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MicroStation Tip Corner — MicroStation V8 XM keyboard shortcuts

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

This month, we will go over how to speed up your V8 design work using keyboard shortcuts.

You will notice that the toolbar icons have characters below them. These are the shortcut keys associated with each tool set.

Preferences dialog (under Workspace menu)

To take advantage of these shortcuts, you must first enable Position Mapping (Workspace | Preferences).

Each tool icon has a shortcut key associated with it.

When Position Mapping is enabled, you can press the shortcut key to bring up the menu associated with that character.

By pressing the shortcut key, <Q> in this case, you can load the associated toolbar menu. After loading the menu, you can press the number key associated with the tool to load that tool.

In addition, if you want to load the tool that is already showing in the toolbar (like the Place SmartLine tool in the example above), you can just press <Shift> and the shortcut key and the tool is activated directly.

By pressing the shortcut key and <Shift>, you can load the tool directly.

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New technology lets you analyze your MicroStation data in ways never before possible!

Friday, 3 April 2009

As Axiom’s founder and CEO, I have seen Axiom release a lot of products in the quarter century that we’ve been processing DGN files. But not since 1988′s introduction of FileFixer have I been this excited about a new product.

Instantly find — and zoom in on — any MicroStation element (or elements) in any design file in your current project or at your whole site.

CadExplorer does so much that has never before been possible, that I’ll probably leave you with the wrong idea of what it does if I don’t get you to read the whole article. (As just ONE example, what if you wanted to be able to instantly generate a list of every cell at your site named “High-Voltage Transformer” that doesn’t have a cell named “Warning Sign” within three feet of it?) So please humor me and read the entirety of this article. The most important part of this article (by far) is near the end, where I talk about YOU. It’s only after you read down to there that the uniqueness of CadExplorer will become apparent.

How would you like to be able to interactively find, analyze, explore, report on and take advantage of your MicroStation data in ways never before possible? Just a few of the many things you can do with CadExplorer include:

  • Instantly find, using any combination of common MicroStation element characteristics, any MicroStation element (or elements) in any design file in a project or at an entire site.
    You can instantly find elements using any combination of color, level, weight, text content, cell name, tag data, element size and many other element attributes. (This feature is sometimes called “Google for MicroStation”.) Like Google, you can interactively refine your search and again get instant results. Additionally, at the click of a button, CadExplorer will open the design file containing the found element or elements, zoom in on them and await your further instructions.
  • Instantly and interactively search all the design files in any project or at your entire site for elements that violate CAD standards.
    When you find something that seems non-standard — say a few design files with the wrong working units — you can interactively drill down and perform more detailed analysis on these files to determine what they have in common. Were they all last modified around the same time? Do they all contain a model named “Plumbing”? Do they all contain a level named “Subcontractor X’s Level”? Do they all reside in the same folder? You’ll be able to interactively explore, investigate and drill down into anything you find in your design files that “doesn’t make sense”.
  • Find all kinds of oddball errors.
    For example, you could instantly get a report of every level name at your site that appears in only one design file. (How much do you want to bet that it’s spelled wrong in that one file?) If there is anything else you can imagine that there should never be exactly one of, you can look for that too. Why not ask CadExplorer to show all the cells that appear anywhere in your design files only once? Quickly scan through the list of these used-only-once cells. How many of them are misspelled or non-standard versions of the cell that should have been used instead? Not sure what one of those cells is? Just click a button and CadExplorer will instantly open up the design file or cell library containing the odd cell and zoom right in on it so you can see for yourself exactly what is going on.
  • Find all kinds of oddball duplicates.
    Got a series of maps where all the text on level “Legal” is the legal description of a parcel of land? No two parcels of land can have the same legal description; right? Ask CadExplorer to display all duplicate text strings in all the design files of your project and you’ll instantly see a list of all the parcels where your designer copied a parcel number intending to change the last couple of digits, but then forgot to make the change.
  • See how your reference files are being used. Instantly see a list of all your design files and which reference files they use.
    Or see a list of each reference file followed by a list of all the design files that include it. The data you get is similar to a RefManager report only the data is available instantly and interactively, without having to wait for RefManager to scan all your design files to accumulate the data.
  • Get an instant report of how many times each cell is included in a certain set of design files.
    Interactively filter (and refilter) the data to your heart’s content. For example, you might want to count only the instances of the cells that appear on certain levels, or in certain models.
  • Find out stuff that you can think of and we can’t.
    The above are just a tiny few, not-terribly-creative examples of the ways you can explore, investigate and report on your MicroStation data. You’re the guy on the CAD battlefield fighting the daily fight. You’re the guy who knows what kind of information you need. The questions you want to ask tomorrow are probably totally different than the questions you’ll want to ask today. That’s why we designed CadExplorer to make it easy for you to interactively ask it almost any question you can imagine about your MicroStation elements, models and files. The examples we gave above pale in comparison to the creative, brilliant and urgent tasks you and your staff will useCadExplorer for.

All of the above are things you can do with CadExplorer right out of the box (but wait, I still haven’t come to the good part).

