Trimble Business Center

Hello everyone,

I started this discussion directly with our vendor and Trimble support folks that were at the meeting between me, vendor and Trimble but have had no traction, so I am looking here to see if anyone else is experiencing this or hopefully to get some Trimble attention on this matter.

Trimble, along with many other programs and Microsoft Windows also have reverted back to a hard stop at 256 characters for folder and file path character count limits.  This is problematic when the automatic file naming for the Trimble scanning files can't be controlled and are by default just really, really long.  Example: 'OverviewCamera_22038_20220901_181042762.JPG' . That right there is 20% of the available characters.  Or 'SdeDatabase_Station2_Scan2.rwcx' . Or the folder that precedes that last one: 'SdeDatabase.rwi' .  

We haven't always had the simplest or most direct file and folder naming conventions, so our older projects can be really problematic.  Now that this limitation is back and we are aware, we place everything Trimble as close to the job's root folder.

I understand that the 256 character limit is beyond Trimble's control.  But they have to realize that in order for us to use their equipment and do so successfully, they need to also be thoughtful with the character count the Trimble software defaults to when naming folders and files.  They add up really, really quick and once you get past 256 Trimble Business Center is not able to find the files it needs to in order to import the point cloud data or the panorama picture files to colorize the cloud or for station view.

It is incredibly frustrating.  I mean look how wasteful the file name is for the overview camera.

OverviewCamera_22038_20220901_181042762

Even if the remove OverviewCamera and replaced it with OC or OvCam that would be a big improvement.  I don't know what the 22038 or the very end numbers represent, but they should be looking at all options to increase file naming character slimming and efficiency.

Please help me get Trimble's attention to this mater.  It isn't just the SX10, but we see this also with the X7.

Thank you all.

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Clayton Bradshaw
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Hi Clayton:

I share your frustration on the auto-named scan file lengths.  In particular, it becomes massively problematic when trying to move scan files to OneDrive or other cloud base storage (...which can cause the already-bloated file names to expand 3 or 4 times). 

Here's a pretty good article, explaining how a seemingly brief file length of 24 characters can increase to 112 when pushed to OneDrive:
https://help.bittitan.com/hc/en-us/articles/115008259028-Troubleshooting-Path-Too-Long-errors-when-Migrating-to-OneDrive 

I'm told it is possible to increase Windows' file name capacity to 400 characters, but I have not done so on my own PC.  Although this would likely save me some headaches, as a tech support person I am hesitant to do things on my own PC that might otherwise alert me to issues our clients are having.  Perhaps it is an option for you however.

I'm not a programmer, but am hopeful that enough people will respond to this that Trimble's developers might re-examine. 

Regards-

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Greg Hazelquist
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Hey Greg,

I am surprised that this thread didn't get much traction.  I realize the tone is a bit less tech issue and more me complaining.  But I am interested in a solution, or at least for Trimble to take notice to some real world issues we have with some otherwise innocuous file naming conventions.  Because of this file folder character count issue, we have been revamping our standard file folder system so that we use as few characters as reasonable in folder names and that TBC and Access files are as near as possible to our root project number folder.

Thank you for your response.  I appreciate it and have see your recommended article prior.  It is a really important topic.

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Clayton Bradshaw
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2022 11:05
From: Greg Hazelquist
Subject: Trimble SX10 X7 Scan Photo Filename Issue with TBC

Hi Clayton:

I share your frustration on the auto-named scan file lengths.  In particular, it becomes massively problematic when trying to move scan files to OneDrive or other cloud base storage (...which can cause the already-bloated file names to expand 3 or 4 times). 

Here's a pretty good article, explaining how a seemingly brief file length of 24 characters can increase to 112 when pushed to OneDrive:
https://help.bittitan.com/hc/en-us/articles/115008259028-Troubleshooting-Path-Too-Long-errors-when-Migrating-to-OneDrive 

I'm told it is possible to increase Windows' file name capacity to 400 characters, but I have not done so on my own PC.  Although this would likely save me some headaches, as a tech support person I am hesitant to do things on my own PC that might otherwise alert me to issues our clients are having.  Perhaps it is an option for you however.

I'm not a programmer, but am hopeful that enough people will respond to this that Trimble's developers might re-examine. 

Regards-

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Greg Hazelquist
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