Most of the time, the simple drag and drop method works for importing data. However, sometimes the drag and drop method stops when it runs into certain non-importable files. The user must then track down the file (in pre-V8i, the file is not logged) and then continue the import process.

Also, when documents in a fairly complex directory structure need updating, the drag and drop method may not be used effectively…

Maybe you have read an earlier blog of mine discussing bandwidth and latency (ProjectWise Killer). Even in a best-case scenario, you may still find yourself asking why it takes a few seconds longer to open my drawing from ProjectWise compared to your Windows shared drive.

That is because documents are not merely ‘opened' in ProjectWise. Rather, documents are now ‘Checked out', which is probably the most commonly…

The new readme files that are delivered with ProjectWise V8i now have more realistic requirements. No longer will the 386 with a math co-processor work. This will make it easier for companies to size their hardware requirements. The new requirements not only have a more realistic baseline, but ProjectWise V8i really does require more resources, as such technologies like DFT require additional processing on both the…

One of the new ProjectWise V8i features is DFT (Delta File Transmission). DFT can reduce the amount of traffic being sent over the network, which should improve performance over high-latency or congested networks. This blog will focus on the several settings related to DFT that users need to be aware of.

DFT is enabled by default in the DMSKRNL file of a ProjectWise Integration Server, Caching Server and Gateway Service…

Using the ProjectWise title block integration feature, you have the ability to integrate your AutoCAD or MicroStation title blocks with ProjectWise metadata through the use of tags in MicroStation. If you are using this feature you can update your drawing title blocks with information from ProjectWise attributes automatically when a drawing is opened, checked out, exported, or copied out by modifying the properties of…

Many firms that utilize ProjectWise want the majority of the users who are simply consumers of information as opposed to content creators, to utilize ProjectWise Web Server to access ProjectWise content. In many cases, this presents problems for the users, as local security policies prohibit users from installing software and security settings on their local machines, meaning local IT administrators must either work through…

In today's digital age, bandwidth and latency determine the speed at which you receive your data. The nice thing is that money will usually buy you more bandwidth, but when it comes to latency that is not always the case. Latency is the measurement of time it takes a packet of data to move back and forth. The data has to go from the user interface into the kernel, out the network card, to switches, firewalls, routers…

ProjectWise V8i Integration Server now contains the functionality of ProjectWise XM Geospatial Server in the base product. So, when upgrading to V8i from ProjectWise XM Geospatial Server you will not have to install ProjectWise V8i Geospatial Server. However, you will need to re-create your background maps in V8i, even though they will show that they exist in the ProjectWise administrator client. This is due to the fact…

This blog idea comes from a recent ProjectWise 2004 to V8i upgrade. First, it is important to note that there will be many customers who will upgrade their ProjectWise installations from the 2004 Edition directly to V8i. With that kind of migration, there are several changes that occurred in ProjectWise XM that these users are not aware of and, hence, these changes will appear - to them at least - as completely new…

A simple way to concatenate or combine two or more attributes in an environment would be to use the update option of the attribute properties. For example, let's say the environment has two varchar attributes attr1 and attr2 and we want to combine then to be attr1-attr2 and store that information in a third attribute named combined_attributes. You can set the update type for the third attribute to be SELECT and for…

ProjectWise V8i has added an easier way to find documents, folders or projects. The Quick Search field in V8i allows for wild cards and Boolean expressions. Wild cards and Boolean expressions can include *, %, ?, AND, OR, and NOT. These can be combined to create a quick but complex search (Example: *.dgn OR *.dwg NOT 3140???.*). The Quick Search has robust settings that allow for searching the datasource or current…