How is it possible to do all these things instantly and interactively?
CadExplorer has a lot in common with Google. Just as Google constantly scans the Internet, building a database of every webpage it finds, CadExplorer constantly scans all of your design files to maintain a database of all your MicroStation elements and models. CadExplorer’sdatabase is a live, up-to-date mirror (cache) of your actual MicroStation data (which still resides in your design files, exactly where you left it). Your actual MicroStation files are not moved or modified in any way. CadExplorer constantly gathers all the data it needs invisibly. Once you’ve set it up, it does its job totally automatically.

Okay, here comes the good part I’ve been promising you. Once CadExplorer has made all of your MicroStation data instantly accessible, there is practically no limit to what you can do with this data. Axiom can quickly and inexpensively create custom applets to do almost anything your specific site wants to do with this brand-new, never-before-available tool. For example, we could create web applets that let your users instantly query anything you can imagine about your MicroStation data, analyze and massage the results any way you want and display it in a web browser formatted any way you want.

What if your procurement manager wants to receive an automated e-mail the minute your architectural project requires more than 144 “Anti-glare XYZ” windows?

What if, for whatever reason, you wanted every model in your project to have a unique model name? Designer Joe creates a model with a model name that already exists in your project. Joe closes the design file with the illegal model name. A custom CadExplorer application written for you by Axiom automatically sends a text message to your cellphone. And the next thing Joe knows, you’re tapping him on the back.

What if you want your users to be able to click on a custom MicroStation tool button that instantly shows them a list of all the cells in any cell library anywhere at your site, which contains a piece of text containing the substring “Door Detail” on level “Annotation”?

What if you wanted to be able to instantly generate a list of every cell at your site named “High-Voltage Transformer” that doesn’t have a cell named “Warning Sign” within three feet of it?

These may be awful, unrealistic examples. If they are, the reason is simply this: We are not YOU! You are the ultimate world authority on what your site needs. There is no one on Earth more qualified than you to figure out how to create ways of taking advantage of this brand-new technology. The only thing we are trying to accomplish with these admittedly oversimplified examples is to provide a little food for your creative imagination. You tell us what you want — and we’ll create the custom application that does it.

The most exciting product since FileFixer
In the nearly quarter of a century that Axiom has been serving the MicroStation community, no product has ever excited me as much as CadExplorer. Even FileFixer, the best-selling MicroStation add-on since 1988, pales in comparison to the spectacular, time-saving, productivity-boosting benefits I expect CadExplorer to bring to the MicroStation community.

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Fix dead design files fast!

Saturday, 7 February 2009

New release now works with V8i

Clearwater, Florida, USA — When design file corruption slows your project down — or worse, brings it to a halt — you don’t have time to mess around. You need the file salvaged now! You need help. FileFixer for V8 gives you that help fast. The latest version from Axiom handles MicroStation V8i files too.

FileFixer continues the tradition of repairing corruption by adding support for design files created by the latest MicroStation version, V8i.

Have you ever had a design file that wouldn’t open? Have you ever been frustrated with MicroStation elements or models that behaved oddly? Have you ever had problems with plotting? For over 20 years, FileFixer has been the tool of choice for CAD managers and CAD users alike to fix these issues. FileFixer gives you the exact technical data you need to understand what’s wrong with your MicroStation V8, XM and V8i files and to fix them fast!

When you run FileFixer, it generates a hyperlinked report. Clicking on a link in the report takes you to the exact user’s guide paragraph you need, speeding your full understanding of the problem, so you can fix your design file that much faster. Here’s how it works: Say you’ve got a project deadline on your hands and a dead design file that FileFixer is reporting as having error “619″. [Editor's note: FileFixer for V8 reports error 619 for elements which have one or more coordinates dangerously close to or outside the design plane or cube.] You probably don’t have a lot of time to study up on the different forms of file corruption, because your boss wants the project done now! The great thing is there’s no research required! Just click on one of the report’s hyperlinked error numbers and a detailed explanation of that error is displayed on your screen. These report hyperlinks provide the shortcut that power users have come to depend on. Of course, if you’re really in a hurry or you don’t need to understand the problem — you just want it fixed — you can still ignore the report entirely and just let FileFixer work its magic automatically. The choice is yours.

In addition to the hyperlinks in the reports, specific help like this is also available for all FileFixer’s settings dialog boxes such as General Settings, Search Settings, Repair Settings and so on.

Using its default settings, FileFixer can detect and repair the vast majority of design file corruption automatically. But let’s face it, design file corruption is infinitely diverse. Any bit, containing “0″ or “1″, out of the millions of bits in a large design file, can potentially contain the wrong value and corrupt the file. To handle this broad range of potential corruption, MicroStation users may need to use FileFixer’s non-default search or repair settings to fully salvage a file. Each of FileFixer’s search and repair settings are thoroughly described in its user’s guide, including advice for when each setting should be used. But what’s the fastest way to find the exact search or repair setting needed to bring a corrupted file back to life?

Each FileFixer settings dialog box includes a help button that immediately displays the relevant section of the FileFixer user’s guide. Instant access to the precise help you need!

With FileFixer, you will never be more than a mouse click away from the exact help you need in order to understand why a design file is misbehaving and what to do about it.

When solving design file problems caused by corruption, FileFixer context-sensitive help is always just a click away.

Smart CAD managers know FileFixer is not just for emergencies. That’s because you can also use FileFixer for preventative maintenance. By simply scheduling regular searches for problems in all of a project’s design files, FileFixer can detect and handle damaged files before they impact projects.

