Specifying the CAD application

Which CAD application to start and its path on the client computer are configured in the Advanced File Management configuration file named cadref.ini. The file resides in the Windows system folder specified in the WINDIR environmental variable (C:\Windows by default). The settings in cadref.ini on each client computer should be modified with the paths of the CAD applications that are installed on the computer.

The content of cadref.ini looks similar to the following example:

[Options]
onerror=continue
[Tools]
Default="C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2011\acad.exe"
MECH2011="C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Mechanical 2011\acad.exe" /p \\Profile1\acadmech.arg
ACAD2011="C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2011\acad.exe" /p \\Profile2\acad2011.arg
.dwg="C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2011\acad.exe"

When cadref.exe reads cadref.ini to determine which CAD application to start, it looks for three settings in the Tools section in the following order:

1. The name of the profile specified in run.bat, for example, ACAD2011
2. The file extension of the drawing to open, for example, .dwg
3. Default

The value of the first setting found (depending on the onerror setting described below) is used in the command line to open the drawings as described in About CAD application profiles.

The Options section contains directives that control how the CAD applications are executed. For each setting found in the Tools section, cadref.exe searches for the executable that is specified in the first parameter of the setting. The results of the searches are compared against the onerror setting to determine which setting to use.

Note    The other parameters of the settings are not validated, for example, \\Profile1\acad2011.arg.

The following logic is followed depending on the results of the searches for each executable and the possible values of the onerror setting:

The Matches column contents mean:

• 0 – No settings were found in cadref.ini.
• 0+ – One or more settings were found but the executables specified in those settings were not found.
• 1 – One matching setting with an existing executable was found.
• 1+ – Two or more settings were found but only one had an existing executable.
• 2+ – Two or more matching settings with existing executables were found.

The possible onerror settings are:

• continue – Continue execution with as little user interaction as possible.
• abort – Generate an error whenever there is a problem. (This setting is currently not supported.)
• ask – Prompt the user for input whenever ambiguous input is found. (This setting is currently not supported.)

The resulting actions mean:

• OK – The match is valid, use the setting.
• Skip – Skip the setting and try the next match.
• Error – Return an error immediately.
• Prompt – Prompt the user for more input. (This action is currently not supported.)