Environment variables Variable descriptions > General environment variables

Setting environment variables in Windows

Add and remove environment variables using the System control panel (under the Environment tab). Refer to the Windows online help for more information.

Where variables have been tested on Windows, compatibility is indicated. Other environment variables may or may not work on Windows.

Variable descriptions

General environment variables

ALIAS_ALT_FONTDIR

The location the user can place alternate font files for use in their AliasStudio session.

Parameters: a valid path to a directory

Default: none

Windows compatibility: Yes

ALIAS_ALT_HELP

The location of the Help directory containing the online help files .

Default: $ALIAS_LOCATION

Windows compatibility: Yes

When installing AliasStudio you will have to choose where to install the online Help documentation. You have the option to install it locally or on a web server. This involves updating the ALIAS_ALT_HELP variable. To accomplish this complete the following steps:

Exit AliasStudio if it is currently running.
Set the ALIAS_ALT_HELP environment variable to the location that you copied the online documentation to.

If ALIAS_ALT_HELP is not set, AliasStudio uses the registry value created when documentation was installed from CD.

Platform	Procedure
Windows	In the Start > Settings > Control Panel > System window, select the Environment tab. In the Variable field, type: ALIAS_ALT_HELP In the Value field, type the directory path to the online documentation, (for example, D:\OnlineDocs). Click OK.

Restart AliasStudio.

ALIAS_APP_PROJECT

Overrides the CURRENT_PROJECT defined in the .AliasBrowserPrefs and defines the project that AliasStudio will start-up in.

Parameters: a valid project file name, which is a directory name in user_data (not including dumpster) containing all needed subdirectories.

Default: none

Windows compatibility: Yes

ALIAS_BITMAP_LOCATION

The location where more icon images can be found.

Parameters: a valid path to a directory

Default: .Alias/bitmaps

Windows compatibility: Yes

Default for Windows: %ALIAS_LOCATION%\bitmaps

ALIAS_FORCE_DEFAULT_ENVIRON

Sets a default environment in AliasStudio upon start-up. AliasStudio loads files from the distribution area.

ALIAS_HPGL_CFG

The location of the plotter configuration file hp_gl.cfg.

Parameters: a valid path to a file

Default: $ALIAS_LOCATION/sys/install/hp_gl.cfg

Windows compatibility: Yes

ALIAS_LICENSE

Sets your system to automatically invoke a particular AliasStudio product. Use this variable only if you understand licensing and are sure you don't want access to any other products.

Parameters: st (Studio), as (AutoStudio), ss (SurfaceStudio), ds (DesignStudio)

To disable this variable for Windows:

From Start > Settings > Control Panel > System, click on the Environment tab.
Look for the ALIAS_LICENSE variable. If you see that it is set, delete it by highlighting it and clicking the Delete button.

ALIAS_LOCATION

The path that AliasStudio will use to resolve references to resource files required by the AliasStudio executable, such as DSO library files and scheme files.

Parameters: a valid path to a directory

Default: $AW_LOCATION/alias

Windows compatibility: In Windows, the environment variable is automatically set by AliasStudio while it is being executed, and it points to the directory one level above the bin directory where the AliasStudio executables and .dll files are found. Even if you explicitly set this environment variable, it is ignored.

ALIAS_LOGO

Overrides the Standard AliasStudio Splash screen with an alternate image (specified by the absolute path to the image).

Parameters: a valid path to a file

Default: none

Windows compatibility: Yes

ALIAS_PREFS_LOCATION

Location of Alias Preference files.

Parameters: a valid path

Default: C:Documents and Settings\[userid]\Application Data\Autodesk\AliasStudio\UserPrefs [version no.]

The preferences files can be set to something other than the default, which is useful if:

a user wants common preferences across several machines
all user preferences for a design work group are stored in a common location
a user stores preferences on a USB flash (keychain) drive.

ALIAS_WORKENV

The location that becomes the current working directory on execution of AliasStudio (that is, the directory above the user_data directory that the user wishes to use with AliasStudio).

Parameters: a valid path to a directory

Default: C:\Documents and Settings\[userid]\My Documents