The main purpose of the file transfer functions is to ensure that only one person is allowed to modify a document at one time, but that users can always view the most up to date copy of the file. For all file transfer functions, TIMS3 will ensure that you have the correct access rights to the file for the function selected.
If you right-click (i.e. click with the right button of the mouse) on a document or file(shown in the right pane), you will see a pop-up menu that allows you to select one of the file transfer functions.
To edit a document, you must first have the file checked out from the server. Checking out the document transfers the file to your local workstation with full read/write access. The TIMS3 server will also lock the document on the server, and will record in the file transfer section of the database the fact that you have the file checked out, what your workstation node name is, the date and time of the check out, etc.
Copying out the document implies that you are checking it out for review purposes only, without the intention of modifying it and then checking it back to the server as an updated document. TIMS3 creates a read-only copy of the file on your local workstation, and it does not lock the file on the server. It will record in the file transfer database that you have copied out the document along with the other pertinent information.
When checking out or copying out a document, you must first select whether you want the document with references or without references. If you select a MicroStation document with references, TIMS3 will transfer the master document with all the attached reference, raster (IRAS), or DDE-linked files. If you select an AutoCAD document with references, TIMS3 will transfer the XREF files with the main file. For any other document type, the references or no references selection has no meaning. Please refer to the section regarding Reference Attachment Names for more information.
These attached files will always be copied out to your workstation. However, if you already have one of these files copied out, TIMS3 will determine whether the file on the server is more recent than the one you have already copied out on your workstation. If a more recent file exists, it will transfer it again, ensuring you have the most recent version. If your local file is up to date, it will skip over the transfer of that file, and continue with the next one.
In the document transfer confirmation window, you can also ask for the files to be transferred permanently or non-permanently. This has implications on how the automatic check-in procedure will function or whether the files are permanently removed from your local workstation when sending them back to the server (see the File Transfer section for details). When files are transferred out permanently they remain indefinitely on the local workstation until a manual Check In or Cancel Copy Out action is performed with the permanent mode set on. In any event, permanently checked out files will still be updated onto the server during the nightly, automatic check in routines while the file remains checked out. Additionally, permanently copied out files are updated on the local workstation if the server file is more up to date, ensuring that reference files, for example, are always kept current with other users’ modifications.
You may use the update server or update client functions to ensure that either the server or you local workstation has the most current copy of the file. The cancel check-out or cancel copy-out functions allow you to quickly restore the selected documents to their original state.
Please refer to the File Transfer section for a more detailed description of these functions.
TIMS3 is capable of supporting the manual or automatic Copy Out routines of a graphic file’s reference attachments. Under MicroStation these are referred to as reference files, while under AutoCAD they are called XREF attachments. For MicroStation graphic files, TIMS3 will recognize all regular or extended reference file attachments, raster file attachments (IRAS) and DDE linkage attachments. For AutoCAD, all formats of XREF attachments are supported up to the Release 14 version of the software.
The recommended technique for attaching references using MicroStation is to access the AttachRef command under the TIMS3 MDL Application pulldown menu. This allows you to select files using a link to the Project Navigator application, and ensures that a project logical name prefix is part of the attachment name. In this way, a reference file from another project directory can be used in future MicroStation sessions. In versions prior to MicroStation 95 you could not store a full pathname as part of the reference file attachment, so while you could attach them using a full pathname, later sessions of MicroStation on the same master file would result in the reference attachment not being found unless the same filename was copied to the local directory or was included in the path setting of the MS_RFDIR configuration variable. Even though MicroStation now allows you to attach reference files with full pathnames it is not recommended in case project locations become renamed, rendering the full pathname meaningless. In any event, if the full pathname is used TIMS3 will attempt to locate the reference file on the server and copy it out to the appropriate local directory.
If the reference file is attached using the AttachRef MDL command, the attachment name will be in a form like the following: 128/LIGHTING:el012.dgn The number ‘128’ refers to the unique project ID number in the TIMS3 database, and the ‘LIGHTING’ text refers to the project name, or sub-project name The unique project ID is required as part of the attachment name since there could be duplicate sub-project names in the database. TIMS3 will recognize the project directory and transfer the file from the server location into the corresponding local workstation directory (eg, server file d:\a97017\lighting\el012.dgn would be copied out to the workstation as c:\d\a97017\lighting\el012.dgn). The reference attachment would then be located by defining a configuration variable for the current and later sessions of MicroStation when the application is launched using the Project Navigator.
If the MicroStation or AutoCAD reference attachment is created with a full pathname TIMS3 will only support locating the reference attachment on the server if it is a file that has been transferred to the local workstation using the TIMS3 file transfer system. In this way, an attachment to the filename using a local syntax such as, c:\d\a97017\lighting\el012.dgn, can be reversed to produce a server syntax, and thus a TIMS3 server project directory. Otherwise, if a full pathname attachment is found that does not appear to be in the format of a locally transferred file, then the TIMS3 system will attempt to find the reference file by stripping the pathname and looking for it in the same project server directory as the current master file. This is consistent with the way MicroStation would locate a reference file if a full pathname reference file could not be located; a file with the same basename in the local directory would be attached if it exists.
After you have selected the document or set of documents and then the file transfer operation you wish to perform on the documents, you will see a confirmation window listing the selected documents. The window title shows the file transfer operation selected. If a check out or copy out with reference files was selected, you will also have a hierarchical listing of the reference files attached to the set of master files selected. The document icon indicates whether the document is a master file or an attached reference file (‘M’ versus ‘R’ in the icon).
You now have an opportunity to single click on any of the document icons to deselect the document, i.e. to request that it not be processed by the file transfer operation selected. This facility is useful if, for example, there is a very large reference file attached that you know you do not need. Rather than waste time waiting for that reference file to download, you can de-select it from the list. This allows the transfer operation to complete in a shorter period of time. Deselected documents will have a red cross drawn over the document icons. A document that is de-selected can be re-selected by once again single clicking on the document icon.