Archive for July, 2007

New SpecChecker handles huge rules files — fast!

Tuesday, 17 July 2007

By Eiren K. Smith, Product Manager
Clearwater, Florida, USA — As a result of the trend toward larger, more complex
CAD standards, Axiom has released a new version of SpecChecker. SpecChecker can now handle very large rules files and even does so using far less memory than
previous versions. It can load these rules files faster than ever before, thereby
reducing processing time.

With cheetah-like speed, SpecChecker can handle your huge rules files super fast.

What are rules files?
SpecChecker “understands” your CAD standards by way of “rules” files. Rules files are text files that describe your standards in a way that SpecChecker can use and enforce automatically.

Huge rules files
Gone are the days of simple, small design files and simple CAD standards. Judging by the size of the rules files, design files and CAD standards that our support staff receives regularly from customers, we know that files are getting bigger, with no end in sight. Part of this is the trend toward “unlimited quantities” such as MicroStation V8′s support for an “unlimited” number of levels and its ability to create huge, multi-model design files.

SpecChecker’s rules files are no exception. As CAD standards get more complex, SpecChecker’s rules files have grown in size, as they are a reflection of those standards. A few years ago, a thousand-line rules file was the exception. Today it’s almost the rule. Our users asked us to make SpecChecker run faster with huge rules files (ones with thousands of lines). We’ve done it. Using the newest version of SpecChecker, you can now load a rules file containing many thousands of rules in seconds. In the past, such
a rules file could take many minutes and lots of memory to load.

Tiny memory footprint for large rules files
A number of users also wanted SpecChecker to use less memory with those huge rules files. This is done. Rules files containing thousands of rules used to take hundreds of megabytes of memory. These same rules files now consume only tens of megabytes, if not less. See for yourself: Start SpecChecker with a many-thousand-line rules file and watch your memory usage. Its new meager memory usage is a thing of beauty, especially for veteran SpecChecker users with large, complex standards to enforce.

SpecChecker now has a tiny memory footprint.

To avail yourself of this release, just watch your e-mail inbox for your automatic update notification if you are a current Axiom Maintenance Plus holder. Or click on “Check for updates…” on your Axiom menu in MicroStation. As always, installation is easy. Before you install your update, be sure to request a new license by e-mailing us at license@AxiomInt.com
Your feedback is invaluable. If you have any SpecChecker requests or ideas, please contact me directly at eiren.smith@AxiomInt.com I’m all ears.

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Control all of your cell libraries simultaneously.

Saturday, 7 July 2007

Effortlessly manipulate multiple cell libraries as if they were one.

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Axiom’s new release of CellManager for V8 is by far the most feature-rich advance in the application’s 20 year history — truly a quantum leap forward for all of you cell lovers.

One of the most significant enhancements in this release is CellManager’s new ability to open and manipulate all of your cell libraries simultaneously. That’s right — open all of your cell libraries at the same time, select one or more cells from each library and with a couple of easy mouse clicks, you can direct CellManager to standardize cell symbology, scale selected cells, rotate selected cells, update fonts and perform text substitutions in cells — and that’s just the beginning.

To start, use CellManager to select one or more cell libraries to work with. CellManager displays each cell library’s filename in one window and an alphabetized list of all library cells in an adjacent window.

This new release of CellManager now allows you to apply its modification tools to one cell, one library or multiple cells in multiple libraries (or any combination).

CellManager allows you to open, view and modify multiple cell libraries simultaneously. Additionally, CellManager’s commands can be applied to cells in one or multiple cell libraries — with seamless ease.

You can display and modify one or all cells at the same time — regardless of the cell library file in which cells reside. The cell libraries can reside in different directories or on your server or local computer — any combination of cell libraries can be displayed and manipulated by CellManager at the same time. CellManager makes it easy to compare and consolidate multiple cell libraries — now you can finally get all of your cell libraries under control with ease.

What if the differences between duplicate cells is not obvious?
After opening any number of cell libraries simultaneously, the new version of CellManager’s <Select Cells> button (on main dialog) allows you to select and display specific cells from each cell library. For example, you can limit CellManager’s display to cell names which match a wildcard, like “ARROW*”.

Let’s say several of your colleagues created their own line terminator cells in their own custom (but unauthorized) cell libraries. These non-standard mutant terminator cells are multiplying. It’s time to clean up.

Load everybody’s cell libraries into CellManager. That’s right, all of them at the same time. Then use CellManager’s Cell Selector to select just those cells which contain “TERMINATOR” in their description. Presto! Only the matching cells appear in CellManager’s display. Now use CellManager’s View window to inspect each matching cell. Tag (check mark) the non-standard mutant cells and use CellManager’s Delete command to delete the mutants with a single keystroke, even though the unwanted cells reside in several different cell libraries. This clean-up action would be tedious and time-consuming without the new version of CellManager. With CellManager, it’s effortless and fun!

