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Creo 3.0 and config.win

zpaolo

Member
I'm going to install Creo 3.0 soon, but I have a question regarding settings: all the interface settings (commands and windows customization and so on) were once stored in the config.win file, but now I don't understand where they are saved and how can I "back them up" in case I have to reinstall Creo or do another installation without having to do all customizations again (like shortcut commands on the menu bar etc).

Any idea?

Paolo
 
config.win is replaced with creo_parametric_customization.ui and is placed in c:\Program Files\PTC\Creo 3.0\Common Files\(build - mxxx)\text\
The only thing the .win is used for now, from what I understand, it to pull out any icons you may have created.

As far as set up, it really should not be any different than what you currently do, except you are pointing to a different place.
 
We no longer use the .win file at all.

All the related info is in the .ui file, including custom icons/buttons.
 
If you are updgrading from Creo2, you already have a creo_parametric_customization.ui, look in your working directory if you don't find it in the text folder.
If you find it, copy it somewhere so that Creo3 can find it.
 
Is it possible to point to a creo_parametric_customization.ui which is located in a different directory? I keep all other config files in a single folder so it's easy to deploy theme wherever needed.
 
Something strange happens: I don't have creo_parametric_customization.ui in my text folder, but I have one in my starting folder. If I remove that file, Creo starts anyway with the customizations I did to my interface, so there must be another place where these are saved :O
 
I found that the current copy of the .ui file was in the appdata/roaming folder, so I copied it on the desktop, deleted the file from the appdata/roaming folder, moved the file to my start folder and enable in config.pro the option to load .ui files from startup directory. This worked perfectly so now my .ui config file is in the folder I wanted :)
 
The creo_parametric_customization.ui file is not stored in the text folder or the working directory. It is normally stored in the Creo cache, by default I believe that is here:

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\PTC\ProENGINEER\Wildfire\.wf\.Settings

Additionally, Creo will load it from the install/text or working directory by default. It will store and load it from the working directory if you set the config.pro option load_ui_customization_run_dir to yes. There is no way that I know of to make it load from the text folder.

However, note that Creo writes to this file without telling you. If you add a command to the quick launch folder, Creo saves the creo_parametric_customization.ui file automatically. So, if you set the config.pro option load_ui_customization_run_dir to yes and frequently change your working directory, Creo will create copies of the creo_parametric_customization.ui file in multiple directories as you work.

You can change the location of the Creo cache by setting the Windows environment variable PTC_WF_ROOT.
 
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The creo_parametric_customization.ui file is not stored in the text folder or the working directory. It is normally stored in the Creo cache, by default I believe that is here:

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\PTC\ProENGINEER\Wildfire\.wf\.Settings

Yes, that's where I found it. It was mentioned here that it was in the text folder but maybe because someone had it there for some reason. Am I the only one that thinks that customization and configuration files should be somewhere else and not in a mysterious cache folder?

However, note that Creo writes to this file without telling you. If you add a command to the quick launch folder, Creo saves the creo_parametric_customization.ui file automatically. So, if you set the config.pro option load_ui_customization_run_dir to yes and frequently change your working directory, Creo will create copies of the creo_parametric_customization.ui file in multiple directories as you work.

I have still to check what happens if I do something to the menus, but do you mean Creo will save both in the cache folder and in the run directory if I set that parameter? I'll check it

Paolo
 
Mine is in my working directory, which is the directory that CReo starts in.
Here is the text from Creo help:

Click File ▶ Options. In the Creo Parametric Options dialog box that opens, click Customize Ribbon tab.
2.Use the Customize Ribbon tab to customize the ribbon.
3.Click Import/Export ▶ Export all Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar customizations.
4.The Export dialog box opens. The default file name creo_parametric_customization.ui is displayed in the File name box. The default directory is \User Profiles\<current user>\My Documents.
5.If required, type a new name in the File name box and browse to the location of your choice.
6.Click Save.
 
Mine is in my working directory, which is the directory that CReo starts in.
Here is the text from Creo help:

Click File ▶ Options. In the Creo Parametric Options dialog box that opens, click Customize Ribbon tab.
2.Use the Customize Ribbon tab to customize the ribbon.
3.Click Import/Export ▶ Export all Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar customizations.
4.The Export dialog box opens. The default file name creo_parametric_customization.ui is displayed in the File name box. The default directory is \User Profiles\<current user>\My Documents.
5.If required, type a new name in the File name box and browse to the location of your choice.
6.Click Save.

