Managing Preferences > Overview of Creo View Preferences
  
Overview of Creo View Preferences
This section contains an overview of the types of preferences you can set for Creo View. It also provides information for locking preferences.
Types of Preferences
There are five types of preferences. Each type is read from an XML file:
Type
File Name
Location
Default
ProductView_prefs.xml
Read from <Creo View>\preferences\ProductView\ subdirectory of the installation directory.
* 
A preference sample file is located in<Creo View>\resources\ProductView\preferences\ProductView_pref.xml
Server
server_prefs.xml
Downloaded from a WVS Configuration from the Windchill server context hierarchy. The server preferences are only active when you are connected to Windchill.
Shared
shared_pref.xml
Downloaded from a shared location, to <Creo View>\preferences\ProductView\shared_prefs subdirectory of the installation directory. Once enabled, the shared preference file is updated automatically. The shared preference file is only active when you are not connected to Windchill.
Administrator
admin_prefs.xml
Read from <Creo View>\preferences\ProductView\ subdirectory of the installation directory
User
user_prefs.xml
Read from the user’s profile:
• Windows—%APPDATA%/ptc/ProductView/user_prefs.xml
• UNIX—$HOME/.ptc/ProductView/user_prefs.xml
The files are processed in the order listed above. You can override a value in a preference file with a different value in a subsequent file:
• A user preference replaces the setting for a preference in the administrative file.
• An administrative preference replaces the setting for a preference in the server file. If a shared preference file exists and is active, the administrative preference replaces the shared preference.
* 
The server preference file and the shared preference file cannot coexist.
For example, the administrator disables the color highlighting command by defining the highlight_using_color preference in the admin_prefs.xml file, as shown:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<preferences>
<category name="General">
<subcategory name="Navigation" >
<preference1 name="highlight_using_color" value="False"/>
</subcategory>
</category>
</preferences>
However, if the user explicitly enables the same preference in the user interface, the setting is saved to the user_prefs.xml file. As a result, the administrator preference is overridden and the color highlighting command is enabled. To prevent a user from overriding the administrator preferences, lock the administrator preferences. Continue to the next section, Locking Preferences, for more information.
Locking Preferences
At any level, you can lock a preference. A locked preference cannot be modified or overridden by a file on a lower level. Using the color highlighting example from the previous section, you can add the attribute locked=”True” to prevent the user from changing the preference:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<preferences>
<category name="General">
<subcategory name="Navigation" >
<preference1 name="highlight_using_color" value="False" locked="True"/>
</subcategory>
</category>
</preferences
The color highlighting command is now disabled and locked.