Automatically select cells from any number of cell libraries — for example, only those cells with “TERMINATOR” in their descriptions. Inspect them with CellManager’s View window. Then tag (check mark) the unwanted mutant duplicate cells and delete all of them in one step.

Tame your wild cell libraries.
Space prohibits us from describing all CellManager features in this issue, but there’s another hot, new enhancement we had to squeeze in: an enhancement to CellManager’s Export command.

For those readers unfamiliar with CellManager, the Export command allows you to consolidate cells from different cell libraries into one well-organized composite cell library. Let’s say, completely hypothetically (wink), that you have six different cell libraries, all in use on one or another of your projects — but these cell libraries contain duplicate cells, obsolete cells and non-standard variants of cells (created by time-pressed or confused staff over the years). Pretty messy — inconsistent, non-standard designs and wasted time are inevitable. To remedy, just fire up the new version of CellManager, load all six cell libraries simultaneously, tag the cells you want to keep and export the “chosen few” into a single, perfect, standard cell library. (This could be done with earlier versions of CellManager, but not in one effortless step.)

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CAD Manager’s challenge: Upgrading 400 users to MicroStation V8

Saturday, 7 July 2007

CAD Manager, Greg Hruby, upgrades to V8 and implements new standards without interrupting workflow!

Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA —Greg Hruby, CAD Manager for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT), is focused on keeping users productive. Sometimes making that happen requires extraordinary effort. We asked Greg about one of those times.

Greg Hruby, CAD Data Standards Manager, Minnesota DOT

MicroStation Today: What’s the career challenge that topped them all?
Greg: That has to be when we engineered the conversion of our entire agency — over 400 users — from MicroStation V7 to V8 two years ago. Our intention, as the central support group, was to handle the conversion in a manner so as to not take any office offline for more than three days to a week. When it was all done, we wanted to be able to say to each of the 400 staff, “You’re a V8 user in one week and working as easily as you did one week ago.” Simply put, we wanted to accomplish the conversion and maintain the business function. I think we did that.

MST: How did you pull it off?
Greg: We planned ahead, developed our own conversion tools and worked within each site’s time constraints. Prior to conversion, we gave users a “hit list” of tasks to do to clean up their files. We left the legacy data intact, bringing it forward only as necessary. In a matter of days, we converted all the project files at any given district and updated them to a revised naming convention, plus re-referenced all of them. Our system worked great 85% of the time. When it didn’t work, there was usually file corruption or shared cells were being randomly created. That’s where Axiom tools came in.
I guess you could say that Global File Changer, SpecChecker and FileFixer are “the big three” in terms of our agency’s use. They give my users the greatest amount of independence. With these Axiom tools, users don’t have to go looking elsewhere for help.

MST: Did you have an army working on this initiative?
Greg: A team of four guys did most of it. My part was coming up with the level convention and translation methodology. Our programmer coded the VBA so it could be tailored on the fly to suit a specific district’s needs. [Editor's note: Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is used for developing Windows interfaces and is widely used for in-house application program development.] Another member of the team rewrote all the GEOPAK tools to work with the new structure. Everybody took their turn as trainers, conducting one-day, on-site user training sessions. A team of two to three guys would go to a site and do the training and conversion activities. Others remained in the main office to handle new issues and support the on-site team. By rolling things out in this way and including tools and education to minimize the learning curve, we were able to maintain the same level of productivity under the new standard [MicroStation V8] for each of our functional groups.

MST: What was the most successful part of the whole process?
Greg: Pre-planning. We took a realistic look at what our user base would require. We published what we were doing and how we were doing it to all involved, including consultants. We took their input and modified the process as needed. The result was agreed upon and workable for everyone. All in all, it took about nine months of planning and nine months to execute a full implementation of MicroStation V8.

MST: That’s well done! Can you tell us about some of the day-to-day problems you encounter in your position?
Greg: MNDOT has a fairly stable CAD environment. We have the burden of legacy data that has evolved through different file versions, different CAD standards, different user tendencies and different delivery requirements. Most of our problems occur in two general ways. First, files go corrupt. Second, users apply valid processes on files but in an undesired order and the data becomes disorganized.

