Installation

Installation

Accordant Locator’s DMS-LMS Cad Extension requires a series of files to be placed in an organised fashion in the client system which hosts the Cad Application. Although these files can be installed
anywhere, Cadm recommends installing them in their own folder branch under the main system drive (c:). For the sake of example, this section is going to assume c:\LocatorClient is the ‘home’ folder.
Accordant Locator’s DMS-LMS Cad Extension does not write to the Windows registry. All of it’s configuration settings are held within a configuration / initialisation file (Locator.ini).

Downloading DMS-LMS

DMS-LMS can be found under Cadm’s public website. Users will require authorisation to gain access to the download page.
There are two download-able items:

  • dmslms-core (as both a RAR and a ZIP file)
  • dmslms-bin-X.YZ (as both a RAR and a ZIP file)
    X is the major version number, Y is the minor version number and Z is build.

To download type the following URL into a web browser: http://www.cadm.co.uk/pub/accordant/locator/dmslms/9/windows/
This is ask for a user name and password.
Each download-able compressed file has a supporting text file (same_name.TXT) item. This will provide more specific information about the content of the item, new features, bug fixes etc) and should be
viewed prior to downloading.
So to download DMS-LMS from scratch, following these steps:

  1. Download dmslms-core.zip from the above URL
  2. Unpack the contents in the default folder (c:\LocatorClient\).
  3. Download the latest dmslms-bin-X.YZ.zip.
  4. Unpack the contents into the bin folder (and override) the existing binaries.

Programs and files on local PC

Users must have full access to the home folder and all it’s sub-folders to successfully install and run DMS-LMS.
Typically the home folder is the ideal location to store any modified shortcuts for launching CAD applications enhanced with DMS-LMS.

Setting up shortcuts for CAD

Shortcuts are desktop icons which once double-clicked, launch a specified application. Both AutoCAD and ZwCAD require their shortcuts to be modified to run the DMS-LMS Cad Enhancement correcty.
Cadm recommends making a copy of the standard Cad shortcut and placing it inside the home folder. Typically, this is done with the following naming convention:

  • DMS-LMS (AutoCAD) 2010
  • DMS-LMS (AutoCAD) 2011
  • DMS-LMS (ZwCAD) 2011

There is (obviously) no need to prefix this with 32 or 64 (bit) because a client system would run either one or the other (no both).
To modify a CAD shortcut, select it with the mouse and right-click for it’s context-sensitive menu. This will list out all the additional options available to the user. Select ‘Properties’. This will display the
properties dialogue-box for the shortcut.
In the ‘Shortcut’ tab for the properties dialogue-box, edit the ‘Start-in’ field and change it to:
“c:\LocatorClient\bin\”
This makes the Cad application launch from the program (bin) folder under the home folder. Which means at start up, it will find the acad.rx or zwcad.rx file which auto-loads the appropriate RX
executable and runs the DMS-LMS enhancement.

Initial Start-up of DMS-LMS

The first time DMS-LMS is loaded in AutoCAD, it automatically creates a new toolbar and places the ‘Show LMS’ button on it. This is the main access point for DMS-LMS functionality.
In ZwCAD, this is not created automatically at Start-up. To add the ‘Show LMS’ button to ZwCAD, type the following at the command line:

Command: ACCLOC_ADD_TOOLBAR

This will create the toolbar. Once created the toolbar will persist.

32bit and 64bit

AutoCAD can be run in either 32bit or 64bit, depending on which version of the Vista or Windows 7 operating system is installed. Cadm recommends 64bit for better performance of AutoCAD, but this is
dependant on the hardware specification of the the PC. Please choose this carefully as changing this at a later stage will require re-installing the operating system.
DMS-LMS ships with both sets of binaries for 32 and 64 bit. These sit alongside each other in the program folder (bin). The 64 bit binaries are postfixed with ‘_64’. To target the installation to either 32 or 64 bit,
use one of the following utilities batch files after installation:

  • Convert32.bat
  • Convert64.bat

These batch files will place the appropriate named ObjectARX extension(s) in the acad.rx file, thus making it either 32 or 64 bit compliant.
ZwCAD is only 32 bit (x86) and does not require configuring for 64 bit systems. Don’t worry it will still run on a 64 bit system, just not in native 64.

Structutre of installed files

Structurally, under the home folder there are two sub-folders. These contain program files (bin) and redistributable files (redist).

