Basic Firm and Project Folders

What is a Firm folder?

Tekla Structures has settings that are defined using .ini files at several levels, including global settings (known as ‘common’), and environment (such as usimp).  There are also many system files that define the standard values that the program uses out-of-the-box.

When you save values in the model for drawing styles, connections, profile and material catalogs, etc., there are files created in the model folder so that they can be re-used within this project.  However, your files are not saved to any of the system folders, so when you start a new model, all of these saved values are not carried to the new project. 

Using a Firm folder is one way to customize Tekla Structures to use your saved values for each project without having to redefine those values every time you start a new model. 

Image Do not use the system folders to store customized files. You will avoid having problems or doing a lot of unnecessary rework when you upgrade.

Some of the benefits of using Firm folders are:

• Common, easy to find location(s) for all your saved value files.
• No need to overwrite system files, so you can always revert to the default.
• Files in Firm folders are retained when you install a new release.
• Easy to share saved files with others to speed production and aid in uniformity.

Creating & Defining a Firm folder

To set up a Firm folder, first you must create an empty folder somewhere you can access easily.  For some situations, keeping it on your desktop will work, for others (like multiple detailers) it can be created on a network drive or server.

First, we will create it on the desktop, if you should need to move it elsewhere later you can update the necessary paths as needed.

Right-click on your desktop, and select New > Folder.  A folder will be created, and you can rename it at this point to whatever you like.  For simplicity, call it Firm.
Next, we need to tell Tekla Structures where to look to find your Firm folder and saved files.  To do this, the path to the folder must be defined in your user.ini file.

Image The user.ini file can be used for advanced option settings. The Firm folder setting will affect all models, old and new.

Find your user.ini file.

Image In versions 15.0 and earlier, it is located at C:\TeklaStructures\<version>\nt\bin\ In version 16.0 and newer, it is located at Vista/7 C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\TeklaStructures\ <version>\UserSettings\ XP C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\ApplicationData\TeklaStructures\<version>\UserSettings\ You can also locate the file using the Directory Browser macro while a model is opened in Tekla Structures

Open the user.ini file in a text editor, such as Wordpad or notepad.

Image If you cannot see the file extension, you must go to your Windows folder options, under the View tab and uncheck the setting to Hide extensions for known file types.

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Your user.ini file is a place for you to make custom settings that override the default ones in the global and/or environment .ini files mentioned earlier.  In this guide we are concerning ourself with the setting that defines the path to the firm folder you just created.
To activate a setting line in your user.ini file, the ‘rem’ must be removed so that the line starts “set…”  this change will then affect Tekla Structures the next time the program opens.

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To have Tekla Structures read from our Firm folder, we also need to define with the XS_FIRM line where the folder is located. The path needs to be specified directly after the equals sign. If you are not sure of the path, you can always right-click > Properties on your newly created folder and the path will be shown under ‘Location’.

This location field can be highlighted, and you can right-click > Copy the path to easily paste into your user.ini file.

Don’t forget to add the name of the folder (\Firm) to the path!

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Now close and save the user.ini file.  Your Firm folder is ready to be used.  Copy saved settings from your model’s attributes folder or catalog files such as profdb.bin, screwdb.db, or a printer catalog plotdev.bin file.  The files you place in the Firm folder will be available the next time you open Tekla Structures.

Image Make sure no unseen spaces are in the line after the path to your Firm folder.  This causes an error in the search path and Tekla will not load your saved files.

Differences between Project and Firm folders

Firm folders are meant to be universally applied to every model.  Project folders work just like Firm folders, except they are meant to be used only for a specific project – for example, if you need certain connections or drawing settings for a project that is made up of several separate models being done by separate teams.  If you define the XS_PROJECT setting in your model’s advanced options, then place the Project folder on a shared directory, everyone can reference those project-specific files.

To set your advanced options, inside Tekla Structures go to Tools > Options > Advanced Options or, in newer versions, go to File>Settings>Advanced Options. 

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Under the File Locations section, you can find the setting for XS_PROJECT. Here you can define the path to your Project folder location.

Notice that the Type for XS_PROJECT is MODEL - this means that it is saved to this model only, not to all models like the SYSTEM type of the XS_FIRM setting.

The only way to change SYSTEM options is through an ini file like user.ini. Once a model is created, other option types are set through the advanced options dialog box.