case is indicated by the lockowner aVribute which is set to XpertSync. That way XpertSync iden;-

fies its own locks and may overwrite it.

A6er the restore process has been finished, all foreign models and drawings will be locked to

prevent a change with PDS. The site’s own models and drawings are gePng overwriVen with-

out any warning on all other sites.

Synchroniza on of Iso Revision History – Along with the Piping Models also the Iso Revision

History (pdtable_186) is synchronized automa;cally without any addi;onal sePngs.

In case the transferred pipelines are not bulkloaded on one of the sites the bulkoad-entries in

pdtable_183 and pdtable_185 are automa;cally set on the receiving sites for the synchroniza-

;on of Iso Revision History. The entries in pdtable_183 and _185 are not permanently synchro-

nized. They are only needed for the transfer of Iso Revision History.

Note: If 3DTracker database exists in the project schema, XpertSync creates a separate

backup file named model_index_no.tdt.zip for each 3DTracker model.

Create project synchroniza on task

To enable synchroniza;on of the project first you have to create a synchroniza;on task. Right

click on the appropriate project and select Sync project task > Create.

With Create the default sePngs will be adopted and no dialog window is shown.

A6er this step ControlCenter will create three scheduled tasks:

- Sync project (backups/restores the PDS project data)

- Download (loads the data of foreign sites from remote share and stores it on local share)


40

- Upload (stores the own data on remote share)

The up- and download tasks will be created once per project.

The scheduled tasks will run at the given star;ng ;me. Because the Windows task scheduler is

now responsible for the task run.

The sync task for Project, RDB and Clash synchroniza;on has to be created separately.

Start and Stop synchroniza on task

A6er the task was created you may force to start it manually. Right click on the project and select

Sync project task > Run to start and later Sync project task > Stop to stop the task.

Use “Stop sync task” very carefully, because the corresponding process will be immedi-

ately terminated without any further ac;ons like unlocking locked models/drawings.

The user also may disable the sync task to pause synchroniza;on un;l the sync task will be ena-

bled using the same menu.

Remove a synchroniza on task

Right click on the project and select Sync project task > Delete to remove the project synchroni-

za;on task and stop the synchroniza;on permanently.

Synchroniza�on

41

7.3 RDB

Only the primary site propagates the RDB data to the satellite sites. Already exis;ng data will be

overwriVen without any warning. If no primary site was defined no synchroniza;on will be per-

formed. For each discipline XpertSync will create a separate backup file.

Piping RDB

The piping RDB contains:

• Ra_schema

• Approved libraries from pdtable_102 with type_of_rdb_data

11;12;13;14;15;17;21;22;25;26;27;28;29;30;31;32;33;35;107;108;109;110;111

• PDS-Forms if PD_IFORMS in the control file is defined

Equipment RDB

• Approved libraries from pdtable_102 with type_of_rdb_data 16;34;51;55

• PDS-Forms if PD_EIFORMS in control file is defined

Frameworks RDB

The Frameworks config file config.dat out of every sub project directory will be readout and the

following will be synchronized:

• grade.dat;fwm.rsc;attributes.dat files from FW_DATA

• All files from FW_ESL_DIR

• All files from FW_USER_ESL

Raceway RDB

The config file in the project directory ee.cfg will be read out and the following will be synchro-

nized:

• All files from EE_FORM_PATH

• EE_SYM_FILE

• EDEN_LIB

HVAC RDB

• Hrf_schema

DRW RDB

• Border files (pdtable_102 with type_of_rdb_data=50)

• title_blk* (title block generation)

• drwsdz.dgn (project default PD_DRAW seed file)

• draw_seed*.dgn (alternate seed)

• drwsymmap.mdb (drawing search criteria for vhl, see below)

• eqp_center.dwg (mass annotation)

• eqp_object.dwg

• in_object.dwg

• labels.*

• lab_button.dwg


42

• Drawing type data (pdtable_126) and associated cell library files *.cel and *.cdx

• Reference Model Display Categories (pdtable_127)

• Drawing Management Search Criteria For VHL (pdtable_145 with

rpt_search_source = 4)

Isogen

• pdtable_180 and pdtable_182 as defined in filter

Orthogen

• All files inside Orthogen settings directory

3DTracker

• tdt_status

• tdt_transition

• tdt_format

• tdt_std_note

• tdt_def_data

• tdt_iso_def

Non-PDS data

• Any files defined in project settings

Clash

• project marker file

• area marker files

• pdtable_131

• pdtable_133

• pdtable_134

• pdtable_136

Create RDB synchroniza on task

To enable synchroniza;on of RDB data first you have to create a synchroniza;on task. Right click

on the appropriate project and select Sync RDB task > Create.