Entirely new forms of file corruption have been discovered in V8 files submitted to Axiom by MicroStation users. FileFixer is the only application that can open and salvage the most severely corrupted design files. There is no other solution.

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Easily modify all your MicroStation tags with just a few mouse-clicks.

Saturday, 7 February 2009

By Rick Sewell
It seemed a typical day as I manned Axiom’s Technical Support phone lines. Calls were coming in with the usual questions. Yes, Global File Changer will replace cells in all of your files in one shot. Yes, FileFixer will repair your file. Then I received a call from a fellow with a question that was quite out of the ordinary.

Changing tags in hundreds or thousands of design files can be done quickly and easily if you have the right tool.

He was looking for something that would allow him to extract tag values from his design files to an external database and also allow him to manage the tag values from there. He needed to do this not on just a single project either but “thousands of DGN files,” he said. “A real, hairy-monster of a job.”

My first thought was that we could likely custom program something to do the job. I didn’t know of any Axiom tools out of the box that would do it. Needing more information in order to give the problem a proper assessment, I had the customer send me some sample files to analyze.

As I opened each sample DGN file, I noticed that all the files were nearly identical. Each file contained a series of cells with five tags associated with each cell. They looked like a bunch of baby title blocks. Title blocks? That’s it! Title Block Manager has the ability to extract tags directly from MicroStation and copy them into Microsoft Excel! [Editor's note: "Tags" are database-like elements that may be attached to graphical elements in design files in order to provide more information about the graphical element (or elements) tagged. Tags can be displayed graphically.]

Just as the name indicates, Title Block Manager was designed to handle title blocks. The initial Title Block Manager release didn’t handle tags. However, it was later discovered that a number of customers used tags in their standard title blocks. To accommodate those users, we enhanced Title Block Manager to extract selected tag values (instead of extracting only regular Title Block Manager text elements from title blocks). This is when the universe opened up.

The new tag handling feature in Title Block Manager isn’t limited to just handling tags in title blocks. It allows you to extract tag values from any tag set in any set of design files! It’s like we have another application entirely living inside of Title Block Manager. We should call it “Tag Manager”. [Editor's note: A "tag set" is a set of associated tags. Each and every tag is part of a tag set.]

Check it out. Figure 1 shows some tag values within a DGN file. In this file, the tag values represent unit numbers in an apartment building.

Figure 1. In this sample design file, the number on each apartment door is a value of a tag. With the right tool, you can extract all your tag values from all your DGN files and have them automatically entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Once there, you can quickly modify as many tag values as you like and put them back into your design file.

This design file contains six occurrences of a tag set (the same tag set is attached to each apartment door). This particular tag set contains three tags. One of these tag names is “Unit Number”. Each tag in a tag set can be given a different value. In this case, the tag values of each of the six “Unit Number” tags are “101″, “102″ “103″, “201″, “202″ and “203″.

Title Block Manager will take each of these values and place them elegantly into a spreadsheet (or a database) by creating a row in the database for each occurrence of each tag set that was placed in the DGN file. Figure 2 shows the actual tag data extracted from the sample design file. Each row in Figure 2 is a record of an instance of a tag set attached to an element. Column B, with the header “TBlockID”, contains the name of the tag set (in this simple example, we are using only one tag set, named “Apartment”). The next column shows the element ID number of the element that was tagged. The heading of each of the next three columns (in Figure 2) contains the name of each tag in the tag set. Notice that the tag set “Apartment” contains three tag names — “Unit Number”, “Size” and “Resident”. Each tag name becomes a column heading in the Excel spreadsheet. Within each field under each tag name, you see the value of that tag for the given element. For example, for element number 461 (the lower left apartment door), the tag value for tag name “Unit Number” is “101″. For that same element, the tag value for tag name “Size” is “2-Bedroom”, and so on.

Figure 2. Title Block Manager automatically, elegantly places all of the essential tag data into an Excel spreadsheet.

You can process all your design files and have a complete library of all the tags used in your files. Being able to do that is pretty impressive. But that’s just the half of it. You can also modify your tag values in the spreadsheet and write the modifications back to your design files!

In Figure 3, I’ve changed all the tag values listed in the spreadsheet under the “Unit Number” column heading from “101″, “102″, “103″, “201″, “202″ and “203″ to “1A”, “1B”, “1C”, “2A”, “2B” and “2C, respectively.

Figure 3. Title Block Manager lets you quickly change tag values in Excel and then easily write them back to your design files (compare the above to the values for “Unit Number” in Figure 2)

With nothing more than a few mouse-clicks, Title Block Manager will write the newly changed values back to the design file. Here is the result (Figure 4):

Figure 4. Tag values are updated in all your design files in about one second per design file modified.

Remember, you can process all your design files here. So go get your tag-laden design files and start having some fun with them.

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MicroStation V7 tips from Lee Wilson of Day & Zimmermann

Saturday, 7 February 2009

This month’s tips come from Lee Wilson. Lee is the CAD manager at Day & Zimmermann in Kingsport, Tennessee. Thank you for sending us in your tips, Lee!

Lee Wilson, CAD manager at Day & Zimmermann, Kingsport, Tennessee.

