An empty Workspace?

Unknown said:

...which covers up to MS/J

In 2013 MicroStation V8i is twelve years further on from MicroStation/J.  Quite a few things have changed.

Unknown said:

... delete file \tom\ustn.r01 (what was it?)

That being one of the things that changed.  The xxx.r01 resource files were used with MicroStation/J to store custom user interface modifications.  With V8i they are obsolete, superseded by DGNLIBs.

The DGNLIB concept has surpassed its initial idea (a decade ago) as a level library.  It's come to be an almost-anything-that-isn't-an-actual-design library.  When opened with MicroStation as a DGN file, a DGNLIB may indeed appear to be empty.

Unknown said:

Please excuse naive Q in this elevated MS Admin forum

Well, it's the only Admin Forum we have (unless you succeed in persuading Phil C to start a Naïve Administrators  Forum), so all questions are welcome!

Unknown said:

The xxx.r01 resource files were used with MicroStation/J to store custom user interface modifications.  With V8i they are obsolete, superseded by DGNLIBs.

Is very illuminating, to know that. So why does the r01 still appear when a new Interface is created?

Unknown said:

The DGNLIB concept has surpassed its initial idea (a decade ago) as a level library.  It's come to be an almost-anything-that-isn't-an-actual-design library.

Is also great - bits of context/history like that greatly aid understanding of purpose and intent.

Unknown said:

When opened with MicroStation as a DGN file, a DGNLIB may indeed appear to be empty.

There's the rub - no drawn elements, sure, but is a dgnlib created under the circumstances described in fact 'empty', or full of someone's idea of "style information for levels, text, dimensions, multi-lines (and much more)"? For example, in this dgnlib I drew a multiline and it showed a chain-dot CL and 2 solid parallel lines. I measured it and it was in inches. Has someone specified that in my new-created \tom\dgnlib, or are these just rock-bottom defaults in absence of any specification in the dgnlib?

Unknown said:

unless you succeed in persuading Phil C to start a Naïve Administrators  Forum

How about it Phil?! A forum for beginners, where old hands kindly visit to share their wisdom, and it's understood that all answers must be stupidly step-by-step clear?

Unknown said:

There will be a dataset discussion in London on 14th November

Please tell us more about that ...

Thanks Marc for brilliant clear answering.

My lovely clean \tom\tom.dgnlib contains 1 level, 1 model, 0 elements. When I Save As'd it as new file \test.dgn it opened with 324 levels, 1 model, 28 elements - so I see

Unknown said:

ABD copies levels from the dgnlib files in the active dataset to support the creation of Dynamic Views as dicussed here: http://communities.bentley.com/products/building/building_analysis___design/f/5917/p/14693/28625.aspx

So BD (but not MS) can't function without a dataset?  That's weird, because datasets have only existed a short while - how did BD manage before?

And Dataset US is the default 'active dataset' because most of the provided seed files don't specify a dataset?

When I Save As'd \tom\tom.dgnlib as new file \test.dgn, I wasn't offered choice of seed file - where do I see what seed file this \test.dgn has, and how can I change it?

And/or how do I set a different dataset to be the default dataset?

I thought seed files don't lock anything, just set initial defaults - but can you change the seed file-mandated dataset of a dgn, on the fly?

Unknown said:

There will be a dataset discussion in London (sorry other end of the country!) on 14th November

Great - I was booked on last Thursday's meet but regrettably had to cancel - 2hr20 ea way on the train, £51.40, no prob.

Hi Tom,

Sorry not to see you on Thursday, look forward to next time.

There has always been a dataset, Bentley Architecture had choices between Uniclass and CiSfb for the UK. The Datagroup is the more recent addition but that has also been around for a long time now.

Once you download and install the GB dataset it will appear as a choice in the Project pop-down when you open ABD.

Each dataset contains it's own seedfiles. e.g. C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\WorkSpace\BuildingDatasets\Dataset_GB\seed\designseed.dgn.

When you create a new file, click the Browse button at the lower right of the file new dialog to see the available seed files, use the folder history icon at the top right to see the configured location(s) for seed files. designseed.dgn is the one to use. If you need a 2D design model seed create a new file using designseed.dgn, export it to 2D (File menu > Export > 2D) then compress it before closing to remove any unwanted levels etc. (BTW don't use C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\WorkSpace\System\seed\seed2d.dgn, it has some slightly different settings and it's good to have consistent settinsg across your seed files).

Once a file is created there is no link back to the seed that I am aware of.

Seed files just provide initial defaults, they do not control the datset in any way. The dataset is controlled by your project selection.

I hope to provide some guides for "Naïve Administrators" soon but can't promise any dates yet....

