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  With V8i they are obsolete, superseded by DGNLIBs.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  With V8i they are obsolete, superseded by DGNLIBs.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?

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.

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.