Deployment

Owned by Matt Siebert
Last updated: Oct 01, 2021 by Chris Price
5 min read

Correctly setting up Xrev Transmit in a multi-user environment

Setting up Xrev Transmit so that multiple users share the same settings and Transmittal history is very simple.  Below outlines the recommended steps, read on to see the different ways to achieve this:

  1. Manually install Xrev Transmit on one machine first (if you haven't already)

  2. Setup your Settings for Xrev Transmit (you can do this after you've shared your settings as well) - EG: All your Format Types, Naming Rules, General Settings, Transmittal Template etc.

  3. Copy the XrevTransmit.sdf (database) from your local machine to a network share where all users in the company have full Read/Write permissions to.

  4. Install the software on all the other machines and update their config file to point to the XrevTransmit.sdf file you just placed on your Network share.  You can choose to do this manually or as part of the installation process as outlined below.

The software cannot function correctly if a user doesn't have full access to the database.  Permissions on editing settings can be controlled in other ways.

Automating Installation

Xrev Transmit may be downloaded as a Windows Installer package (.msi), or as a Full Installer (.exe) setup application which includes additional components.  See the Getting started section for more information.

Each of these installers can be automated using command line arguments.

Windows Installer package (.msi)

The Windows Installer package (.msi) can be executed with msiexec and exposes the following public properties which can be set on the command line:

Property

Meaning

Property

Meaning

DATAFILEPATH

Configures Xrev Transmit to use the specified database file

SERIAL

Activates the license for the specified Serial Number during installation

LICENSE

Activates the specified License Code during installation

SHOWPRIVILEGEDCOMMANDS

Specifies whether to show or hide privileged commands in Xrev Transmit

 

Info

The Settings and Manage Transmittals commands are Privileged commands.

Note

Property names are case sensitive and must be specified in upper case.

Example: Specifying the DATAFILEPATH

msiexec /i XrevTransmitSetup_3.0.0_x64.msi /q DATAFILEPATH="\\SERVER\Xrev Transmit\XrevTransmit.sdf"

 

Example: Activating a license with a Serial Number during installation

msiexec /i XrevTransmitSetup_3.0.0_x64.msi /q SERIAL=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-X

Example: Disabling privileged commands during installation

msiexec /i XrevTransmitSetup_3.0.0_x64.msi /q SHOWPRIVILEGEDCOMMANDS=0

Example: Generating an installation log file

Full Installer (.exe)

Use the /CompleteCommandArgs option to pass property values to the Windows Installer packages.  This option must be followed by a list of arguments enclosed in quotes.  If any of these arguments require quotes then those must be escaped using another set of quotes.

Example:  The following command will install Xrev Transmit, configure it to use the database located at \\SERVER\Xrev Transmit\XrevTransmit.sdf and disable privileged commands:

Sharing your settings manually

All Xrev Transmit Settings are stored in the XrevTransmit.sdf database file.  By default this file is installed in the following location:

To share your settings (via script):

  • Close down all instances of Autodesk Revit,

  • Navigate to:

  • Copy it to a Network Location that all computers can access and have full read/write permissions to access.

  • Open Windows > Run, Simply press the Windows Key and type “Run”

  • Enter the following Command Line:

    • “C:\Program Files\Xrev Transmit\XrevTransmit.exe” DATAFILEPATH=”\\SERVER\Xrev Transmit\XrevTransmit.sdf”

  • Select OK to run the command. Your settings have now been updated. Simply run this command line on each machine to configure all the others.

To share your settings via Copy/Paste of the Config File

  • Close down all instances of Autodesk Revit,

  • Navigate to:

  • Copy it to a Network Location that all computers can access and have full read/write permissions to access.

  • Copy the XrevTransmit.exe.config file to the same network location or anywhere you have full privileges to edit it (it requires administrator privileges to edit it in its current location).

  • Open the XrevTransmit.exe.config file by double clicking on it or simply open it in Notepad or similar text editor (we recommend Notepad++).

  • Find the DataFilePath setting:

  • Replace the bit in between the quotation marks with the Network Location where you copied the XrevTransmit.sdf file to.

  • Save and close the file.

  • Copy this config file back to C:\Program Files\Xrev Transmit\XrevTransmit.exe.config and overwrite the original.

  • For all additional installs, before starting Revit or Xrev, just update the config file on each workstation (Repeat Steps 4-9).

Quickly Copy Settings to Multiple Computers

You can very easily create a batch file that copies this file for you, to save time navigating around the folders.  This way it should only take a few seconds to update each workstation that Xrev Transmit is installed on.

  1. To do this create a new text file and change the file extension from .txt to .bat,

  2. Right Click and Edit the batch file,

  3. Add the following strings, but substitute the first part in quotation marks with your actual file location.

     

  4. Save the file.

  5. You will still need Administrator privileges to run this batch file.

  6. Run the batch file on each machine by double clicking it.