Looking under the bonnet...

Microsoft PowerToys brings a bundle of utilities to Windows, some of which are finding their way into Windows 11; the app appears to be a testing ground for new UX ideas. It can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store, updates are automatic and frequent…

I have been updating an informal training document written during my pre-Bentley consultancy days to current CONNECT Edition versions. The object of the document is to highlight some of the fundamental operational features of MicroStation and related applications…

For convenience here are links to search results for several of the themes on this blog: SMB - lists articles particularly relevant to smaller users in the SMB/SME sectors OpenBuildings Designer Setting Up in the Real World Using it! CONNECT Edition -…

MicroStation Update 17 includes the new Manage Configuration utility. This enables MicroStation to switch between multiple configurations allowing further control and separation of standards for organizations working with serial clients or on major projects…

We provide an AccuDraw shortcut to 'bump' the first tool setting shown in the Tool Setting dialog from its initial value to the next available. For example, in the SmartLine tool you can place lines and arcs: The key varies by region, it is tilde in…

It is possible to set Configuration variables as Windows Environment Variables. This can be useful in some cases. They should generally be set at the User level, not System level. Use of this method is usually applicable to administrators, but may also…

This article was written for V8i several years ago and has now been updated to align with current versions. MicroStation's default data folder is located here: CONNECT Edition: C:\Program Files\Bentley\MicroStation CONNECT Edition\MicroStation\Default…

For administrators or others working with multiple configurations, or perhaps needed to launch MicroStation from another application, Command Line Arguments can be used to specify a number of starting criteria. These arguments, often referred to as switches…

[Updated 31 March 2022] We discourage manual editing of this file as it is written to by CONNECT Edition applications during active sessions, updating the value of _USTN_CONFIGURATION (in the [Set Configuration] section of the file) to correspond to the…

My colleague Shawn McGaffick wrote these four blogs on some of the useful reports that administrators or project leads can run on their data.  Reporting for CAD Administrators: Cell Count Reports Reporting for CAD Administrators: Working Units, Scales…

It is often useful to obtain a list of the files in a folder to do this. The TREE or DIR commands can do this. Shift + Right-click on a folder (to save keying-in the path); pick: This opens PowerShell in that folder, type CMD and paste in the following…

Have you ever wondered what goes here? Yes, me too! This is a route to creating custom buttons containing key-in sequences that can be used in your ribbon customisation. Any key-in that you can compile and test in the key-in dialog can be added to a…

When you create custom tool buttons to add to the Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar existing icons from the application may be appropriate or you may wish to create your own. Sometimes there may be an existing icon whose pattern is appropriate to follow…

In Adding information to the MicroStation Title Bar an autorun macro adds useful information to the application window title bar on file open or model close. This macro can also be used to run any other actions appropriate to file open or model close eve…

Background While working in practice and as a freelance consultant, one of my first questions in response to a user's problem, typically "why are all my references missing and showing up red", would be which project (now WorkSet) are you in (perhaps more…

The following example shows how these two features can be used to provide some degree of automation without resorting to programming. Text Fields have been a feature of MicroStation for many years, they can dynamically display a wide variety of data…

Updated June 2021 Revised XML files are linked below that contain current keyword lists for MicroStation and OpenBuildings Designer. Notepad++ is one of the best text editors around and the one I always use for editing configuration files. However out…

Like most Ribbon UI applications the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) can be customized, before stating to explore this consider where any customizations will be stored. The default is in personal.dgnlib and will only be available to the person who adds the…

I've never liked the idea of duplicate data sources and the inevitability of them becoming out of sync, never mind the tedium of double entry. Excel functions can be used to link between worksheets to allow one list of values to used in different places…

Pick Lists are useful when working with Items Types, they save repetitive input and aid data consistency. When creating pick lists of any length or when you have existing lists in some text format, it is far quicker to use Excel to create sources from…

We frequently suggest that people watch the command prompts in the status bar when learning new MicroStation based applications or techniques: You can see these prompts at your cursor during any graphic operation by adding the following configuration…

Updated version of this article, which was originally posted on 18 Aug 2017 In CONNECT Edition - Custom Configuration - Part 1 : Initial Creation Steps I described how the installer can be used to specify the location of your Custom Configuration by setting…

This is an updated version of an earlier V8i 101 article. A DGNLIB is a DGN file used for the storage and distribution of shared resources. Its internal structure is identical, only the file extension is different. Files with the .dgnlib extension are treated…

Many users have over the years set the variable MS_DEFCTBL = Company_ColourTable.tbl and then wondered why any other colour table ever shows up. The assumption being that once you set a variable for a default colour table that is what you will get. However…

Drawing Scale is a tool box I have permanently docked. In any MicroStation based application press Ctrl + T to open the Toolboxes dialog. To open Drawing Scale scroll down and tick the box, click OK: I turn off Sub Unit and ACS Scale as I rarely use…