Linking to external files on two computers

[dspady]

I use UR at home and at work and transfer the UR file with a memory stick. I link a lot of external files to UR and the folder name for my office computer is D:\library, but at home it is
C:\library (I have no D drive at home and at work I like to keep the C drive for programs and system stuff and use the D drive for data). While it is not a big issue, is it possible to state the paths in such a way that UR at home works the same way as UR at work; i.e. such that if UR can't find the file on 'D:\library", it looks at 'C:\Library' to see if it is there (and vice versa).
If I put my library in my UR work folder both at the office and at home, would that work? That way UR would have to look at (for e.g.) drive:\UR work\Library and wouldn't have to go looking elsewhere on the drive.

Many thanks

Don

[quant]

this was discussed many times here (hint) ... UR stores links relative to your urd file if the linked files are in or bellow in the directory structure.

So in your example, if you put your urd file directly to C: or at home at D: it would have no effect cause the links would all be relative ...

[quant]

in fact, in one of the emails with Kinook, I asked for extending this feature so that links would always be relative irrespective of urd file location, this was their reply (I hope they don't mind)

"I suppose it could (you know what they say, anything's possible given enough time), but that sort of capability doesn't exist."

Maybe they could reconsider, cause this was really asked by many users of this forum ...

[kinook]

Place the .urd file at the base of the work folder (i.e., C:\Library, D:\library, drive:\UR work\Library, etc.), then when importing folders/files that are in or under that path, UR will store the path relative. As long as those folder structures on the two computers match, things will match up properly.

Alternatively, you could subst a drive/path on each computer to the same drive letter (i.e., subst x: c:\path\on\computera; subst x: d:\path\on\computerb [put this command in a .bat file and add a shortcut to that file in your Start Menu Startup folder to do this automatically]), and then link to files/paths on the subst'ed drive.

[dspady]

Thus, if I had a UR folder on D, with the file library also on D, both as root folders and then at home had my UR folder and my library folder both as root folders on C, then UR would look around and find the file when I clicked on the link. This is more or less what I have already, but if I link a file at work where the file is stored as D:\Library\filename and then want to find it at home (after the obvious transfer of information) if I click on that hyperlink UR goes to look for D:\library\filename, and it can't find it because it is looking for D:\library instead of C:\library.
i.e. At work
D:\URWork
D:\Library\filename

at home
C:\URwork
C:\library\filename

doesn't work.

Is this an alternative approach?
at work: D:\URWork\library
at home: C:\URWork\library

In both home and work then the library is a subfolder of the URwork folder, I don't like this as much because I use the library for lots of other things as well.

I looked in the help file for 'relative' as in relative position and there is nothing there.

[dspady]

I like the idea of subst, but where do I put it. My computer knowledge is very much limited to what I use on a daily basis and this is a command I don't usually see.

[quant]

Originally posted by kinook
If storing the linked files in subfolders of the path of the .urd file won't work, you could subst a drive/path on each computer to the same drive letter (i.e., subst x: c:\path\on\computera; subst x: d:\path\on\computerb), and then link to files/paths on the subst'ed drive.

while this is a solution, it only makes things more complicated, no wonder many users are then confused and look at UR as too complicated ... if the relative path works on the whole drive many users (dspady included) wouldn't have this problem ... less problems = happier users

[quant]

Originally posted by dspady
Thus, if I had a UR folder on D, with the file library also on D, both as root folders and then at home had my UR folder and my library folder both as root folders on C, then UR would look around and find the file when I clicked on the link. This is more or less what I have already, but if I link a file at work where the file is stored as D:\Library\filename and then want to find it at home (after the obvious transfer of information) if I click on that hyperlink UR goes to look for D:\library\filename, and it can't find it because it is looking for D:\library instead of C:\library.

The solution is to put your urd file directly to C: at work, and to D: at home. When you then link a file it will store only \Library\filename (no C: or D included), and thus will work both at home and at work

[dspady]

Thanks, I'll give it a try tonight.

On another note, I use the statistical analysis program Stata a lot and one of the reasons I do is because it has a super super support system. It is based on a forum of interested users/experts and questions asked are often answered within minutes to hours. Sometimes even the president of the company gives answers, and they are models of clarity.

The reason I mention this is because the UR Forum is the same. People are willing to give advice and help out those that sometimes really don't know what they are doing, or what to do. This gives UR a real 'up' on the competition and I thank Kinook for maintaining it.

Don Spady

[dspady]

I fixed my problem by moving my office "D:\library" to the C drive, thus making "C:\library" which is the same name as my home library. Everything works fine now.

Thanks for all the advice.