I'd like know if it's possible to open a design without having to use the Bentley Expert Designer Communications user interface? I work for a telecommunications company where I check upwards of 80 designs on a daily basis and doing this from the user interface, although it's easy, it's not the most efficient way of getting to those designs quickly. I already looked under the help and could not find any information about using command line switches in Expert Designer.
I'm using Bentley Expert Designer Communications V8i(SELECT series 4)
Thanks.
Hi Jacobo.
I think this is possible, but you would need to know the filename, workspace name, workspace directory, and other parameters (for example to integrate with ProjectWise) which can vary from file to file. Expert Designer Comms hides all of that information and can display designs in the same list from different workflows, so designs may not necessarily open using the same workspace.
I think this question is more appropriate to the OpenComms forum, so I will move it there.
Thanks,
Mike
Mike, thanks for getting back to me. So here's a batch file that we use to open Expert Designer. I'm thinking, I can modify this and turn it into a script that prompts the user for the name of the workspace and opens that workspace directly.
REM Once Redirected, ED & Comms will work in whatever database the Datasources are pointing to. REM REM Installation of vcredist.msi is required for this to run, it will be included with the REM Comms ED Install, but not run by the installer. @echo off REM The batch file MUST be run with Administrator privaleges or it will not have the REM ability to alter the ODBC Registry entries. REM REM The first lines refer to the CHDATA ODBC Datasource, This is the default for the second paramater REM and does not need to be specified. REM The first parameter entered should be the TNS DB Name for the required database. REM REM The second lines refer to an additional ODBC Datasource, in this case COMMSDB, and it's name REM must be specified as the second paramater. REM The first parameter entered should be the TNS DB Name for the required database. REM REM The third lines refer to changing an environment variable's value, in this case DESIGNPATHVAR used by DesignPath in CHConfig.ini. REM In case of multiple environment variables, the line can be duplicated with other variables and values. REM REM In the example below, the Database being switched to is named EDDB. REM @echo off REM LAUNCHING ED REM CHANGE Expert Designer Database REM Second parameter[DSN name] is defaulted to CHDATA cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Bentley\ExpertDesignerCommunications" START .\ChangeEDDB.exe denver REM Uncomment the next line to Change other DSN cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Bentley\ExpertDesignerCommunications" START .\ChangeEDDB.exe denver COMMSDB REM Uncomment the next line to change an environment variable's value. SET DESIGNPATHVAR=E:\WorkSpace\Projects\denver\CO\dgn\ GOTO STARTED ::ERROR @echo USAGE %1 EDDB[Oracle Service name] CHDATA[Optional DSN Name - default is CHDATA] GOTO END :STARTED cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Bentley\ExpertDesignerCommunications" REM @echo this project is currently off line for maintenance please check back later START .\EDu.exe REM pause :END
Jacobo
Hi Jacobo--
Please create a Service Request for this issue, or contact Lisa ( lisa.millis@bentley.com ) or myself ( dan.gordon@bentley.com ) directly and we will contact you.
Dan Gordon