How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Tim Hickman — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 12:17:51 GMT

the fact that the MSLOCAL file needs to be included in your custom configuration file is the whole problem.

If Bentley would fix/change this then this whole situation would not be needed.

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Lubo B — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 07:17:33 GMT

Hello Marc, thanks for your input!

I found a way to retrieve the path to the product/config/ folder (from registry!). This way, i can refer to the correct mslocal.cfg with my own .cfg file. I was just wondering, if there exists some kind of variable, that is available to me in my own .cfg, that references the directory of the application that is being called (for example MapAdvanced.exe directory etc.). All these paths are defined only after including mslocal.cfg. And I wanted them before the include.

I like this setup more over your ConfigurationSetup.cfg, because I can save my .cfg file whenever I want without modifying multiple files on host machine (just like back in the days of V8I, with possibility to attach our own UCF file). But to be honest, I´m glad you suggested this approach as well, as I didnt know about it before. Now i have another option available, so thank you.

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Tuan Le — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 01:21:13 GMT

There's some information in this blog post for UCF:

communities.bentley.com/.../connect-edition---configuration-tips-user-preferences-in-onedrive-or-other-locations

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Marc Thomas — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 11:16:48 GMT

Hi Lubo,

The file where a custom configuration is best defined is "C:\ProgramData\Bentley\<applicationName>\Configuration\ConfigurationSetup.cfg"

You can also define additional statements in the General section of that file, for example:

_USTN_WORKSPACENAME = MyWorkSpace
%lock _USTN_WORKSPACENAME
_USTN_WORKSETNAME = MyWorkSet
%lock _USTN_WORKSETNAME

Which would pre-set WorkSpace and WorkSet.

ConfigurationSetup.cfg is the recommended point at which to start configuration; we do not recommend modifying mslocal.cfg or any other system CFG files.

I will discuss your question with a colleague from the OpenCities product team.

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Lubo B — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 12:43:41 GMT

Hello, sorry for late response. I found quite a workaround, with macro USTN_WORKSPACEROOT and defining my own Workspaces/NoWorkSpace/NoWorkSet.cfg. It is working the way I want, but it is probably not the right way to do that.

You might be right, including the mslocal.cfg might be the thing im missing.

However, is it possible to use also some kind of generic way to include the proper mslocal.cfg ? In case of different applications (OpenCities Map Advances, PowerView, Ultimate...), they all have different folder structures and places where these mslocals are stored.

Edit: I have tried it and it works, after i included mslocal (with fixed path). Thanks! The remaining subquestion remains though, to retrieve the path of exe that is executed, so i know where to look for mslocal no matter which application is being called.

Edit2: Basically the directories are defined AFTER mslocal.cfg is included, like the path where configuration files are stored

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Rod Wing — Fri, 14 May 2021 13:47:24 GMT

I use the -wc switch quite often, with no problems. One thing to note is that when using that switch the mslocal.cfg is not automatically loaded. Your custom config file specified by the -wc switch will have to do a %include of the mslocal.cfg

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Jan Šlegr — Wed, 05 May 2021 18:09:52 GMT

[quote userid="1070775" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/213453/how-to-load-a-custom-ucf-at-startup-of-microstation-ce-opencities-map-application/648048"]is there a way for me to check the progress of this bug issue? [/quote]

It was explained many times :-)

Create Service Ticket and ask the ticket to be linked with the defect number.

Regards,

Jan

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Lubo B — Wed, 05 May 2021 15:59:26 GMT

oh, thanks for checking that! is there a way for me to check the progress of this bug issue? whenever it gets some new information or gets fixed.

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Tim Hickman — Wed, 05 May 2021 15:18:52 GMT

well - just found out there is a defect filed for the "wc" command line switch.

defect #729779

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Tim Hickman — Wed, 05 May 2021 14:33:21 GMT

the -wc switch is what I meant.

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Lubo B — Wed, 05 May 2021 13:07:46 GMT

do you mean using the command line switch -wc? I´ve tried that and it resulted in error, like mine cfg file replaced the core cfg that is being used during the loading. or you mean by copying the content of the original .cfg(debug shows that the first .cfg being processed is mslocal.cfg) and add my own statements?

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Tim Hickman — Wed, 05 May 2021 12:51:10 GMT

why are you concentrating on the "user" part ?

you could and still, can load "a configuration" file on startup from the command line.

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Lubo B — Wed, 05 May 2021 11:51:47 GMT

Hello Jan, thanks for your reply.

Yes, I checked many discussions, I found some new interesting informations that I didn´t know about before, but in conclusion, I found out that its not possible the same way as it was in V8I. At some point I was about to look for unlocking the _USTN_USERCFG value, but thats not the solution I want.

[quote userid="2473" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/213453/how-to-load-a-custom-ucf-at-startup-of-microstation-ce-opencities-map-application/647970"]A question is what do you want to achieve. If you want to apply the same set of settings, I do not see the ucf modification as mandatory. It can be also done by e.g. including always the same file to standard or another selected workspace level.[/quote]

I can explain. I want to achieve following :

I have an .ucf file where all my custom paths(for cells, dgn libs, dlls) and settings are saved.
Now I want to start a Microstation session using my launcher that will use these paths at the startup(like it does when it uses the right ucf file), but I dont want to affect the global prefs folder (thats why I dont want to copy my .ucf file into the global prefs folder).

[quote userid="2473" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/213453/how-to-load-a-custom-ucf-at-startup-of-microstation-ce-opencities-map-application/647970"]It can be also done by e.g. including always the same file to standard or another selected workspace level.[/quote]

Can you please describe this approach more ?

Thanks

RE: How to load a custom UCF at startup of Microstation CE/OpenCities Map application.

Jan Šlegr — Wed, 05 May 2021 11:42:28 GMT

Hi Lubo,

[quote userid="1070775" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/213453/how-to-load-a-custom-ucf-at-startup-of-microstation-ce-opencities-map-application"]Back in the days of V8I, there was an option to launch the Microstation with my own UCF file[/quote]

The role of ucf file changed in CE.

Did you search for similar discussions? It was discussed many times.

[quote userid="1070775" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/213453/how-to-load-a-custom-ucf-at-startup-of-microstation-ce-opencities-map-application"]how did you guys solve the situation to launch a given application but with your own UCF file?[/quote]

It was also discussed already. It's not possible to change ucf name or location. You have to use another workspace level (workspace, workset) or maybe conditional mechanism (define custom variable and analyzed it in some workspace configuration file).

[quote userid="1070775" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/213453/how-to-load-a-custom-ucf-at-startup-of-microstation-ce-opencities-map-application"]Or is there a better and easier way to achieve loading selected UCF during the startup?[/quote]

A question is what do you want to achieve. If you want to apply the same set of settings, I do not see the ucf modification as mandatory. It can be also done by e.g. including always the same file to standard or another selected workspace level.

Regards,

Jan