It is in your working directory because you exported it there? It seems that if you do so it doesn't update automatically of course. To make things a bit more complicated, I just did what you suggest and after the menu "export all ribbon and quick access toolbar customizations" there are two submenus: "Export only user customizations" and "Export only run directory customizations".

First it's a bit puzzling that a voice saying "Export ALL ..." turns out to be two options to "Export ONLY" :D Then it looks like some preferences are related to the user and some to the running directory. But if in the config.pro the option is set to use the prefs from running directory it shouldn't save to the user cache, at least for me it's working like that.
 
Yes, that's where I found it. It was mentioned here that it was in the text folder but maybe because someone had it there for some reason. Am I the only one that thinks that customization and configuration files should be somewhere else and not in a mysterious cache folder?

I have still to check what happens if I do something to the menus, but do you mean Creo will save both in the cache folder and in the run directory if I set that parameter? I'll check it

Paolo

Yes, I agree that it's unfortunate that this file behaves unlike the config.pro file.

If you change the menu, Creo saves the file without user intervention. I just checked by removing an icon in the quick launch menu. The file on disk was saved immediately, no questions asked.

If you set the option, that changes where Creo saves the file from the cache folder to the working directory.
 
OOTB, the files are placed in your load directory. When one changes/saves/creates a personal .ui file, it will save it in the windows default save area (c:/users/....) or the "start in" folder described in the launch icon unless otherwise directed. This is where it starts in order to be microsoft window certified/compatible. That is why it goes to the "mysterious" folder. It's for the computer illiterate to operate software successfully until needs dictate change.

With some "customization", one can control where these files, and others, are retrieved and stored. Using the admin version of the .ui for example, (creo_parametric_admin_customization.ui) it can be doled out from a central location to users each time they open creo and/or if it has been changed thru a batch file start-up scheme. once loaded, then it will load any .ui file it finds in the execution path for individual personal touches/needs.

Just some fodder for thought
 
There's a decent amount of confusion about the creo_parametric_customization.ui files.

I'm not sure if there's one present OOTB or not, but I've never seen one in the loadpoint. There really isn't any way for Creo to save it to the loadpoint or read it from there, unless you set the
Windows environment variable PTC_WF_ROOT to point to the loadpoint (which doesn't sound like a good idea at all).

By default, it saves from the cache folder buried down in the Windows user folders. The only control you have is:


  1. Set the config.pro option load_ui_customization_run_dir to yes to save it to your working directory.
  2. Set the Windows environment variable PTC_WF_ROOT to change the location of the cache folders.

It's different than how config.pro and the old config.win files work. Was it done for Windows compliance? Maybe, but if so, why wasn't the location of the config.pro files changed?
 
from the manual:

"Creo Parametric automatically saves all user interface custom settings to the creo_parametric_customization.ui file that is located in the %appData%\Roaming\PTC\ProENGINEER\Wildfire\.wf\.Settings\.. The customizations of the ribbon, Quick Access toolbar, and Graphics toolbar that you make without opening the Creo Parametric Options dialog box are also automatically saved.

If the value of the load_ui_customization_run_dir configuration option is set to yes, then Creo Parametric saves the creo_parametric_customization.ui file to the run directory.

You can save creo_parametric_customization.ui as creo_parametric_admin_customization.ui and place it at creo loadpoint/text to store the CAD administrator settings. The creo_parametric_customization.ui file overrides the creo_parametric_admin_customization.ui file. "

So I understood it mostly right....
regarding location changes...I would have to assume (not knowing) because of the difference between the .win and .ui usage?
btw, I do not have that config option enabled - I push the admin ui file to local users. I have many mapkeys tied to the ribbon so I want to be sure all gets it.
 
I feel a bit foolish, you are right and I had forgotten that the creo_parametric_admin_customization.ui file must go into the loadpoint/text folder.

I should have remembered (and I should have checked my system) because we push an admin file into the loadpoint and let users define their own
creo_parametric_customization.ui file in the cache folder which we set via the PTC_WF_ROOT environment variable.

The user file
must be located in the cache or the working directory (if the config option is set), however.

The help is a bit misleading as it implies that a user file negates the admin file, it does not. We load both here and both work. I assume that what it means is that if there is a conflict in that both files modify the same part of the UI, the user file will win, but I'm not certain.
 
I wasn't aware of the admin version. Sounds like the .sup version of the config.pro where the config.sup trumps the config.pro but maybe backwards.
 

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