Periodically someone reports a variation of this problem: printing generates an error saying something about the APEX folder not existing or access denied. Specific messages may include:
Unable to create AUXLOC file directory
Access is denied (\\server\...\...\APEX)
The specified path is invalid (xxxx\APEX)
The system cannot find the path specified (xxxx\APEX)
Or maybe you don't get an error, but you have a problem with the location of the directory.
Although the subject has been covered in various ways before (see
APEX Folder Problem ,
ATE/APEX Print Folder ),
since I just got TWO queries about it in the last half hour (both relating to Citrix), I thought maybe another refresh of the topic might be warranted.
As noted in one of the above articles, the basic issue is this: A-Shell/Windows printing needs to create a temporary copy of the print file in a special directory, which APEX also uses for archiving reports. The directory name is
APEX and is normally in the
My Documents folder (where it will be created if it doesn't exist, assuming the parent directory is writable). The [b]My Documents[\b] directory is defined in the Registry setting:
HKCU,"Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Shell Folders\Personal
Because we sometimes run into sites where this folder doesn't exist, or isn't writable by the user, or you just don't like that folder, we offer a workaround: you can define the environment variable APEX to point to any directory. If the variable is defined, it will be used instead of the default directory. You can do this on the fly from your application using the
AG_SETENV function. (One of the two threads mentioned above covers this in a bit more detail.)
So to review some of the variations of the problem and the suggested solution:
1) Problem: You simply don't like the default folder. Solution: Use AG_SETENV to point APEX to another folder that you do like and this is writable.
2) Problem: For unknown reasons, the folder cannot be located or isn't accessible. Solution: use AG_SETENV to point APEX to another folder that you do like and that is writable.
3) Problem: In a Citrix/RDP environment, for some reason the folder isn't writeable, or you want all the users to share the same APEX directory. Solution: Use AG_SETENV to point APEX to another folder that you do like and that is writable.
4) Problem: You have a different problem that isn't covered above. Solution: Explain the problem here, providing enough details so we can figure out what is really happening and then devise a solution.
5) Problem: You have one of the above problems, but don't like the proposed solution. Solution: Propose another solution and we can discuss it here.