Back to center
Ever had a dimension extension line cover up a centerline? It is possible to turn the display of a dimension extension line on and off by using the key-in “CHANGE DIMENSION EXTENSION” and picking the element (in this case an extension line). It also works with selection sets.

To turn a dimension extension line on or off, type in “CHANGE DIMENSION EXTENSION” and select the extension line.

This will enable you to turn those extension lines off and not have to drop the dimension.

To turn a dimension extension line on or off, type in “CHANGE DIMENSION EXTENSION” and select the extension line.

It works as a toggle, so if you want to turn it back on, just click the missing extension line.

Quick copy without the fence
Ever wanted to copy a certain element or set of elements without using a fence? Using the Element Selection tool, you can pick multiple elements to copy by holding the <Ctrl> key while you select the elements. After you have selected all the elements you want to copy, press <Ctrl-C> to copy. Then, press <Ctrl-V> to paste. This will place the elements from the center point.

To go a step further, you can place a tentative point on the selection set, then press <Ctrl-C>. This procedure will place the items on your clipboard from that tentative point you selected. As long as you keep this session of MicroStation open, this can be pasted to any design file by pressing <Ctrl-V>.

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

Sunday, 1 February 2009

By Rick Sewell
Global File Changer is exactly what it sounds like. This thing can change just about anything in your 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 change text. Global File Changer allows you to change a number of text attributes such as font, justification and size to name a few. 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.

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

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

  • First, load Global File Changer from the Axiom pull-down menu.
  • 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”.
  • 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 the “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 be filled in with 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>!

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.

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How to save time and increase profits

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

Taking the CAD manager’s power to a whole new level

Clearwater, Florida, USA — “Companies like ours are under enormous pressure and are trying to ‘fast-track’ projects by leveraging and re-using existing design data.

Axiom’s enterprise-level programs such as Global Workspace Manager boost production and save time.

“I was asked to ‘convert’ approximately 200 drawings for re-use in a new project. The project manager unsuccessfully tried to find and replace the new project numbers manually in a trial-run. He was skeptical when I told him I could make all of the changes in one afternoon.

“It took me less than 3 hours to process all 200 drawings. To do this manually would probably have taken us weeks! Instead of being slightly behind schedule, the project is now a few weeks ahead of schedule!

“Axiom products have saved us hundreds of hours in time!”
— C.A., CAD Manager

Since Axiom’s 2008 introduction of MicroStation Acceleration Garage (a cost-efficient package of nearly all of Axiom’s time-saving software products and e-learning courses plus an entirely new line of enterprise-level, productivity-boosting applications), CAD managers have discovered that combining time-saving MicroStation add-ons with effective training leads to huge savings and more company profits.

MicroStation Acceleration Garage includes e-learning!
Axiom’s self-paced MicroStation, GEOPAK and InRoads training courses are also included in MicroStation Acceleration Garage. Users can now learn from MicroStation, GEOPAK and InRoads gurus without wasting valuable production time traveling around the country or sitting in a course room. In fact, any user can learn new skills or brush up on existing knowledge without leaving his or her desk!
“We had an employee who hadn’t touched CAD in 7 years — and she had only used AutoCAD. We got your MicroStation V8 Essentials CD and she started training with it. Within two weeks she was doing billable work. It was very impressive. We are very happy with the training.” — D. L., CAD Manager

V7 and V8 Toolkit applications in a single package for the first time
Axiom’s V7 and V8 Toolkits have never been offered together before — this is a first for the MicroStation Acceleration Garage. MicroStation Acceleration Garage also includes Axiom applications which have never been part of Toolkit before: Title Block Manager, English-to-Metric and RasterDgn are included!

Global Workspace Manager, an enterprise-level application, allows CAD managers to modify any machine’s settings, copy settings from one workstation to another and move standard files and projects between workstations or servers without leaving their desk.

Manage every MicroStation workspace without leaving your desk
MicroStation Acceleration Garage also includes new enterprise-level MicroStation applications, taking the CAD manager’s power to an entirely new level.

Tired of trying to figure out which workstations are running which version of MicroStation? Losing time due to having to personally walk (or drive) to inspect the workspaces of each of your designers? Too much re-work having to be done due to wrong workspace settings on some machines? The first of the new enterprise-level applications can actually manage dozens, hundreds or thousands of MicroStation workspaces, all from one computer. It’s called Global Workspace Manager and is included in Garage.

Global Workspace Manager allows CAD managers to analyze, manage, modify and control every workspace they have. With Global Workspace Manager, CAD managers no longer have to guess who is working on which project, hope that they’re using the correct resources and pray that something doesn’t go wrong with a MicroStation installation or workspace that one of their users is working with. Now, without leaving their desks, CAD managers can monitor who is working on each specific project, verify that the correct project or company standard CAD resources are being used for each project and make changes to the workspaces including all of the configuration files. It also allows CAD managers to copy an entire project along with all its resources (seed files, DGN Libs, fonts, line styles, color tables, etc.) to another network server or to an individual computer. Global Workspace Manager shows which MicroStation versions are installed on each workstation, shows when projects were last worked on, shows who has worked on each project (this helps planning for allocating manpower) and compares several machines to easily pinpoint errors on a specific workstation. Global Workspace Manager lets a CAD manager view and control any MicroStation environment variable in any MicroStation workspace on any computer in his company that MicroStation is installed on without leaving his desk.

