ProjectWise downloading every version of every file of specific folder(s) during the Managed Configu


Product(s) and Version(s):  

ProjectWise Explorer Client

Problem:   

In ProjectWise Explorer, a file having Managed Workspace associated with it takes a long time to open because every version of every design file of one or more folders is being downloaded to the ProjectWise local working directory during the 'File Open' operation.

The Managed Configuration Export Progress dialog box gets stuck in the following status for a long time: 

Overall progress: Checking status and downloading workspace folders and data 

Downloading folder <PW_folder_name> documents: 


The files are observed to be downloaded to the corresponding dmsxxxx folder and the versions of those files are downloaded to verXXXX folders created inside the dmsxxxx folder of the local working directory: 

This usually happens when there are one or more configuration variables configured in the Managed Workspace which points to the ProjectWise folders containing design files. Such configuration variables direct ProjectWise to download all the contents of such folders to the local working directory. 

Troubleshooting Steps:  

  1. It is recommended to clear the ProjectWise local working directory in the beginning. 
    1. In ProjectWise Explorer, log in to the datasource.
    2. Go to the Tools pull down menu then choose Local Document Organizer. 

    3. Select any of the Copies, Exports, Workspace copies & Going Documents tab. Observe the folder location displayed in the 'File Name' column. In my screenshot, it is c:\pwworkdir\_wd\  
      This is the PW local working directory. It might be necessary to browse to this folder again in step 6b. 
      Select all objects under these tabs, right click and select Purge Copy. A functional shortcut for Purge Copy command can also be found in the top panel. 

  2. Add the column of Folder ID to your PW Explorer view (Folder ID is a general property of a folder which can be observed in the folder view) 
    1. Right click on any of the column headers and select 'Choose Columns...' 

    2. Expand 'Folder columns', select 'Folder Id' and click on the right arrow button as shown to add this column to the view. 

    3. The column of Folder Id will be added to the extreme right-hand side and will display the property of folder Id for this folder. 

  3. Open the file with the issue from ProjectWise Explorer using MicroStation or any other vertical application like OpenRoads etc.
  4. Observe the name of the ProjectWise folder in the Managed Configuration Export Progress window that has been 'stuck' for a long time. In the screenshot provided above, the name of the folder is '13_Drainage'. 
  5. Browse to the folder observed in step 4 and find the Folder ID of this ProjectWise folder using the ProjectWise view you created in step 2. For instance, the Folder Id for the folder of 'dgn' in the screenshot below is 280. 

  6. There are two ways to find the configuration variables that reference this ProjectWise folder: 
    1. Open the Configuration Variables dialog in MicroStation (File > Settings > Configuration > Configuration Variables).  

      In the Value field of the variable list, type the folder name (13_Drainage) and see what variables turn up. 

    2. Browse to your PW Local Working Directory which was observed in step 1c. Inside the PW local working directory, open the 'Workspace' folder. Sort the contents of this folder by 'Date Modified' and open the latest guid.cfg file using any ASCII Editor application (Notepad++ preferred).  

      Search for the Folder ID and see what variables turn up. 
      Such variables can be added to the List of Excluded Variables in ProjectWise Administrator. Then, their contents will no longer be copied out to the local working directory during the Managed Workspace export. This has been illustrated in the following Help documentation link: 

https://docs.bentley.com/LiveContent/web/ProjectWise%20Administrator%20Help-v9/en/GUID-75360AF9-D058-44E9-7365-0B6296BCD781.html 

 NOTE: Ideally, the Managed Workspace configuration variables must not point to folders containing design files. If they do, then all the design files along with their versions will be copied out to the local working directory. To prevent this from happening, the ProjectWise Administrator should point those variables to a new location and move the corresponding resources to the new folder.