CONNECT Edition - Configuration Tips: What does _USTN_USER_CONFIGURATION do?

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 the value of the variable _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION listed in "C:\ProgramData\Bentley\MicroStation CONNECT Edition\Configuration\ConfigurationSetup.cfg" to the chosen Network Configuration path; e.g.: \\hal\CONFIGURATIONS\MCE.

This results in the WorkSpace menu showing both the custom configuration and the delivered example configuration:

If you do not wish to expose the delivered example configuration we have a related variable, _USTN_USER_CONFIGURATION that can be used to show only one configuration. This configuration can also be given an appropriate name, in this example SMB Projects (this applies from MicroStation Update 15 onwards):

For all users this can be enabled simply by adding two line to the [General] section of  "C:\ProgramData\Bentley\MicroStation CONNECT Edition\Configuration\ConfigurationSetup.cfg":

Specifying the path where the custom configuration is located and applying a label, e.g.:

#----------------------------------------------------------------------
# START: The section defines user selection at the time of installation.
# These lines are generated by installer.
[General]

_USTN_USER_CONFIGURATION_LABEL = SMB Projects
_USTN_USER_CONFIGURATION = D:/_SMB/SMB_Resources/

[SetConfiguration]
%if !defined (_USTN_USER_CONFIGURATION)
%if defined (_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION) && ($(_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION) != "") && exists ($(_USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION))
_USTN_CONFIGURATION = C:/ProgramData/Bentley/MicroStation CONNECT Edition/Configuration/
%endif
%endif

As the [SetConfiguration] section opens with an 'if undefined' logical statement (in the %if !defined operator the '!' is NOT), the nested statement specifying _USTN_CONFIGURATION is not processed. _USTN_USER_CONFIGURATION is then the variable that specifies the location of the Custom Configuration.


Note: the original version of this post described defective behaviour:

In early releases of CONNECT Edition that variable added a third option to the WorkSpace menu, User Configuration, as shown below, which I suggested could be useful for administrators, this is was not a designed behaviour and is no longer available.:

Translated German Wiki articles:
CONNECT Edition - Was bewirkt _USTN_USER_CONFIGURATION?