If Google and MicroStation had a baby, what would you get?
Shhhhh. Don’t tell anyone about this one just yet. It’s still a secret. Here’s an inside scoop on another of those new enterprise-level applications that is about to hit the MicroStation universe (and AutoCAD too, for that matter). How would you like to have instant access to just about anything you can imagine regarding your design files? How would you like this access not just in your local CAD shop, but anywhere in your company? How would you like to find, for example, all instances of “Main Street” in all project files — instantly? And once you found them all, how would you like MicroStation to zoom in on any instance of one and show it to you — instantly? How about getting an instant count of every instance of cell “Transformer 211″ in every design file at your site?

How about being able to instantly find every instance of a cell named “Oil Well” close to a piece text containing “Dallas” everywhere in your whole corporation? Proximity searching is just one of the many features of this new product.

What should we call it? Global EdG one customer suggested, but we’re still debating. We welcome your suggestions.

Coming to a MicroStation Acceleration Garage near you in 2009.

Want to save time and look like a genius at the same time?
If you’re a CAD manager or MicroStation user who is interested in saving time and increasing productivity in the coming year, you should attend a free, on-line demonstration of the suite of products included with MicroStation Acceleration Garage.

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Optimizing MicroStation workspaces for faster production

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

Part two in series of articles on how to customize workspaces to make your life easier

Clearwater, Florida, USA — Do you sometimes find yourself groping around trying to locate the resources (such as fonts, text styles, line styles, macros, seed files and dimension styles) needed for a design file? MicroStation workspaces can greatly improve productivity and help ensure that the correct resources are being used for each project. In the last article, we discussed workspace components including the user configuration file, the project configuration file and the user interface. [Editor's note: See MicroStation Today, Volume 15, Issue 12.] We also touched on configuration variables. This article adds to your knowledge of workspaces, which will help you get your projects done faster.

Figure 1. You can easily select which customized workspace to use by selecting various workspace components before opening your design file. This can reduce errors by ensuring that correct resources are used for a particular design session.

Workspace benefits
Anyone working on more than one project will benefit from optimizing workspaces. If there’s more than one person working on the same project, the benefits will be compounded. Improved productivity and quality are two benefits of a well-designed workspace.
When using a correctly configured workspace, MicroStation can automatically make available to you the correct levels, cells, line styles, seed files and fonts as a default choice. You don’t have to remember where resources are stored for a particular project or go digging through a bunch of directories. MicroStation workspaces can be used to pre-configure many of the choices that CAD users are confronted with on a daily basis. The time spent on the front-end to set up workspaces is more than recovered later when using these workspaces.

Getting started with workspaces
[Editor's note: If you are not familiar with configuration files, please see part 1 of this series — MicroStation Today, Volume 15, Issue 12.] Be sure to make a backup of your original files and don’t make changes that will affect other users unless you are authorized by the powers that be.

When MicroStation starts up, it processes configuration files in a predefined sequence. The various files are grouped into “configuration levels”. These levels are then processed one at a time. Configuration files contain the information that MicroStation uses to set up workspaces. The various configuration levels are the system level, the application level, the site level, the user level and the project level. (See Figure 2.) We’ll go through each of these levels in this article.

MicroStation processes the information in a particular order which gives you (or your CAD manager) the exact control needed to set up a workspace that is customized for your needs. In this article, we will explore the configuration levels and see how we can put them to use.

The system level sets the stage.
The first level processed by MicroStation is the system level. Many MicroStation variables are set at this level. For example, the variable “MSDIR” stores the path to the location of the MicroStation application (“ustation.exe”). This variable and many other system variables are used in defining other variables that tell MicroStation in which directory to look for various files. By having a starting point, or root directory, other directories can be located by using a path that is relative to the root directory. Bentley warns against modifying settings at this level. Instead, it recommends that you do your customization in subsequent levels. If you ever have to re-install MicroStation, customizations done in system files would be lost as configuration files on the system level are overwritten by default when reinstalling MicroStation. (Here’s a fun fact: a default installation of MicroStation V8i has 202 unique, system-level MicroStation variables.)

Enhancing MicroStation with applications
The next configuration level processed is the application level. MicroStation processes all “.cfg” files that reside in the “C:Program FilesBentleyMicroStationconfigappl” directory. This is where MicroStation searches for configuration files of applications that work with MicroStation. This would include many of the applications in Axiom’s MicroStation Acceleration Garage such as FileFixer and Title Block Manager. Generally, this level is reserved for applications that enhance MicroStation.

Working with company standards
Site level configuration files are processed next. This is the level where you would customize your configuration to the company or workgroup standards. Any “.cfg” file that resides in the “C:Program FilesBentleyWorkspaceStandards” directory is processed by MicroStation. At this level, you might want to create a file called YourCompany.cfg. In this file, you could customize variables that direct MicroStation to look on a file server for resources that have been standardized. Using a centralized location to store standardized resources helps to ensure that CAD standards are maintained.

