The DatabaseConfiguration.xml file is an XML document that specifies the connection strings Advance Steel uses to communicate with the MDF databases.
You can find this file at the following location on disk:
...\ProgramData\Autodesk\Advance Steel 2026\[INSTALLATION LANGUAGE EXTENSION]\Configuration\DatabaseConfiguration.xml
In the XML file, there are a few DataSource nodes, each of them representing a connection string to a database file. There are two attributes for each node:
- Name: the string that Advance Steel uses to identify the database.
- Value: the string that represents the connection parameters to be used for that database.
As an example, the following DataSource node will define the connection string used for the AstorAddin database (the location of the MDF is relative to the installation folder and it is being attached to the MSSQLLocalDB instance of SQL LocalDB):
<DataSource Name="AstorCurrentAddIn" Value="Server=(LocalDB)\MSSQLLocalDB;Integrated Security=true;AttachDbFileName=User2\Data\AstorAddIn.mdf"/>
With the default installation, the DatabaseConfiguration.xml file is configured to attach all the databases to a SQL LocalDB Server in the MSSQLLocalDB instance - it is configured to use local databases from the machine where Advance Steel was installed on.
To change the connection to the SQL Server (to a centralized server containing the databases), update the part that refers to the Server (for example: Server=MYCOMPUTERNAME, 11234\ADVANCESTEEL will connect to the server hosted on MYCOMPUTERNAME using the 11234 port and attach the database to the ADVANCESTEEL instance).
To change the location where the MDF databases are stored, update the part that refers to the AttachDbFileName. Supported paths are:
- Relative paths: using AttachDbFileName=User2\Data\AstorAddIn.mdf will attach the databases stored at ...\ProgramData\Autodesk\Advance Steel 2026\[INSTALLATION LANGUAGE EXTENSION]\User2\Data\AstorAddIn.mdf;
- Absolute paths: using AttachDbFileName=C:\Databases\AstorAddIn.mdf will attach the databases stored at C:\Databases\AstorAddIn.mdf;
- Network paths: using AttachDbFileName=\\server_name\Databases\AstorAddIn.mdf will attach the databases stored at \\server_name\Databases\AstorAddIn.mdf;
Other notes:
- A database cannot be modified or attached in another SQL Server instance while it is attached to a SQL Server instance. In order to use a database on multiple computers, you need to configure the DatabaseConfiguration.xml file to point to an SQL Server Express and place the MDF file on a shared network drive, or detach the database. After configuring the XML file, you can deploy it on all computers to use the same connection strings.
- In order to configure a SQL Server Express please contact the IT department of your company to make sure that you have the right credentials for network access.
- The DataSource node with Name="AstorDatabase" refers to the connection string used for the database stored with the model. It is recommended not to change this node.