Mastercam content files

[So not a Guru]

So we requested some changes to a Postability post from our "vendor" (for some reason the OEM of our router is our vendor for this post, rather than our CNC software reseller?).

They supplied us with a mcam-content file and these instructions: If you are not familiar with the .mcam-content file type you can drag and drop it into your Mastercam Drawing background and the files will distribute to the proper locations automatically.

I'm glad I backed up my MD, CD & post files before following their instructions, as this processes overwrites them, WITH NO WARNING. As the new files were not correct, we would have been dead in the water waiting for them to correct it. Am I over-reacting in thinking this is a horrible idea?

Can the content file extension be changed to allow direct access the the post files within?

[crazy^millman]

3 hours ago, So not a Guru said:

Can the content file extension be changed to allow direct access the the post files within?

Yes, change the extension to zip.

Great idea for companies that have very strict It policies about installing things on your computer. I have 5 different backups of important files with 2 of them being offline saved to a USB and a backup 4TB drive.

[Chally72]

What version of Mastercam did this occur on? This is what happens in 2021 (Update 3)- you're warned about each file and given the choice to create backups on the fly.

 

[So not a Guru]

8 minutes ago, Chally72 said:

What version of Mastercam did this occur on? This is what happens in 2021 (Update 3)- you're warned about each file and given the choice to create backups on the fly.

 

I was incorrect. It asks this when I did it.

My apologies.

[Chally72]

No problem. One thing to note if you do get MCAM-CONTENT files in the future- The actual .mcam-content file extension is registered in Windows to the last version of Mastercam you installed, and right now there's no versioning present in the mcam-content files themselves. That means that if you have an mcam-content file created in 2020, and you have 2021 installed, and you go and double-click on it, it'll distribute all those 2020 files into your 2021 shared folders because it doesn't actively check the file version in any way.

Mcam-content files are a slick way to do things like deliver all the misc post files one might need, but I usually recommend that the actual mcam-content file itself be named with the Mastercam version they reference to try and avoid any snafus that might arise from a situation like the one I just described. The lack of versioning and a great interface to add/remove files without manually building a Zip are some of the reasons we haven't presented videos on this or pushed the feature much to date, but you'll be seeing these more in the future as these files become nicer to work with.