Files, Databases and Transfer of checks between users
User-defined Checks
In order to link a user-defined SCIA Design Forms Check with SCIA Engineer the .CLC file of the Check needs to be put in the 'User folder'.
Through the Check Manager (this will be explained in the examples in Step 6) this .CLC file can be imported.
The .CLS files do not have to be put in the 'User folder' however, when exporting a .CLS to a .CLC the .CLC is created in the same location as the .CLS file. Therefore it is convenient to put the .CLS files also in the 'User folder'.
System Checks
System Checks defined by SCIA have their .CLC files located in the 'System folder'.
Database files and transfer between users
The Check Manager within SCIA Engineer concerns a default Library Manager. This means that the standard import and export of .db4 files is supported.
When adding any Check into the Check Manager, automatically the following .db4 files are created:
CheckManagerUserLib.db4
This file is created in the 'User folder' and contains all user-defined check definitions.
CheckManagerSystemLib.db4
This file is created in the 'System folder' and creates all Check definitions defined by SCIA.
Both database files are loaded automatically when opening a project. This means that any check which is defined is available in any project so the database files provide a 'program level' storage as opposed to a 'project level' storage.
The above also implies that the definition of a Check is not stored with a project. Thus if a project is opened on an installation which does not have the Check defined in its library the Check will not be visible.
In order to transfer a user-defined check to another user or another installation of SCIA Engineer both the .CLC file of the Check as well as the CheckManagerUserLib.db4 file should be put in the 'User folder' of the other installation.
In case the CheckManagerUserLib.db4 file already exists on that installation (because that user already created his/her own user-defined Checks) instead of replacing the .db4 file the new file can be opened with the Check Manager and the relevant checks can be copied. That way they are automatically added into the CheckManagerUserLib.db4 which already exists.
Illustration 1: Transfer a Check to a user who doesn't have own defined Checks
The following example illustrates the transfer of Checks between two users/installations where the second user doesn't have any user-defined checks yet.
User A created his own user-defined Check labeled "MyCheckA".
Within his 'User folder' he has the file MyCheckA.CLC as well as the CheckManagerUserLib.db4 containing the definition of his Check.
User B doesn't have any user-defined Checks.
User A now wants to send his Check to User B so he sends his MyCheckA.CLC and CheckManagerUserLib.db4 files to User B.
User B puts both files in his 'User folder'.
When User B now uses SCIA Engineer, he will see the "MyCheckA" in the tree.
Illustration 2: Transfer a Check to a user who has own defined Checks
The following example illustrates the transfer of Checks between two users/installations where the second user already has user-defined checks.
User A created his own user-defined Check labeled "MyCheckA".
Within his 'User folder' he has the file MyCheckA.CLC as well as the CheckManagerUserLib.db4 containing the definition of his Check.
User B created his own user-defined Check labeled "MyCheckB".
Within his 'User folder' he has the file MyCheckB.CLC as well as the CheckManagerUserLib.db4 containing the definition of his Check.
User A now wants to send his Check to User B so he sends his MyCheckA.CLC and CheckManagerUserLib.db4 files to User B.
User B puts the MyCheckA.CLC file in his 'User folder'.
Since he already has a CheckManagerUserLib.db4 file in his 'User folder' he will not overwrite the existing one because that way he would lose his definition of his own "MyCheckB".
He therefore puts the CheckManagerUserLib.db4 from User A in some temporary folder, for example on the Desktop.
User B then opens SCIA Engineer, goes to the Check Manager and uses the 'Read from file' command to open the CheckManagerUserLib.db4 from User A. He then copies the definition of "MyCheckA" into his own database.
The new content of his database will now be saved automatically in his own CheckManagerUserLib.db4 located in his user folder and it contains both the definition of "MyCheckA" and the definition of "MyCheckB".
When User B now uses SCIA Engineer, he will see the "MyCheckA" and "MyCheckB" in the tree.
He can now also remove the CheckManagerUserLib.db4 from User A which he put in a temporary folder.
Note that a much more convenient way for User B is to directly import the MyCheckB.CLC file into the Check Manager, without the use of any db4 file. This is illustrated in the examples in Step 6.