Dealing with 'broken path' issues


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There are a number of ways in which paths can break:

Originals

Assuming the paths worked originally, but now don't, the most usual form of broken paths is that the drive and/or folder(s) holding originals are renamed. Other causes are that some or all originals are moved to a new location, or that folders are added/removed from the path to the originals. Luckily all of these scenarios are easily fixable, with one proviso - you must have unique filenames duplicates named files in different folders will result in odd/incorrect updates. So how to fix/update paths? Via a modified drag/drop. The method is the same for v5 through v8 and is in the manual (v8 p64, v7 p62, v6 p55). You probably missed this feature is not accessible via a menu - it is nothing to do with the 'Update' option on the Item menu. Assume for the moment all your originals are in one folderset - if not just do the following procedure several times, once for each discrete set of files. In Finder/Explorer, navigate to the folder holding all of your images (it can have sub-folders of images). You now drag the window onto your catalogue's main gallery window whilst holding down a modifier key: Option (Mac) or Control (Windows). It is important that you let go the mouse key before you release the modifier key. If successful, you will see a dialog like this:
Update dialog
You can click OK. However, if you see the normal Cataloging Options dialog click cancel and try the drag again. When you accept an update, Portfolio tries to match all the dropped files to existing records based on filename (thus the need for unique names) and modification date/time stamp. Any matches have their Path, Directory Path and Volume fields updated. It's that easy! Don't forget when moving files to ensure all users have OS access to the new location.

Previews

This section is only pertinent if using screen previews. The path to the previews folder is a full (absolute) local or network path, entered via the Catalog Administration dialog. If you move the folder, you must update the stored path or Portfolio will look in the wrong place for the previews. Using a local path (i.e. local to the client's host computer) is only suitable for single user operation or where that catalogue is only ever accessed from one computer. In all other scenarios - especially if using Portfolio Server - you must set a network path. That is the path to the folder as seen from another computer on the network. If you just rename but don't move the preview folder you must still reset the path in the Catalog Administration dialog.

Catalogues

Moving a catalogue has fewer problems. There are 3 considerations - previews, paths and OS access. The previews issue is as above - check the path to the previews folder is still valid. If that's OK, check the paths. Has the move made the stored path invalid - for instance you've created local paths but the catalogue is now on a different computer/volume and needs network paths to find the originals. In this case use the update path method already described. The last aspect is OS permissions, described in the next section below. There is problem with renaming the catalogue itself - though you won't be able to do this while a catalogue is servered or open directly in a client. In the latter case, perticularly on some windows system, you may need to close the client as well before the OS willlet you change the catalogue's (file) name.

Permissions

When the client or NetPublish asks to open a file, Portfolio doesn't actually handle the file (nor does Portfolio Server). Instead it passes the stored data in the Path field to the caller and the latter uses its host computers OS to find and call the file. From this it should be self evident that all Portfolio Clients and/or NetPublish must be able to resolve ('see') the paths stored in the catalogue. In larger organisation this means you may need to talk to your IT staff about configuration of network shares and account permissions. In simplest terms all clients and NP must have read/write access to the catalogue's folder, the previews' folder and the folder(s) containing the images. The latter makes it sensible to consolidate the latter in to as few locations as possible. Indeed, a single image bank is best as this aids use of other features such a Folder Sync, though it is not necessary if you need multiple asset location for other reasons.



Question: Dealing with 'broken path' issues [FAQ00118.htm]
Last Update:- 02 June 2006


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