Hi Jon,

Unknown said:

Please tell us more about that ...

Future event dates will be posted on the BCUKI LinkedIn group so keep an eye out there. Invitations are also being mailed out by Bentley.

Still looking to set out with minimum formatting, to start with, add stuff in as and when I understand why. Therefore Project>No Project, along with User>tom and Interface>tom, as below.

I now understand that with No Project, Dataset_US installs by default, because with AECOsim there always has to be a Dataset. I obviously need to at least be metric,

So I could resort to User>Building Designer, Project>BuildingTemplate_GB, NM-F, NM-L or USM,

Or, if still looking for minimum formatting I could stick with User>tom and Project>No Project - if it's possible to set one of the metric Datasets as the default?

Am I doing right, to hold out for this 'minimum formatting' line, for initial education?

Is it possible to switch an extg dgn file to a different Dataset 'on the fly?' Or indeed to a different User and/or Project?

Still looking to set out with minimum formatting, to start with, add stuff in as and when I understand why. Therefore Project>No Project, along with User>tom and Interface>tom, as below.

I now understand that with No Project, Dataset_US installs by default, because with AECOsim there always has to be a Dataset. I obviously need to at least be metric,

So I could resort to User>Building Designer, Project>BuildingTemplate_GB, NM-F, NM-L or USM,

Or, if still looking for minimum formatting I could stick with User>tom and Project>No Project - if it's possible to set one of the metric Datasets as the default?

Am I doing right, to hold out for this 'minimum formatting' line, for initial education?

Is it possible to switch an extg dgn file to a different Dataset 'on the fly?' Or indeed to a different User and/or Project?

In ConfigExplorer, comparing User>tom Project>No Project with User>tom Project>tom, there seem to be only housekeeping differences, to do with the different Project name - is that correct, or are there more differences, that I'd notice in use?

Looking for a minimum-formatted workspace, but needing a metric dataset rather than default Dataset-US, I better leave installed Project>No Project alone, instead reconfigure Project>New>tom. The above shots suggest that TF_DATASETNAME is where i configure Project>tom to use Dataset_NM instead of default Dataset_US. How do I do that - simply edit Value and Expansion in Line 1132 above?

Trying that - R click on Line 1132>Open in Editor>change TF_DATASETNAME to Dataset_NM>Save - 'Access is denied'. So what to do?

Do I have to re-name all 128 occurences of Dataset_US to Dataset_NM?

Or is the only way to have a Dataset in AECOsim (other than default Dataset_US), to choose User>Building Designer and Project>BuildingTemplate_NM_Light or whatever?

Can I not configure User>New>tom to use Dataset_NM? because trying for initial simplification for learning purposes.

Hi Tom,

For learning purposes without the complication of working with whatever existing project file structure you have, try the following:

Copy the whole folder:

C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\WorkSpace\Projects\BuildingExamples\BuildingTemplate_NM_Light

and rename to;

C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\WorkSpace\Projects\BuildingExamples\Tom_NM_Light_01

Then copy C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\WorkSpace\Projects\BuildingExamples\BuildingTemplate_NM_Light.pcf

renaming to:

C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\WorkSpace\Projects\BuildingExamples\Tom_NM_Light_01.pcf

Then edit Tom_NM_Light_01.pcf by adding  _USTN_PROJECTNAME = Tom_NM_Light_01

As shown here after line 13 (download Notepad++ to do this if you don’t already have it’s a brilliant text editor)

#======================================================================

# Project Description as it will appear in Workspace menu > About Workspace

_USTN_PROJECTDESCR                 = Building Designer Neutral Metric Light Dataset Project Template

_USTN_PROJECTNAME = Tom_NM_Light_01

#======================================================================

Open ABD and pick BuildingDesigner from the user pop-down (as I don't know what will have been included in the Tom user configuration file) then Tom_NM_Light_01 from the project pop-down.

In my opinion the user configuration should contain as little as possible, nearly all configuration being done at the site level plus project specific settings in the pcf.

I've just done this writing the steps as I went so it should just work.

There is more configuration to do to intergrate with a live project structure whether local or on your network or NAS. You don't really want live project data sitting in C:\ProgramData.

Repeat for Tom_NM_Light_02....

Thank you Marc - I do like a bit of firm direction - strictly for education purposes (no inhaling).

So this gives me a Workspace identical with User>Building Designer; Project>BuildingTemplate_NM_Light? But now free to modify/create my own Dataset? Brilliant.

Am amazed to see that e.g. BuildingDesigner.ucf is not a fixed thing, but modifies on-the-fly depending on which Project is selected.