Configuring Project Preferences

The \webapps\archibus\WEB-INF\config\afm-projects.xml specifies project properties. Enter project properties by editing this file with a text editor.

See also:

• The afm-projects.xml File
• Configuring Project Database Connections

Project Preferences

Note: There are no longer units (Metric or Imperial) or baseUnits (Meters, Centimeters, or Millimeters) attributes in the Project Preferences entry. These are now attributes of the project database as a whole, since conversion of data within the project database depends on these settings. These attributes are now held in the Schema Preferences (afm_scmpref) table.

You use a text editor to enter project properties in \webapps\archibus\WEB-INF\config\afm-projects.xml. This section describes these properties in general terms. See The afm-projects.xml File

Project

Enter basic information about the project:

• Name. Name of the project connection. For local projects, project name is also the default name for the database file, and for the project folder. Example entry in afm-projects.xml: name="HQ-Sybase"
• Title. Descriptive name of the project connection. Example entry in afm-projects.xml: title="Headquarters-Sybase"
• Project Type. Local or Enterprise. Example entry in afm-projects.xml: projectType="enterprise"
  • Enterprise – The preference is set to Enterprise in all the default configurations.
  • Local – This was formerly used for single-user and Smart Client-only workgroup databases.
• Active If True, then:
  • The Smart Client will attempt to start this project if it is a local project.
  • Web Central will attempt to connect to this project when the application server starts whether it is a local or an enterprise project.

  All active projects must be started on their respective database servers before you start the application server. If Web Central fails to connect to any project that is marked as active, it will not start.

  Setting a database to inactive is useful for deactivating a test database, a localized database, prototype vs. production databases, databases used for different services customers.

  Example entry in afm-projects.xml: active="true"

Database Options

• Database Type. The database type for your installation. Example entry in afm-projects.xml: databaseEngineType="Sybase-WebEdition"
• Database File. For local projects, specifies the database file's path and file name. Example entry in afm-projects.xml: databaseFile="C:\users\public\archibus\projects\hq\data\hq10.db"

Enterprise Database

These options are for enterprise databases.

• Host Name or Address: The host name or address for the database server, for example 127.0.0.1.
• Database Name: The name used to identify the database, for example, HQ.
• Project Port: The port number for the project. This is the port of the database server computer on which the database is listening.

Project Folders

• Smart Client Drawing Files Folder (drawingsFolderForSmartClient)
  • This is the location of the AutoCAD drawing (.dwg) or Revit model (.rvt) files created, edited, and saved by the Extensions for AutoCAD or Revit. Users of the Extensions for AutoCAD and Revit need only file URL access. It is common for drawings to be in a folder that is located on common server accessible to multiple users.
  • These files must be available directly to the file operating system.
  • The program stores the value in the preferences file in the form \\workgroupserver\aiprojects\hq\drawings, with aiprojects being the file share location established by the Setup program or the Smart Client's Share command.
  • Any location accessible to the file system will do, e.g. c:\users\public\archibus\projects\hq\drawings. This location can be hosted on a server other than the application server. .
  • This folder is *not* required to be a subfolder beneath the application server (the application uses a file protocol and not HTTP to retrieve the files, and the program does not need to be able to access it via a URL like \\http:\localhost:8080\archibus\projects\hq\drawings).
• Smart Client Enterprise Graphics Folder (enterpriseGraphicsFolderForSmartClient)
  • This is the location of the published metafiles (.swf, .json, and .emf files) generated as enterprise graphics from the Extensions from AutoCAD and Revit. Users of the Extensions for AutoCAD and Revit need only file URL access.
  • This folder location must be available directly to the file system.
  • This folder location is *not* required to be a subfolder beneath the application server.
• Project Folder (projectFolder)
  • The root folder holding the folders for drawings, supporting files, etc. Users of Web Central and of the Smart Client alone need only Web URL access to the project folders.

Web Central Enterprise Graphics Folder (enterpriseGraphicsFolder)

Users of Web Central and of the Smart Client alone need only Web URL access to the project folders. The folder location in which Archibus looks for enterprise-graphics to load into Web Central forms.

• The project preferences form makes use of the macro #Attribute%//@webAppDirectory% to avoid having to hard-code the location Web application folder, however any appropriate URL will do.
• Unless you configure a domain location that is known to your Web server, the folder locations specified in your project preferences must be beneath the "archibus" Web application folder. This lets the files fall into normal Web server and JEE security file management patterns.
• Some sites will make this the same location as the Smart Client Enterprise Graphics folder so that published graphics are immediately available to everyone using Web Central. Other sites will use a two-stage process: one in which they publish and check the graphics in one location, and another in which they copy the graphics from this staging location to the production server that is visible to the enterprise.

Web Central Bitmap Graphics Folder (projectGraphicsFolder)

This is the folder location in which Archibus looks for bitmap graphics particular to this project, such as legend bitmaps representing hatch patterns.

Document Management for Drawings (useDocumentManagementForDrawings)

Activates the Document Management for Drawings features for this project. With this option set, users of this project will see the Check In and Check Out options on their Drawing List so that they can update drawings in the Web Central Drawing Files folder. This feature is not available for Archibus SaaS deployments.

Logo (logoFile)

To include a logo on reports and forms, specify an image. Otherwise, omit.