Increasing user production with the right interface and tools
The next level that gets processed by MicroStation is the user level. The user configuration file (“.ucf”) that will be processed by MicroStation is selected in the “User” component of the MicroStation Manager dialog box.
Each time a user selects a different “Project” or “Interface” workspace component from the MicroStation Manager dialog box, that information is stored in the user’s configuration file. (The particular user configuration file that will be modified is the one set in the “User” setting in the MicroStation Manager dialog box.) By default, the user’s configuration file is stored in “C:Program FilesBentleyWorkspaceUsers”. Changes made to variables at the user level take precedence over any settings of those same variables on any other level unless the variable was locked in a previous level. A locked variable cannot be changed in subsequent levels. For instance, if a given variable is locked at the application level, then it can’t be changed at the site, user or project levels. (See Figure 2 for a summary of configuration levels.)

Figure 2. Configuration levels (processed in the order above) provide CAD managers and users the exact control they need to optimize their production.

Making sure project resources are used
The project level is the last level processed. The project level is designed to make changes that are specific to a project. This allows project-specific settings or resources to be predefined and available. This level is a big, underused productivity booster. Setting each project’s standards once in a project configuration file and using it over and over saves hours in making corrections to design files (because the wrong resources were used) and browsing around the network looking for project resources. You think that’s an exaggeration? What is the cost of twenty plots sent to the plotter using the wrong plot configuration file? Be sure to add in time and materials to re-plot.

The user gets to have the last word.
In general, a variable defined in a lower level will take precedence over the definition of that same variable in any level above it. For example, the value given to a certain variable at the site level will overwrite whatever value was assigned to that same variable at the system level. The one exception to this general rule is that the project level (which is processed last) cannot modify something set at the user level. In other words, if a given variable is set at both the user level and the project level, MicroStation will use the settings from the user level instead of the settings from the project level. In cases where a given variable is set at the system, application or site level and that same variable is also set at the project level (but not set at all on the user level), then MicroStation will use the setting from the project level for that variable.

Although this sounds odd (for a variable from an earlier level to override a variable from a later level), there is sound logic to this. MicroStation has to process the user level so that it knows which project is being worked on. Once a project has been identified at the user level, then MicroStation can process that particular project configuration file. Therefore, it has to process the user level before it processes the project level. Nonetheless, MicroStation considers that the variables set at the user level take precedence in the event that a given variable is set at both levels. This gives the user the final say on how his or her environment should be set up for optimum performance and efficiency.

How to prevent variables from being changed
If you do not want a subsequent level to modify a setting for a particular variable, then you can lock that variable. Once a variable is locked, later levels cannot unlock or modify it.

Most users do not need to write to or modify CAD standards files or settings, as the CAD manager would set these up. With MicroStation projects configured in a centralized location, all networked workstations will use the master copy of the project resources. Once set, these variables can then be locked by the CAD manager so that everyone uses the files in the centralized location. Anyone using a computer that will be used while not connected to the network will need to copy over the project resources to that computer. Axiom’s Global Workspace Manager can help with this task as it has the ability to copy a project configuration file, the project directory structure and supporting files like cell libraries, fonts and seed files for a particular project to any computer that is set up to work with Global Workspace Manager.

Putting the pieces together
Wow, we went over a lot very quickly. Here’s what we know:

  • MicroStation is configured (set up) through the use of configuration files that contain variables.
  • The variables can be defined (given a value) and changed at any configuration level.
  • You can also lock variables. Once a variable is locked, subsequent levels cannot change or unlock that variable.
  • Customizing the information on the various levels can dramatically increase productivity and reduce CAD standards violations.
  • MicroStation processes hundred of variables when it starts. Think of that while waiting for MicroStation to initialize.

In the next article in this series, we’ll show you some examples of how to set up specific variables that can greatly increase your production and cut down on wasted time.

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Tips & Tricks — How to use a configuration variable to customize the Axiom menu

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

By Rick Sewell
Often, it is beneficial to change what products are displayed on your Axiom pull-down menu for individual users or different classes of users working in different disciplines. It removes the potential confusion of what products are available to be used and restricts user access for any products that the Administrator does not want the user to use. The aximenu.cfg file lists what programs a particular user can choose from the Axiom menu.

While it’s beneficial for users to have the Axiom menu customized with just the products they will be using, Administrators need to have access to the full array of Axiom products. With that the case, you may find it advantageous to set up an aximenu.cfg file for the Administrator and one for each of the different types of users. This is not a difficult task and is described in detail below. Once you’ve modified the file, simply save it somewhere logical for you. If there are multiple users or Administrators that will use this menu, save it to a shared location. If it is only for a single user or Administrator, it may be best to save it to their local machine.

Making changes to your workspace configuration can significantly enhance your design environment.

How to use a configuration variable to load the Axiom menu
What displays on your Axiom pull-down menu is determined by the contents of a simple text file called “aximenu.cfg”. This file can be modified in various ways to customize the Axiom pull-down menu.

The aximenu.cfg file is located in the aximenu folder that is directly underneath your Axiom base directory (the location where you installed your Axiom products). The default location for the Axiom base directory for V7 is “C:Program FilesAxiomV7″ and for V8 the location is “C:Program FilesAxiomV8″. To modify the file, simply open it up with your favorite text editor and remove lines that you don’t want to appear in the menu. You can also change the order in which the menu items appear. When you’re done, simply save the file either to a shared location (if more than one person will be using this file) or to the local machine of the person who will be using it.
In order to load your modified aximenu.cfg file, you will need to set a configuration variable, “AXIMENU_CONFIG”, in MicroStation and enter the location of the modified file. By providing a path to the modified aximenu.cfg file, MicroStation will open the modified aximenu.cfg file instead of the aximenu.cfg file located in the default directory mentioned above. The steps on how to do this are shown below.