Synchroniza�on

43

ControlCenter will create three scheduled tasks:

- Sync RDB (backups/restores the PDS project RDB data)







Start and Stop RDB synchroniza on task

A6er the task was created you may start it. Right click on the project and select Sync RDB task >

Run to start and later Sync RDB task > Stop to stop the task.


ately terminated without any further ac;ons like unlocking locked files.



Remove RDB synchroniza on task

Right click on the project and select Sync RDB task > Delete to remove the RDB synchroniza;on

task and stop the synchroniza;on permanently.


44

7.4 Clash

Concept

One single site runs the Intergraph Interference Checker process to check all models in the pro-

ject for clashes. This informa;on is distributed to all satellite sites. Data that already exist on the

satellite site will be overwriVen without any warning.

The use of the Intergraph Interference Checker process on more than one site is not allowed and

may result in conflicts or data loss.

Any site in the workshare can modify the clash data (review, approve, unapprove). The changes

will be synchronized with all other sites (primary and non-primary) based on the

unique_clash_id. The record with the most recent review_date will be distributed to all other

sites.

The clash history records (pdtable_135) are ignored, only the most recent record of pdtable_135

will be synchronized.

If the clash has only been reviewed and neither approval status nor descrip;on has been af-

fected, these changes will be ignored by the XpertSync.

Architecture

Clash synchroniza;on is performed by two processes:

• Sync RDB

If primary site for clash is defined, Sync RDB process propagates project/area marker files and

clash reference tables (pdtable_131, pdtable_133, pdtable_134, pdtable_136) to the satellite

sites.

• Sync Clash

This process synchronizes the clash user tables (pdtable_132, pdtable_135) between all the sites.

Sync Clash process will insert/update records in pdtable_132 and pdtable_135, but never deletes

them.

Create Clash synchroniza on task

To enable synchroniza;on of Clash data first you have to create a synchroniza;on task. Right click

on the appropriate project and select Sync Clash task > Create.

Synchroniza�on

45


ControlCenter will create three scheduled tasks:

- Sync Clash (backups/restores the PDS project Clash data)







Start and Stop Clash synchroniza on task

A6er the task was created you may start it. Right click on the project and select Sync Clash task

> Run to start and later Sync Clash task > Stop to stop the task.


ately terminated without any further ac;ons like unlocking locked files.




46

Remove Clash synchroniza on task

Right click on the project and select Sync Clash task > Delete to remove the Clash synchroniza;on

task and stop the synchroniza;on permanently.

•

Repor�ng

47

8 Repor ng

8.1 Overall Reports

Every synchroniza;on process that has been run creates a text-logfile in the TEMP folder and

appends a line into the repor;ng database. The log database only contains the data of the latest

synchroniza;on run. Before the XpertSync task is started the log database will be cleared. A6er

the run has been finished the text-logfiles stored in the TEMP folder which are older than three

days will be deleted and the content of the last twenty logfiles are filled in the log database.

Each computer running XpertSync (except with read-only licence) stores its own log databases

on the remote share. That enables all the ControlCenter to access all log databases.

The XpertSync report viewer displays and structures the contained informa;on. Right click on a

share, project or site and select Report… from the context menu to review the reports. Alterna-

;vely select one or more items using the checkbox in front of them and chose Report all

checked….

You have to reload the data from the remote share manually if the access mode of the se-

lected share is read-only. In case of another share access mode the log data will be synchro-

nized automa;cally by the synchroniza;on tasks. See Reload data from remote share, Li-

censing and Synchroniza;on for further details.

The tree on the le6 side of the window has three levels:

• Site – name of the site

• Objects – drawing, model, project, XpertSync

• Messagetype – conflict, error, changed, up to date, warning

The first two levels addi;onally contain a condensed node (All sites, All Objects). Below this all

the messages applicable for this branch are shown.


48

By clicking in the tree an appropriate filter will be set automa;cally (e.g. Models->Up to Date will

show only up to date models in grid).

Below every site branch a subnode called Addi;onal Informa;on is listed. It shows the status,

last/next run and frequency of the up- and download tasks for the two background processes

SyncFiles and XpertSync.

Right click on a site node and select Show logfiles to review the appropriate site log file.

Repor�ng

49

The following lis;ng with reports will appear:

By clicking on the Report to Excel buVon the view currently shown on the right part of the win-

dow will be exported in a XLS file. Before the export begins you may set some op;ons:


50

• Report selected rows only

Use Excel template file – give a file that already contains a logo or header

8.2 Status Overview of Models/Drawings

Addi;onally to the Overall Reports a quick Status Overview per Site is available as well.

This kind of report delivers in a short manner what was synchronized between the sites and

where are possible mismatches.

The Status Overview opens a complete Overview of the project.

Correctly synchronized models/drawings are not highlighted only those which are not

in the filter and where the sync-process failed

Technical support

51

3 Technical support Need more help? Contact CAXperts support by email, online, or phone:

mailto:[email protected]

hVp://www.caxperts.com/contact/

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