MST: Have you used Axiom tools to deal with these problems?
Greg: Yes. Axiom’s FileFixer provides us with a method for resolving unknown corruption and provides the individual user the ability to personally handle known corruption. It shortens the turnaround time for problem resolution since we don’t have to escalate it to higher-level support channels. Global File Changer provides the individual user with tools to selectively update legacy data to our current standard. Also, with shared “standard” Global File Changer key files, our users can correct known undesirable conditions in otherwise non-corrupt data. Lastly, Axiom’s SpecChecker has allowed our Right of Way groups to share a common tool for evaluation of their mapping, prior to submission for review. [Editor's note: "Right of Way" is a division of roadway design in Department of Transportation agencies.]

MST: What sort of work has brought you to where you are today?
Greg: I started as a pen and ink draftsman in the Bridge office. Then I went to the Photogrammetrics unit. [Editor's note: Photogrammetry is the process of making maps or scale drawings from photographs, especially aerial photographs.] After that, I joined the Central Support group. I’ve supported GEOPAK for several years, but now I focus on the MicroStation, Iplot, Descartes and Axiom products. Currently, I also manage Central Office’s CAD servers, MNDOT’s CAD data standards, licensing and installation. I am now working on an MNDOT project to evaluate Bentley’s ProjectWise.

MST: What do you predict will be the “next big thing” in CAD?
Greg: One thing I would like is to see is a uniform, comprehensive and fully open-source file format. Or, it may be useful for general application and file efficiency to have a series of stepped file formats, such as a very low-level “sketch” standard, a slightly higher 2D standard, then a 3D standard and finally a 4D standard. That way, a user at a low technical capability (but perhaps high visionary level) could generate a sketch that was passed up to a 2D design for general development or to 3D design for more of a modeling look and finally to a 4D standard for a walk-through. In addition, that same drawing could be passed back down the chain so the original “sketcher” can view the end result of the design process locally on his system, in a familiar format and presentation method. Either fantasy would be nice.

MST: What would you like to be doing in ten years?
Greg: Visiting small towns in Spain, Portugal, Oregon, Newfoundland and just hanging out — maybe painting and definitely doing some biking. I buy lottery tickets whenever it gets over $200,000,000. (That could cover retirement.) Otherwise, I will probably be biking locally and pretending to be a tourist in the Twin Cities. Places seem a lot nicer when I’m “on vacation”.

MST: Thanks, Greg.

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BE Conference: Bentley Empowered 2007

Saturday, 7 July 2007

Axiom attends Bentley’s BE 2007 conference.

Bentley’s Senior Vice President, Bhupinder Singh, enlightens guests on ProjectWise.

Axiom’s TJ (center) with Carolyn Seritt (left) and Donna Perry (right) of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Axiom’s Chris Borales tells Hermanino Conde, from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, all about DgnQuickPick.

Axiom’s Oscar Albornoz and Chris Borales conducting a lively presentation to a group of attendees

Jennifer Fajardo and Mike Arroyo wow the crowd with Axiom’s product demos.

Everyone wants their picture taken with Oscar and Chris.

The Exhibit Hall displayed the 2007 BE Award Nominees.

The Axiom gang breaks loose and “rides”.

Axiom’s Vice President for Learning, Mike Arroyo, demonstrates LearningBay to Doug Crockwell.

Chris Borales and Oscar Albornoz captivate BE attendees with a thought-provoking demonstration of Toolkit.

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Tips & Tricks — Replace text strings with Global File Changer.

Saturday, 7 July 2007

By Rick Sewell, Customer Support
Global File Changer is exactly what it sounds like. This thing can bulk modify just about anything in multiple design files and fast. It is my personal favorite Axiom product due to its amazing versatility.

While it is true that Global File Changer is incredibly multifaceted, the single most utilized feature by far is its ability to bulk modify text. Global File Changer allows you to change a number of text attributes such as font, justification, size and so on. However, the most commonly desired text-changing feature, in my experience, is the ability to replace an existing text string with a new text string. For this reason, I wanted to write it down for all to use.

Replacing text with Global File Changer
For this example, let’s say “Linkin Street” was misspelled as “Lincoln Street”:

  • Load Global File Changer from the Axiom pull-down menu.

Global File Changer’s main dialog box is jam-packed with goodies. Its bulk-file-changing capabilities are limited only by your imagination.

  • From the Global File Changer main dialog box, choose Custom|Modify text… and then select the “Replace Text” tab.
  • In the field labeled “Search string”, enter “Lincoln”. In the field labeled “Replacement string”, enter “Linkin”.

Global File Changer’s Modify text dialog box allows you to replace a text string with another text string in multiple design files at the touch of a button.

