Make unlimited changes to multiple design files quickly and easily!

Global File Changer  ™

 A component of MicroStation ® Acceleration Garage ™
 
 

Got Changes? No problem!

How many times have you found, at a late stage in a CAD project that something was done incorrectly and wouldn't be accepted until fixed? How many times does a customer just change their mind and insist that something must be changed, even though it wasn't explicitly stated in the specification? How good are your draftsmen, architects or engineers at leaving working project files set up properly for submittals or final delivery? All of these situations and many others result in time consuming and costly changes needing to be made throughout an entire set of design files.

The Efficient Solution

This is where Global File Changer and Axiom customer service can save you tons of time and money. Global File Changer is much more than a simple batch processor like the one supplied in MicroStation. Although Global File Changer can run any MicroStation script containing key-in commands, it has a powerful and constantly growing set of custom features which allow you to do many tasks that just would not be possible with a simple script file. In addition Global File Changer has a powerful, built in Element Selection Utility which gives its users the capability to easily isolate very precise selections sets, assign them names and then utilize those named selection sets easily to make sophisticated changes throughout any set of design files to the exact elements you want to change.
Wtih Global File Changer, you can complete tasks in minutes that used to take hours. What are you going to do with all that extra time?
Global File Changer's Element Selection dialog box

Global File Changer's Element Selection utility puts Select By Attributes to shame

MicroStation's Select By Attributes can be useful in making a simple selection set, but it is limited in the types of element attributes it can isolate and the values it can assign in a single selection.

The Element Selection Utility built into Global File Changer has no such limitations. Virtually any element attribute or set of attributes can be used to select elements in just one design file — or in hundreds.

With Global File Changer's Element Selection tool, you are able to use just about any element specific property to create a precise selection set. For example: with SHAPES you can designate whether the shape you want to select is a filled shape or not, and if it is filled, which fill color you want to select. You can also isolate shapes by the number of vertices they contain or their perimeter size as a precise value or within a range. This type of fine-tuning is not possible with Select By Attributes. In addition you can select multiple symbology values or use ranges of values or both.

As an example you could select only displayed tags that are placed with colors 0-7, style 0 or by Level and any of the weights 1, 2 or 3. You can make that one selection set and assign it a name. With Select By Attributes you would not be able to isolate tags to begin with, but even if you could, it would still require 48 separate selection sets to isolate every combination of color and weight we just described.

Isolating the exact elements and only the exact elements you need to change is critical in making successful bulk changes to important project files. Global File Changer's Element Selection utility makes this possible.

Global File Changer's element selection feature picks up where "Select By Attributes" leaves off, giving you far more control than ever before possible.

Powerful custom commands give you even more control over your design files

In addition to executing MicroStation key-in commands, Global File Changer has dozens of its own built-in commands. These commands let you easily make the following types of changes to any number of design files with a single command:

  • Update any or all of a design file's settings.
  • Update all or selected view attributes in any view.
  • Attach a new color table or set to the default color table.
  • Globally modify text attributes on text, tag or dimension elements.
  • Change text justification while retaining the text elements original position, so a change from left/bottom to center/center can be made with the text displaying in exactly the same position.
  • Rescale text by a specific factor in height or width. Great for handling font changes that alter the display and plot width of text elements.
  • Change all text or any selected text to UPPER case.
  • Do any number of text, search and replace combinations, on any number of files using wildcards or regular expressions.
  • Do search and replace on tags and dimension text too.
  • Convert values found in text elements representing length, distance, volume, etc. from English to metric, metric to English or apply a custom conversion formula.
  • Replace any set of cells with any new set of cells.
  • Rescale any cell or cells by any factor from their current scale or to a specific scale value.
  • Copy Design File Settings from a donor file to a whole set of files.
  • Count all or any cell you want, in each design file or get the total count of each cell for the entire batch of design files processed.
  • Flatten 3D files to an exact "Z" value. If you use 3D models, but need everything on the same Z coordinate, this feature will save you a lot of time.
  • Move all elements in a 3D file to a specified "Z" value or by a specified Z offset from their current location.
  • Report the elements that aren't at a specified "Z" value.
  • Easily move elements from their current level to any new level you wish. This feature will also process components of cells and shared cells.
Custom commands such as the The "Move Elements to Different Levels" lets you easily make changes — in batch — in just a few or in hundreds or thousands of design files.
 
Easily replace text throughout a project with a few simple steps. You can even use wildcards.
Global File Changer includes over 20 years of customer-requested additions. You're particular problem may have already been answered.

Two decades of programming solutions

One of the huge advantages that Global File Changer customers enjoy is their access to our fast response technical support team. Many times the way to make the changes that customers want, are not immediately obvious. What key-ins to use or which custom feature can accomplish the desired result. Sometimes a simple macro or visual basic routine in combination with Global File Changer can save the day. That's where Axiom's Maintenance Plus and Technical Support come in. Axiom has decades of experience in solving customer problems using programming solutions. Many of the problems you will face have already been solved and a fast effective solution exists or can quickly be implemented. You can call Axiom Technical Support with any problem and they will work closely with you to solve it quickly.

MicroStation V8i, ProjectWise support and more

The need to find and replace various pieces of text throughout a set of design files is something that happens all the time for any number of reasons. Whether it's making a date change on every sheet in a project or replacing the prefix on every part identification number displayed in thousands of cells throughout a large set of design files, it's inevitable that changes will be needed. When you have to process lots of files or make lots of different changes, it can be time-consuming, tedious and error-prone. It doesn't have to be.

Global File Changer works with the following:

  • MicroStation V8i
  • MicroStation V8/XM
  • MicroStation V7
  • ProjectWise
Having the right tools may not make you invincible, but no one ever got fired for being more efficient. Get the tools you need to help make MicroStation easier.

For more information or a free, online demonstration, click here or call 727-442-7774 extension 8156 in the U.S. or e-mail us.