CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, USA — Do you have to have multiple sessions of MicroStation open just to view multiple design files? DgnQuickPick is a MicroStation add-on that allows users to have immediate access to multiple project design files in a single session of MicroStation, by only clicking on a tab labeled with the file’s name. DgnQuickPick reduces design time and frustration for all those users who need access to more than one design file at a time.
One time-consuming aspect of working with multiple project files is searching for the file you need amidst a sea of files, folders and servers. Typically, if a MicroStation user wants to open a design file during their current session, he would carry out the following sequence: 1. Go to the File menu. 2. Select the “Open” option. 3. Browse to the file they wish to open. 4. Click the <OK> button. This operation takes a user out of the active file and into a new file.
Some may say, “What about the recently viewed list in the File menu?” The ten most recently-opened design files used are available there, but users sometimes need to go further back and the buffer is cleared after the user exits MicroStation.
DgnQuickPick allows users to easily have access to any number of design files in a single session of MicroStation. This saves time, reduces frustration and eliminates the need for workarounds.
This feels familiar…
DgnQuickPick borrows the tab functionality from the immensely popular Firefox web browser. With Firefox, links can be opened as separate tabs in one window, rather than in multiple browser windows. Users can jump from one website to another and never worry about closing, or opening, a browser window. Apply this functionality to the MicroStation design environment, and that is the essence of DgnQuickPick.
The list of design files (tabs) is displayed in a dockable toolbar. If a user wants to open a particular file, all he has to do is click on a tab and the file is opened.
DgnQuickPick‘s main toolbar.
Features
DgnQuickPick tab names are automatically generated based on the filename. Also, DgnQuickPick utilizes a color-coding system to indicate characteristics of the files in a list. The active file is always displayed in green. Blue means that file is referenced to the active file. Black names are merely additional files in the list. “Read-only” files and files that are being used by another user are displayed in red. Once a “red file” is closed or write-enabled, its color in the tab list is immediately changed to one of the other above-mentioned color choices. Files can be added to a list using several different methods. One method lets a user easily create a tabbed list of all the design files in a single project directory. Other methods for adding files include a “by element” option where a user can add a file to the tab list by clicking on any element in that file – for example an element in a displayed reference file. To activate this feature, all the user has to do is click on the Add Tab button and select the “By Element” option. To remove a file from the tab list, just click on the <Remove Tab> button in the Remove Tabs dialog (second icon from the left) and click on the tab you want to remove.
With DgnQuickPick, users can add tabs,
or remove tabs with a click.
Currently, DgnQuickPick supports DGN files and DWG files (in the V8 version).
Attach a reference in one click!
DgnQuickPick has additional functionality not directly related to opening files quickly. For example, files within a list can easily be attached to the active file as a reference file. This way, if users need to attach a reference file quickly they can bypass the customary File | Reference method of attaching a reference.
DgnQuickPick users can also automatically execute MicroStation key-in commands a file is opened. If the user wants to perform a single key-in or multiple key-ins on a file when it is opened, all the user has to do is specify the key-in commands and DgnQuickPick will automatically carry out the commands on the file.
What users say
“With DgnQuickPick I am ablw oto have multiple drawings opeen at the same time and tab between them,” stated RaChelle Schiller, Xcel Energy. “If one of the drawing contained on the tabwas referenced to another drawing on the ta, the changes are updated automatically wgich eliminates the need to reload the reference. [DgnQuickPick] has increase my productivity. This program is a hit!”
Change is coming!
DgnQuickPick simplifies a task that is done many times throughout the day at any CAD shop. Rather than laboriously browsing and scrolling to find and select needed files, DgnQuickPick gives MicroStation users the ability to access their project design files with just one click.
