CONNECT Edition - Configuration Tips: Use of Windows Environment variables

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 be relevant to wider groups of users.

It is suitable for certain variables that one might wish to apply to all installed MicroStation based applications, as demonstrated in CONNECT Edition - Configuration Tips: ProjectWise Integration,

Two useful variables for administrators are 

• _USTN_DISPLAYALLCFGVARS, this displays system variables in the Configuration variables dialog, essential for configuration analysis and troubleshooting, enable by setting it to '1'.
• The Ribbon includes an Admin Workflow. This is hidden by default but can be enabled by adding the Capability CAPABILITY_UI_ALWAYSSHOWADMINWORKFLOW
  to do this:
  Click New under User variables, then enter the variable name _USTN_CAPABILITY and value +CAPABILITY_UI_ALWAYSSHOWADMINWORKFLOW. The result is shown below in the Edit dialog (which is identical to the New dialog):
  
  
  
• To enter multiple capability switches, add then to the variable value separated by a semi-colon with no spaces, e.g.:
  +CAPABILITY_UI_ALWAYSSHOWADMINWORKFLOW;-CAPABILITY_LEVELS_NUMBERS

For both users and administrators, particularly when multiple products are involved, another possibility is (for very specific cases!) delivering a DGNLIB to all applications. in Using It! - Add Frequent Tools or Places to the Quick Access Toolbar I showed a couple of useful menus that I wanted to see in all my applications (they are application neutral, pointers to common tools or places). 

I added a folder DGNLIB_GUI to my OneDrive for Business, then pointed MS_GUIDGNLIBLIST to it using the standard Windows environment variable OneDriveCommercial. That way I can use the same DGNLIB on any machine I log into once the Windows User Variable is added (that can be scripted on managed networks, and could point to a common network share, in my case OneDrive was more convenient).