Loading Preferences from a Shared Location
You can centrally manage Creo Illustrate preferences. The preferences are stored in a shared location, and they are copied to the user’s computer. Shared preferences are available even when the user disconnects from the shared location. The shared preferences are saved as a ZIP file that contains shared_prefs.xml and any other required files. Users can load the shared preferences from one of these locations. The locations are checked in the order below, and the preferences are loaded only from the first location where they are found:
1. The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry entry
2. The HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry entry
3. The ILLUSTRATE_SHARED_PREFERENCES environment variable
Configuring Shared Preferences for Cadence Allegro and APD
This section describes how you can open Cadence Allegro and APD design files with no local Allegro installation.
To configure shared preferences for Cadence Allegro and APD follow the steps below:
1. In the Creo Illustrate client, click > . The Creo IllustrateOptions dialog box opens.
2. Set one or more preferences and then click OK. The changes are saved to the user_prefs.xml file.
3. Open the user_prefs.xml file in a text editor. Locate the entries for the preferences you set in step 2 and copy them into a new file.
4. Save this file as admin_prefs.xml, server_prefs.xml, and shared_prefs.xml.
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The Cadence Allegro extracta file (.acceptedAllegroExtracta), must be kept in the same location as the admin_prefs.xml, server_prefs.xml and shared_prefs.xml.
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5. To lock one or more preferences, add the attribute locked=”True” to the definition of those preferences.
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The locked attribute is not supported in the user_prefs.xml.
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6. Save and close the user_prefs.xml and server_prefs.xml files. The saved file is copied to the APPDATA% directory and automatically loaded into the shared_prefs.xml folder.
Shared Location Types
These are examples of the two types of shared locations:
• File system—s:\shared_prefs\shared_prefs.zip
• Shared host—\\sharedhost\shared_prefs\shared_prefs.zip
Defining the Location of Shared Preferences Using the Registry
This section contains instructions on how to define in the registry the location for shared preferences.
To define the location using an environment variable instead, skip ahead to the next section, Defining the Location of Shared Preferences Using an Environment Variable.
Click Start and in the search box, type Regedit.exe and press ENTER. The Registry Editor page opens. Then, perform one of the operations below:
• List the shared preference file in the local machine registry:
1. Go to > > > .
2. Right-click and choose > . A new key is added under Creo Illustrate.
3. On the left pane, under Creo Illustrate, rename the new key to shared_preferences and press ENTER. The shared_preferences key expands.
4. Right-click and choose > .
5. Name the new value file.
6. Double-click file and under Value data type the name of the shared preference file, for example \\sharedhost\shared_prefs\shared_prefs.zip.
7. Click OK.
• List the shared preference file in the current user registry:
1. Go to > > > .
2. Right-click and choose > . A new key is added under Creo Illustrate.
3. On the left pane, under Creo Illustrate, rename the new key to shared_preferences and press ENTER. The shared_preferences key expands.
4. Right-click and choose > .
5. Name the new value file.
6. Double-click file and under Value data, type the name of the shared preference file. For example, s:\shared_prefs\shared_prefs.zip.
7. Click OK.
You have now defined a registry key to point to the shared preference file. Skip to Loading the Shared Preference File for more information about the next steps.
Defining the Location of Shared Preferences Using an Environment Variable
This section contains the procedure for creating an environment variable that points to the shared preference file.
1. Click Start, and in the search box, type environment and press ENTER. The Environment Variables page opens.
2. Under User variables for <your user name>, click New. The New User Variable dialog box opens.
3. Under Variable name, type ILLUSTRATE_SHARED_PREFERENCES.
4. Under Variable value, type the name of the shared preference file, for example \\sharedhost\shared_prefs\shared_prefs.zip, and click OK.
5. In the Environment Variables dialog box, click OK to close the dialog box.
You have now set an environment variable to point to the shared preference file. Continue to the next section, Loading the Shared Preference File
Loading the Shared Preference File
After you configure shared preferences, the preferences are automatically loaded and updated in Creo Illustrate. The shared file is copied to the user’s %APPDATA% directory. It is placed in the designated folder, shared_prefs. When the user starts Creo Illustrate, the local copy and the shared file are compared and the local file is updated. For example, if a user has manually modified the XML file for the preferences, these changes are overwritten by the shared preferences file.
If the shared file is missing from the %APPDATA% directory, and the shared location is not found, the user cannot start Creo Illustrate at all. To fix the problem, do one of these operations:
• Reconnect to the shared location
• Remove the registry setting or environment variable that points to the shared location
Disabling Shared Preferences
To disable shared preferences, delete the environment variable or the registry entries you added in Defining the Location of Shared Preferences Using the Registry or Defining the Location of Shared Preferences Using an Environment Variable.
