Configure / Setup .dgnws for use in ProjectWise

My Specific interest here is in how to populate the WorkSet Properties section of MicroStation / ORD. This information is found on the right side of the program screen where you select your Workspace / Workset and file and for us includes client county, county and district numbers, project name / number, Etc.

The problem is, we access all our files directly from ProjectWise NOT from MicroStation or ORD. 

These specific fields later are used to populate simple common elements in a title block .cel, replacing Text nodes in the cells. 

I can get this by taking another existing .dgnws from an older non ProjectWise project and edit it, but I'm not sure how to add these elements in a file that does not already have the WorkSet Properties in it.

Thanks

  • Are you using a Managed Workspace?

    With a managed workspace MicroStation/ORD will create a DGNWS in ProjectWise for you from the specified template DGNWS. It defaults to the _USTN_WORKSETSROOT folder. (You can also specify your own template, so you can create a template with your properties already defined in them and then set the values via the Explorer > Sheet Index.

    With an unmanaged workspace the DGNWS can NOT be in ProjectWise but the same process applies, it'll automatically create one from the specified template. and it'll put it in the same folder as the workset cfg file.

    You can adjust where the different files are using variables:

    _USTN_WORKSETDGNWS is the location of the current DGNWS file. It should (must?) be defined at the workset level.

    _USTN_WORKSETDGNWSTEMPLATE is the location of the template to use. This only works for us if defined at the WorkSpace level or Organization level.

    I do not recommend copying an old DGNWS, instead specify the old DGNWS as your template and let ORD/MicroStation create the new one. We've found some setting that don't get set properly if you manually copy the file. (Better to create a clean blank template than use an old project one as well).

    When you setup a DGNWS template make sure it is NOT branded to a workset (run keyin File DisassociateWorkset before exiting). If your DGNWS template is branded to a workset when it's used to create a new DGNWS your MicroStation/ORD will crash when it creates it, it's fine when you reopen but it is very annoying.

    If working with a DGNWS in ProjectWise be aware that MicroStation/ORD really prefers using the DGNWS already on your computer. This means if you delete the one in ProjectWise and didn't purge the local copy first MicroStation/ORD will reuse that one and never create a new one in ProjectWise until you delete the local one too.

    If you already have a project setup but the properties aren't there the only way I see to add them is from that screen on open where you can select a workspace/workset. Click the Properties dropdown on the right and it'll let you add them from there. Not sure why you can't do it as part of the Sheet Index tools in Explorer as all that is in the DGNWS as well.

     

  • So... The data I'm refering to CAN be in the "Template", but will have to be created each time. I suppose this means that I can take a "Blank" file and manually add the fields I need with no value, and then add the proper information for each new project manually later, correct?

    Somehow, the DOT we are working with / for does this automaticlly outside of ProjectWise with a custome tool, but this is specifically not a projectwise tool.

    Great answer BTW... Thanks