ProjectWise Explorer Help

Best Practices and Known Issues with AutoCAD Civil 3D Advanced Integration

The following are some best-practice suggestions for using AutoCAD Civil 3D with ProjectWise, and also some notes about unsupported features or workflows.

  • Importing existing data shortcut projects:
    • The Import Project command on the ProjectWise tab in AutoCAD Civil 3D is used to import existing data shortcut projects, or to import a data shortcut project you have exported from ProjectWise (using the Export Project command). Prior to importing, existing projects are expected to be well-formed and without errors. The import process will not repair broken references.
  • Before using the Import Project command, it is recommended that you purge the working directory. Otherwise, the command may not work properly.
  • The reference scanner does not support data shortcut / data shortcut project sets, or surface file / surface companion file sets:
    • The reference scanner in ProjectWise Explorer supports creating sets for the normal DWG xref relationships within AutoCAD Civil 3D files, however it should not be run on data shortcut source files, as this drops the set relationship between the data shortcut and the data shortcut project. The same is true for surface files - running a scan on a surface file drops the set relationship between the surface file and the surface companion files. In the event that you accidently scan either type of file and drop the set, you can recreate the set by checking out and opening the data shortcut source file or surface file in AutoCAD Civil 3D, saving, and then checking it back in.
  • ProjectWise integration supports repairing broken data shortcuts and data shortcut references using standard AutoCAD Civil 3D commands. However, in certain circumstances you may need to recreate the data shortcut.
  • The Repair Broken References command does not work with broken profile data shortcut references. The workaround is to recreate the profile data shortcut reference.
  • The Repair All Broken References command is not currently integrated with ProjectWise. As a workaround, use the Repair Broken References command to repair references individually.
  • It is recommended that all data shortcut references in the same master file have unique names. In some situations, data shortcut references could be handled incorrectly, if their names are not unique within a master file.
  • If you promote a data shortcut reference and update server copy, then undo your changes and update server copy again, the set will not be updated.
  • When creating a data shortcut project, ProjectWise ignores whatever you enter in the description field and instead uses the project name as the description. If needed, you can edit the description through ProjectWise Explorer.
  • The Validate Data Shortcut command is not currently integrated with ProjectWise.
  • Before moving, renaming, or deleting data shortcut source files in ProjectWise Explorer, it is recommended that you purge the working directory. Otherwise, data shortcuts and data shortcut references will be loaded from the wrong location in the working directory.
  • If two versions of AutoCAD Civil 3D are installed on the same computer and integrated with ProjectWise, you may encounter an error dialog without any text upon closing AutoCAD Civil 3D. If you see this, simply click OK to close the dialog.