How to set the MicroStation configuration variable
Let’s say that your default aximenu.cfg file is located in “C:Program FilesAxiomV8″ and you have a modified file located in C:Bentley. If you want to be able to use the modified file, you would do the following steps:

  1. Load MicroStation and open a design file.
  2. Select Workspace|Configuration… and MicroStation’s Configuration Dialog box will open.
  3. Press the button labeled <New…> and the “New Configuration Variable” dialog box will come up.
  4. In the field labeled “Variable:” enter the variable name: AXIMENU_CONFIG
  5. In the field labeled “New Value:” enter the name and location for the aximenu.cfg file you want to use. In this case, we want to use the modified file in C:bentley, so enter the following:
    C:Bentleyaximenu.cfg as the new value.
  6. Press <OK> to exit this dialog box and then <OK> on the Configuration dialog box. You will be prompted with an Alert dialog box to “Save changes to your configuration file.” Press <Yes> to accept the changes.
  7. Restart MicroStation.

Select the Axiom pull-down menu and you’ll now see the menu as defined by the newly specified aximenu.cfg file.

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MicroStation's little-known secret saves massive amounts of time and money.

Monday, 8 December 2008

Greg McKinney shows how to save time and boost productivity in this series of articles on workspaces.

Clearwater, Florida, USA — In this series of articles, I provide power user tips (and some little-known inside data) on using workspaces that will save you time, increase your productivity and help maintain project standards.

Using incorrect resources can cost thousands — even tens of thousands — of dollars in lost production. Using workspaces correctly saves time and also helps ensure that project specifications are maintained.

As the product manager for Axiom’s new Global Workspace Manager, I have talked to many users over the years and am amazed at the number of people who are not aware of the amount of time they could save by correctly setting up workspaces. Some MicroStation users that I’ve spoken with simply use a workspace delivered to them by their client and have no idea why it works or what to do if something goes wrong. So first, let’s go over some basics.

What is a workspace?
A “workspace” is a MicroStation environment or configuration. Customizing workspaces on a per-project or per-user basis goes a long way in helping users comply with standards and increase production speed. It can reduce potential errors caused by using incorrect resources and also saves on mouse clicks. A basic workspace consists of a user configuration file, a project configuration file and a user interface.

Configuration files are text files that are processed by MicroStation when MicroStation is loaded and as it opens each design file. The user configuration file stores information specific to the user such as interface name and file-saving options. Interfaces are one of the workspace components selected from the main MicroStation window. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. Selecting pre-defined “User”, “Project” and “Interface” workspace components can save production time and help ensure compliance with project standards.

Once an interface has been selected, MicroStation writes that information to the user configuration file. The interface information will be used for all design files that the user opens, until a different interface is selected from the workspace components. Either an existing interface can be selected or, by selecting “New…” from the Interface drop-down menu, a new interface can be created. If “New…” is selected and a design file opened, the interface can be customized to show specific tool boxes, tool frames, menu items, view borders, view pop-ups, and palettes. (See Figure 2.) The customized interface can then be saved and used in different workspace environments.

Figure 2. From the Workspace menu (“1″ above), the workspace environment can be customized (“2″ above) to display tool boxes, tool frames, menu items and other settings a CAD manager or user wants. The customized interface can then be saved by clicking on the <Save> button so that it can be reused in different workspace environments.

Some companies use customized interfaces for specific disciplines (such as civil, electrical and plumbing), project-specific menus, tool frames or a combination of these. This is done using the Customize dialog box under the Workspace menu as described earlier.
The project configuration file stores information about the location of project-specific resources such as seed files, DGN libraries and reference files. The user interface stores customizations that control the appearance of toolboxes, pull-down menus and other interface settings.

The workspace components are selected from the MicroStation Manager dialog box when opening a MicroStation design file. When configured, these workspace components will make MicroStation dialog boxes open to the proper directory for selecting resources such as cell libraries, DGN libraries and reference files. Other resources like color tables, user preferences and interface settings can be set without requiring user interaction. Resources such as fonts, text styles, line styles, macros, seed files, and dimension styles will be picked from a list of choices that are approved for the project. The three workspace settings shown in Figure 1 are the only workspace interaction that most users will need. Behind the scenes is a whole world of ways to make your interaction with MicroStation a more productive — and pleasant — experience.

Working with configuration variables
Configuration variables contain user-defined information that MicroStation uses to customize your MicroStation working environment. (Examples are given later.) Configuration variables are stored in configuration files. MicroStation recognizes hundreds of configuration variables that affect the behavior of MicroStation. A simple example of a configuration variable is the MS_OPEN variable which controls the behavior of MicroStation V8 when a V7 design file is opened. Setting MS_OPENV7 = 2 will open a V7 design file as “read only” and not display an alert dialog box.
Anything that can be changed with the workspace is defined by a configuration variable. There are four main types of configuration variables:

  • Path variable — This variable specifies the directory or directories that store resources or that are to be searched when MicroStation is looking for specific resources.
  • Filename variable — This variable stores the location of a specific file or list of files.
  • Keyword variable — This variable contains a keyword such as “V7″ or “DGN”.
  • Boolean variable — This variable contains a “0″ (representing “off” or “no”) or a “1″ (for “on” or “yes”). For example, some variables (such as “MS_DESIGN_HISTORY_OWNERSHIP_WARNING” which specifies if the user should be prompted to confirm when opening a file that contains changes made by another user and not yet committed) only have two possible values. Either a user is prompted to confirm (value set to “1″) or not (value set to “0″).

