File Identification Based on UNC Path

The Universal Naming Convention (UNC) or Uniform Naming Convention specifies a common syntax to describe the location of a network resource such as a shared file, directory or a printer.

This page discusses:

UNC Path

The UNC syntax for Windows systems is: \\ComputerName\SharedFolder\Resource. For all files that can only be identified by their path, FBDI uses the UNC path to identify the file uniqueness. It corresponds to the non-CATIA, CGR and model files. A file can be identified with different paths

UNC Path Types

Given below is the list of path types managed by Windows system-for each type an example is given.

  1. Local path on a driver not shared.
    • Example: C:\
    • UNC path version: N/A
  2. Local path on a local shared driver.
    • Example: E:\
    • UNC path version: N/A
  3. Local path on a remote shared driver (mapped).
    • Example: U:\
    • UNC path version: \\AnotherComputerName\MyMappedDirectory\
  4. Universal path on a local shared driver.
    • Example: \\MyComputerName\HOME
    • UNC path version: \\MyComputerName\HOME
  5. Universal path on a remote shared driver.
    • Example: \\AnotherComputerName\HOME
    • UNC path version: \\AnotherComputerName\HOME
The UNC path can be used for the cases 3 to 5. For the cases 1 & 2, the local path cannot be transposed to the UNC path, so the local path is used.

Important:
  • The UNC path is not used for the files pointed through a local path on a local folder (example: C:\ or E:\). Therefore for these files, the local path will be registered in the RMT.
  • If a non-CATIA file (or cgr and model) is first imported through a local path and then imported again through a network path, the mapping is not able to recognise that the files are same. Therefore, the file is duplicated in the mapping and the corresponding 3DEXPERIENCE content is duplicated in database.
  • A non-CATIA file (or cgr and model) duplicated in two distinct directories will be imported twice as the UNC paths of these files will be different and FBDI will use the UNC path to identify the file uniqueness.
  • Two different files, with the same name, located on two different machines and having same local path (example: E:\MyFile.txt on two computers) are seen as the same file when accessed through their local path.