Selectable "Roles" on the Work Page

I have a new development to report on this...

After installing the Ohio DOT configuration through their installer program, it edited my C:\ProgramData\Bentley\MicroStation CONNECT Edition\Configuration\ConfigurationSetup.cfg. I edited the file to undo the change. The next time I opened MicroStation the Role drop-down appeared on the WorkPage.

I still had my Roles folder set up from my previous attempts:

_USTN_ROLESDIR      : System         = C:\ProgramData\Bentley\MicroStation CONNECT Edition\Configuration\WorkSpaces\Roles\ 

Now, all of a sudden, it's working.

Go figure.

FYI... 

The location of USTN_ROLESDIR is defined as follows _USTN_ROLESDIR=$(_USTN_WORKSPACEROOT)Roles\

In our EnvisionCAD Traning Workspace we redefine _USTN_WORKSPACEROOT to go to C:\EnvisionCAD\Training\ Creating a Roles folder there with the two .cfg files, the WorkPage Role drop-down has no problems picking them up.

Edit: attached my ConfigurationSetup.cfg file to show that there is nothing special set in this file.

4135.ConfigurationSetup.cfg

what version of MicroStation are you using ?

and did you create role 1 and role 2 ?

I am not finding anything on ODOT that mentions roles or it being defined by anything in ODOT.

The ODOT install didn't do anything to install the roles. It was just that I noticed their install set a variable I didn't want set.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that when I cleared out the ConfigurationSetup.cfg file, that must have changed something. It's possible there was something set in there prior to the ODOT install I didn't know was set that was messing things up. I don't typically monitor/edit the file unless I see the _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION is updated, which is what the ODOT install does.

I created the Role 1 and Role 2 cfg files as I was testing things out.

I am using version 10.15.02.11

are you sure you didn't update the version of MS Connect ? I have an earlier version of update 15 and the pick list is not available.

I am going to update to the version you state and see what happens.

I updated a few weeks ago, but the Roles drop-down did not appear until I cleaned out the ConfigurationSetup.cfg file.

It could be a combination of the two things.

updated to 10.15.02.11

I've been testing this and the ONLY way I can get this to work is if I put the "roles" folder under the "workspace".

can anyone else get this to work any other way ?

I got it to work only after updating to 10.15.02.11.

I defined the "roles" directory in my Workspace cfg to point to my /Workspaces/ClientX/Roles/.

_USTN_ROLESDIR=$(_USTN_WORKSPACEROOT)Roles/

I placed Role1.cfg & Role2.cfg in the Roles directory.

The only issue is this:

It worked when I picked Role1. Loading only Role1 standards.

When I exited Connect and reopened, I picked Role2. It loaded both Role1 and Role2 standards.

I exited and reopened again, leaving it on Role2. This time it worked only loading Role2 standards. 

It appears that the software must go through a cycle to correctly set the personal.ucf file when switching roles.

I got it to work only after updating to 10.15.02.11.

I defined the "roles" directory in my Workspace cfg to point to my /Workspaces/ClientX/Roles/.

_USTN_ROLESDIR=$(_USTN_WORKSPACEROOT)Roles/

I placed Role1.cfg & Role2.cfg in the Roles directory.

The only issue is this:

It worked when I picked Role1. Loading only Role1 standards.

When I exited Connect and reopened, I picked Role2. It loaded both Role1 and Role2 standards.

I exited and reopened again, leaving it on Role2. This time it worked only loading Role2 standards. 

It appears that the software must go through a cycle to correctly set the personal.ucf file when switching roles.

what happens if you move the roles folder to another location ? other than under the workspace root.

Interesting... It didn't work when I moved the Roles directory and redefined it to be found under the Worksets.

It only seems to work under the Workspace. I'll have to keep testing.

I did some testing on this.

If you define _USTN_ROLESDIR to be anything OTHER than $(_USTN_WORKSPACEROOT)Roles/ you will not see the drop-down in the UI. THis is at any level.

HOWEVER, if you have _USTN_ROLE_NAME defined in your Personal.ucf, and there is a cfg file for that ROLE_NAME wherever you did point ROLESDIR to, that config file will be loaded even though you don't see the Role selector in the File Open screen.

I tested setting _USTN_ROLESDIR in WorkspaceSetup.cfg, our Organization standards cfg, our workspace cfg and our workset cfg and it obeyed those 2 rules in all locations.

I tested setting _USTN_ROLESDIR to each of:

_USTN_ROLESDIR = $(_USTN_WORKSPACEROOT)Roles/
_USTN_ROLESDIR = $(_USTN_ORGANIZATION)Roles/
_USTN_ROLESDIR = $(_USTN_WORKSETROOT)Roles/
_USTN_ROLESDIR = $(_USTN_WORKSPACEROOT)Office_Roles/

All failed to show the UI except the first (even the last one where I set it to the the workspace folder, but just a different name than Roles).

As long as I had _USTN_ROLE_NAME in my Personal.UCF and a role of that name in the roles directory, the config was processed for all of the settings I tried above.

I should add, if you don't define _USTN_ROLESDIR to anything, but a Roles folder with cfg files in it is created in _USTN_WORKSPACEROOT, it will automatically show up in the UI.

so as I stated above - the only way the UI choice works - is if it is part of the workspace.