Here’s a look at some real-world examples of using configuration variables. Let’s say that Urban Town Department of Transportation uses a pathname that is generally seven to nine folders deep. The path might look like this:
C:StandardsProjectsCityURBANDOT123456160RoadDesignMappingTopo

Aside from causing an exhausted mouse finger and wasting countless hours looking for project resources, this would drive me insane. If the CAD manager sets a few configuration variables like “MS_DEF” to specify the directory to search for design files and “MS_REF_DEFAULTATTACHDIRECTORY” to specify the directory that contains reference files, it will cut the file opening and referencing tasks down to a couple of clicks. These variables are set in the project configuration file. The project configuration file contains information that MicroStation uses to customize the working environment for a particular project.

Now let’s look at an example of working with multiple project configuration files. Joe’s a CAD manager who works on several different projects at a time. Throughout the course of a week, he switches back and forth between the various projects many times. If these projects have different standards and requirements (different project resources, for example), valuable time is lost changing configuration variables every time he switches from one project to another. The solution is to set up a project configuration file for each project. Each configuration file redefines the configuration variables so they are correct for each project. Each project configuration file has both a file name and a workspace name so that it can be selected from the Workspace drop-down menu later. Each time you open a design file, MicroStation uses the workspace configuration variables in the configuration file for that project to customize your working environment. Figure 3 shows an example of several projects that have been set up that a user could choose from.

Figure 3. Selecting a project from the MicroStation Manager dialog box with previously configured settings can save time when switching between projects with different standards and requirements.

Joe simply selects the correct project from the workspace pull-down menu and all his settings are pre-configured. No time is lost re-configuring color tables, fonts, DGN libraries, reference file paths and a whole “mess” of other settings when switching between projects.

As another example, one company that I worked with had several projects going at the same time that all used different font resource files. Users would tend to forget which font was supposed to be used for which project. The CAD manager would be called several times a week because someone else working on a machine had changed the settings, which changed the font resources needed for a particular project. The font problems would often go unnoticed for days. Sometimes it would go unnoticed until the project was plotted with the wrong fonts! Not only did correcting these mistakes take time, expensive plot media, like vellum or Mylar, had to be thrown away. This is the kind of problem that is easily solved by the CAD manager simply setting up project configuration files.

Setting up a project configuration file
So, how would a CAD or project manager change a project configuration file? Let’s say Bruce is a project manager who has users that keep compressing design files — which purges empty and unused levels and text styles from the files. (It’s fine to compress the design files, but if done before the design is complete, you will often lose things you would have needed later when designing, such as levels and text styles.) To prevent losing some needed levels and text styles, Bruce will need to set the compress options for “textstyles” and “levels” to “disabled”. He will also need to lock down the options so designers working on that project will not inadvertently change them and thereby compress these resources. Bruce can do this by opening the project configuration file and adding two statements to it. The steps to do this are as follows:

  1. Open the project configuration file, such as “nameofproject.pcf”, using your favorite text editor.
  2. Add a statement to disable the compressing of text styles and levels. The statement to do this is: MS_COMPRESS_OPTIONS = -TEXTSTYLES;-LEVELS # disabled due to wild users.
    The variable name is”MS_COMPRESS_OPTIONS.” This is followed by an equal sign (“=”). Next comes a list of items. In this case, the list is “TEXTSTYLES” and “LEVELS”. Each item in this example is preceded by a minus sign (“-”) indicating that this option will be disabled. A semi-colon (“;”) separates the items in the list. Finally, an optional comment can be added to the line by putting a pound sign (“#”) in front of the comment.
  3. Add another statement to lock the “MS_COMPRESS_OPTIONS” variable to prevent users from changing the compress options. The statement to do this is: %lock MS_COMPRESS_OPTIONS
  4. Save the project configuration file using your text-editing program.
  5. Finally, restart MicroStation.

You’re all set! Users working on this project will still be able to compress design files but doing so will no longer purge text styles and levels from the files. Users will also not be able to accidentally modify (or undo) the compress options you just set.
If you’re working with a number of users, I also highly recommend using Global Workspace Manager, which allows you to set and monitor (among other things) workspace components on any number of workstations — all from one location. [Editors Note: see "Manage every MicroStation setting on every MicroStation workstation without leaving your desk!" in this issue of MicroStation Today.] As a word of caution, before you start changing your configuration files, please be careful to follow the first three rules of customizing MicroStation.

  1. Always backup the original configuration files before you make any changes.
  2. Be sure that you have permission from your CAD manager.
  3. If you are the CAD manager, see rule number 1 above.

In the next article in this series, I’ll show you more ways to save time and increase productivity by modifying workspace configuration files.

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