Original Article Date: September 2002
Updates: December 2003, July 2006, January 2007, October 2010
Using WinOpen to change MicroStation's dialogs
The WinOpen utility will allow you to locate, open and save files using dialogs that follow the Microsoft Windows conventions for look and feel.This utility was introduced in MicroStation V8 2004 Edition and can be toggled by going to Workspace > Preferences > Look and Feel and turning on Use Windows File Open Dialogs. In all newer versions of MicroStation, this setting is turned on by default.
In the event that you want to use the MicroStation Manager, press SHIFT + ESC when the Windows dialog is open. (Yes, this works in V8i too!) Note that this key in combo is one-way only in that it will take you from the Windows dialog to the MicroStation Manager dialog, but not vice versa. To get back to the Windows dialog, close MicroStation and restart.
Duane Marshall offers this handy keyin to switch to the Windows dialogs:mdl keyin calculat calculator userPrefsP->extFlags.useWinopen=1.Phil Chouinard offers this keyin if your want to toggle between the MicroStation and Windows dialogs:mdl keyin calculat calculator userPrefsP->extFlags.useWinopen=!userPrefsP->extFlags.useWinopen
For versions of MicroStation pre-dating the 2004 Edition, navigate to ...\Bentley\Program\MicroStation\mdlsys\asneeded\ and copy the winopen.dll and winopen.ma to ...\Bentley\Program\MicroStation\mdlsys\required\The next time MicroStation is started, it will use WinOpen for the File based dialogs including the MicroStation Manager.For earlier versions of MicroStation you can download WinOpen/J from the "Enhancements and Updates" area of SELECT downloads.
AskInga Article #121