Program files (bin)

The following list all the program files found in the bin folder:

  • acad.rx
    Auto-loader for AutoCAD ObjectARX
  • acad.rx_32.convert
    32bit Auto-loader (Used by Convert32.bat)
  • acad.rx_64.convert
    64bit Auto-loader (Used by Convert32.bat)
  • zwcad.rx
    Auto-loader for ZwCAD ObjectZRX
  • Locator.ini
    Installation configuration file
  • LMS8_SHOW.bmp
    Cad 'Show LMS' toolbar button graphic
  • Convert32.bat
  • Batch file switch for 32bit AutoCAD
  • Convert64.bat
    Batch file switch for 64bit AutoCAD
  • console.exe
    Console utility program
  • dbc_connect.dll
    DLL Extension for connection to AccLoc (32bit)
  • dbc_connect_64.dll
    DLL Extension for connection to AccLoc (64bit)
  • dbc_imaging.dll
    DLL Extension for raster image functionality (32bit)
  • dbc_imaging_64.dll
    DLL Extension for raster image functionality (64bit)
  • db_client.dll
    DLL Extension for AccLoc instance data access (32bit)
  • db_client_64.dll
    DLL Extension for AccLoc instance data access (64bit)
  • locator_user.dll
    DLL Extension for AccLoc DMSLMS User Interface (32bit)
  • locator_user_64.dll
    DLL Extension for AccLoc DMSLMS User Interface (64bit)
  • locator_zwcad_2010.dll
    ObjectZRX DMS-LMS extension (32bit)
  • locator_autocad_2010.arx
    ObjectARX DMS-LMS extension (32bit)
  • locator_autocad_2010_64.arx
    ObjectARX DMS-LMS extension (64bit)
  • cadm_acad_utils_2010.arx
    ObjectARX General CAD tools (32bit)
  • cadm_acad_utils_2010_64.arx
    ObjectARX General CAD tools (64bit)

This folder contains all the programs required to run all the Cad enhancements. These are compatable with the following Cad applications:

  • AutoCAD 2010 (32bit)
  • AutoCAD 2010 (64bit)
  • AutoCAD 2011 (32bit)
  • AutoCAD 2011 (64bit)
  • ZwCAD 2011(32bit)

Redistributable files (redist)

The Redistributable files contains the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Packages (x86 and x64). This installs runtime components of Microsoft Visual C++ Libraries required to run applications
developed with Visual C++ SP1 on a computer that does not have Visual C++ 2008 SP1 installed.
Please run the (appropiate) one directly after installing DMS-LMS.
x86 is for 32bit operating systems and x64 is for 64.

Connecting to an Accordant Instance (remote)

Once DMS-LMS is correctly installed in a local PC, It needs to be connected to an Accordant Instance. This requires connection details and a runtime authentication.
The connection details required are as follows:

Host name

The Host name is either an IP address or a subdomain / domain combination. This points to the unique world wide web location of the Accordant Instance. For example:
myestate.mycompany.com or 212.2.10.3
The Host name is usually the same as the root of the URL used to access the Accordant instance via a Web Browser.

Process

The process is the PHP file location (relative to the Host name) which links the central DMS functionality to the client. This usually never changes. The default PHP file location is:
/drawing_management/dbclient.php

Is the instance using Secure Socket Layers (SSL)

Depending on how the Accordant instance is setup, the connection details may need to enable the Secure Socket Layer (SSL). This can be determined by checking the front of the main site URL. If it starts with
https:// and not http:// then the instance requires SSL to be enabled and the port number must be set to 443 (as opposed to the standard port 80 for web traffic).
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encrypts every posted request (including the response) with a unique 128 bit encryption algorithm making it virtually impossible to ‘hack’.
Enabling this feature will make the information sent and received more secure, but the system will perform slower.

Read Size

The Read Size is the amount of data to send or receive in one package. Cadm recommends this is set to the highest value available (16,384 bytes).

User Credentials

Connecting to an Accordant instance will require a user name and password. This can be setup by the site administrator. Access to Accordant is required at two levels: Apache (Server) authentication and Accordant
authentication. For convenience, usually these are set to the same values.

Testing the connection

To test the connection details are correct, go to the program folder (bin) and launch the console.exe windows application. This will display the Accordant client console application. The console is used to display more verbose information about the DMS-LMS when it’s running.
Along the top of the console is a panel is buttons. Press the ‘Connect…’ button. This will display the ‘dbcSetConn’ dialogue box.
The dialogue has four main sections:
HTTP remote connection
Dsn-less
Dns
Manual
This section is only interested in ‘HTTP remote connection’. the other three sections are LAN connections-styles to DMS-LMS and are not described in this section.
Enter the Host name, Process, Port and Read Size, also if the instance requires SSL. The check the ‘Force Dlg’ button (This will force the credentials login dialogue to appear before attempting to connect, allowing the authentication details to be entered first).
Press the ‘Test’ button.
When credentials login dialogue appears, Press the ‘Advanced’ button to expand it for the Apache credentials. Assuming that both Apache and Accordant credentials are the same, check the ‘Use Same Credentials’ button. This is a simple un

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