  • Since Global File Changer has the ability to process more than one set of search and replace parameters, it is necessary to confirm what you have entered into “Search string” and “Replace string” fields. Press the <Add> button to commit your entries to the list.
  • Choose File|Save As… to load the “Save Modify Text File” dialog box. Enter a name and then navigate to a convenient location to save your text change parameters. Then press <Save>.
  • Press the <OK> button to return to the main Global File Changer dialog box.
  • The “Key-in File:” field will automatically filled in the command needed to change your text, based on the parameter file you created. Ensure that the “Design Files:” field lists the files you intend to process and the “Report File:” field contains the path and file name for the report file you want created.
  • Press <Start>!

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FileFixer conquers the expanding universe of MicroStation design file corruption.

Saturday, 7 July 2007

Keep your projects on schedule. (Time travel not necessary.)

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Any long-time MicroStation veteran has encountered their share of corrupted V7 design files. As you migrate to MicroStation V8, get ready to teleport into the expanding universe of V8 file corruption — complete with previously unseen alien categories of V8 file corruption.

Ah, the simple life – V7 elements are stored nose-to-tail in each V7 design file. Not so under V8 – FileFixer has its work cut out!

Why is it V8 elements fall off the edge of the design plane? How is it possible a V8 element’s level could disappear? Why can’t we make that model active? Why can’t MicroStation open that V8 file?

No one encountered these extraterrestrial manifestations of design file corruption prior to MicroStation V8. But sure enough, when MicroStation users move to V8, they routinely report to Axiom entirely new species of V8 file corruption never witnessed in V7 files.

Welcome to the expanding universe of V8 design file corruption.

There are two distinct versions of FileFixer. FileFixer for V7 specializes in analysis and repair of V7 design files. FileFixer for V8 specializes in analysis and repair of V8 design files.

It wouldn’t be accurate to say that FileFixer for V8 is “FileFixer for V7 adapted for V8″. FileFixer for V8 was re-created from the ground up to specialize in the entirely new V8 file format. FileFixer for V8′s user interface is similar to the V7 version to ease user transition to V8. But under the hood, the two applications are quite different.

FileFixer for V8′s capabilities have evolved to handle the expanding universe of V8 file corruption — greatly exceeding the scope of FileFixer for V7.

Internally, V7 design files contain a series of lines, circles, shapes, text and other graphical and non-graphical data — all arranged nose to tail. Like a stack of pancakes.

V8 files are entirely different. Internally, each V8 file consists of numerous subfolders and subfiles.

And on top of that, all V8 elements are subjected to additional alien technology. The lines, circles, text (and other graphical and non-graphical elements) in V8 design files are compressed (much like ZIP files).
Because V8 elements are nestled in subfolders and subfiles and are compressed, the scope of potential V8 file corruption is three times more extensive than V7.
Here’s why:

  • V8 subfolders and subfiles can be corrupted. MicroStation can’t access your graphical elements if the file’s subfolders or subfiles are damaged. This is an entirely new category of corruption found only in MicroStation V8 files.
  • Compressed portions of a V8 file can be corrupted. MicroStation can’t access your elements if they can’t be decompressed. This is an entirely new category of corruption found only in MicroStation V8 files.
  • The original V7 “universe” of file corruption remains at the core of V8 file corruption. The entirety of the V7 corruption universe is now only one-third of the V8 corruption universe.

V8 design files contain a tree of subfolders and subfiles (increasing the complexity of the internal storage and the number of ways things can go wrong).

Fortunately, Axiom’s been busy and FileFixer for V8 has conquered the universe of corruption.

FileFixer for V7 enhancements continue concurrently as well. The FileFixer developers work like genius hummingbirds to keep up with the influx of customer-submitted corrupt V7 and V8 design files.

MicroStation/J and V7 design files are alive and well.
Brace yourself for some “tough love”. What you don’t know about V7 design file corruption can hurt you (and delay projects and reduce profits).

Remember the familiar MicroStation/J error dialog “End of file missing, attempt repair?”

You’ll never see MicroStation V8 display that error dialog for a V7 file (even if the end of file is missing). If you attempt to upgrade a V7 file with that type of corruption to V8, MicroStation V8 will truncate the file without warning and without your permission. No error is reported. The V7 to V8 upgrade appears successful (no error messages), but the majority of your file might be missing! This is arguably the most treacherous step in transitions to V8 — one or many design file assets might be truncated without warning. MicroStation users need to be aware of this!

Have you seen this legendary error message lately? If not, keep reading!

Fortunately, Axiom provides the optimum solution. Analyze your V7 files with FileFixer for V7 before migrating them to V8. Let FileFixer for V7 identify which files must be repaired before attempting to upgrade them to V8. This is the best guarantee your V7 files will reach V8 healthy and whole.

After successfully upgrading your V7 project files to V8 (thanks to FileFixer for V7), FileFixer for V8 takes over — keeping the expanding universe of file corruption under your control.

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