Aecosim building designer Server workspace/local workspace query

In addition to the configuration sections of the help files there is a series of helpful posts on configuration in Bear's blog: communities.bentley.com/.../default.aspx

Do you have an existing server workspace for MicroStation?

James,

In addition to that there is a BIM Manager Workshop coming up in September in Reston, VA that covers topics of configuration, customization, troubleshooting and management strategies for AECOsim Building Designer and puts the information to use right away on your workspace.  For more information refer to this forum post communities.bentley.com/.../89612.aspx

Regards,

Travis

Hi,

I am not a programmer. I went through Bear's blog. Very impressive but I do not understand much to make something of mi own.

I have a network storage center on witch have Copied the whole dir C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\WorkSpace\BuildingDatasets\ to my F:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\WorkSpace\BuildingDatasets\.

I synchronize  them. The problem is that sometimes I forget on whitch drive I am working.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Rigards

ajal

Sorry if some of the code put you off ajal, but I'll try and break it down the best I can.

The first thing I would do is look to set up things so that you build is part of a site build by setting the variable _USTN_SITE. The best way to do this is to add a cfg file to:

C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\AECOsimBuildingDesigner\config\appl\

Your site directories don't need to mirror what is in the local install exactly. Instead of using:

F:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\WorkSpace\BuildingDatasets\.

I would simplify it back to:

f:\Bentley\BuildingDatasets\

I would also add another directory called:

f:\Bentley\Standards\

This is where I would point _USTN_SITE to look at. By doing this, any cfg file under this location would be read by AECOsim when it starts. With this in mind, you need to decide how your going to call\set the variables to your build. For sake of going more advanced, you could simply use the delivered cfg file (C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\AECOsimBuildingDesigner\config\appl\BuildingDesigner.cfg) as a template.

Firstly, we need to create a directory for all of your pcf files to go in. This could be:

f:\Bentley\Projects\

Next, we use our site cfg file\s to have the build read where you have your pcf files. To do this we create our first cfg file under:

f:\Bentley\Standards\

and call it 01_folders. If you have a look through my blogs, I explain why it's a good idea to number your cfg files and what is a good way to break them down.

In this file we'll add our first variable:

_USTN_PROJECT = f:/Bentley/Projects/

I would lock it as well by putting:

%lock _USTN_PROJECT

on the next line.

Always remember that the last line in a cfg file must be blank so make sure you have an empty line after.

Next, we can take:

C:\ProgramData\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner V8i Ss4\AECOsimBuildingDesigner\config\appl\BuildingDesigner.cfg

and copy it to:

f:/Bentley/Projects/

and rename it to something unique so it's easy to check for. I just used my_build.pcf, but you could use anything logical.

Now you can open the pcf file and have a look. What is going to be critical to you are the lines:

TF_DATASETNAME : Dataset_US

_TF_WORKSPACEROOT : ${_USTN_WORKSPACEROOT}

This will set the name of the dataset you have used and where it is located.

In this example, you would use:

_TF_WORKSPACEROOT :  f:\Bentley\BuildingDatasets\

Technically there is still a lot to do as you really want to move all of your dgnlib files out of the install location and onto the network, but we can work on that next. Have a read through and see if you get the idea.

Thanks for your reply Bear. I made a mistake. mi datasets are  on V: But at the office I work on the Iomega network storage. So when I am not there it should work on F:

Every time I log in and log out V:  will sync with F; on my  machine. F: is on a second drive on mi laptop.

Regards

ajal