Project Thunderdome

Wouldn't it be nice to push Vault settings out to all the Vault users?  Saved searches, for example.  Or maybe a plug-in from your favorite Vault API blog.  If there was only some sort of centralized document repository that you could use to deploy these files from.

Oh wait, Vault is a centralized document repository.  Let's use it to push data out to clients….

Overview:
Welcome to Project Thunderdome, my attempt to make local Vault settings into global Vault settings.

Let's start with the Users Folder concept, which Thunderdome sets up.  It works the same as with Windows, each user can get their own folder that only they have access to.  There is also a Default Folder which all users can read from.

The Administrator can place data in the Default Folder to have it pushed out to everyone with Project Thunderdome installed.  This can be used to push out just about any client setting (saved searches, grid state, shortcuts, etc) and other Vault Explorer extensions (Watch Folder, Set Revision iProperties, etc).

And just for fun, I added a command that will let a user back up their Vault settings to their user folder in Vault.
 

Requirements:
Vault Workgroup/Collaboration/Professional 2011

Click here to download the application
Click here to download the source code

Beyond Thunderdome:
I can see a bunch of uses for the "Users Folder" concept.  I'm sure I will re-visit it in future sample apps.  You're also free to expand upon the concept however you see fit.  Let me know what you think.

As with all the samples on this site, the legal disclaimer applies.


Comments

4 responses to “Project Thunderdome”

  1. Hi Doug,
    I think this is a very good example on how to deploy default settings. I was thinking of extending this to also deploy the CAD standards with it. Is it possible to impersonate another Windows user to have the deployed
    “EXTENSIONS” or “CAD STANDARDS” out of editing possibilities of the regular users ?

  2. Yes you can do impersonation, assuming you know the username/password of the user you are impersonating.
    This is more of a Windows API question. As far as the Vault API is concerned, a Vault custom command can do anything that a .NET DLL can do.

  3. Nick Gustavsson Avatar
    Nick Gustavsson

    Hi Doug!
    I’ve used this app at all my Vault 2012 implementations, and find it very useful. Would be great if you could migrate it to 2012! What do you say :)?
    /Nick

  4. Thanks for the feedback! Yes I am planing on updating it for 2012, but I won’t have time to get to it until May, at the earliest.
    If you don’t want to wait that long, you, or somebody that knows how to program, can download the source code and build an updated version.

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