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Connection nodes are the dots that appear where two or more wire segments are connected on a schematic when diagonal wire connections are not used. The ability to control the appearance of these nodes with the user interface is not possible at this time. Until this request is implemented, appearance of the connection nodes, such as their size and color, can be affected by modifying the drawing file used to create the nodes when a connection is made. This document describes that technique.
The connection node drawing file is stored locally on each workstation even in network configurations, so if it is modified it would need to be replaced on each workstation that is to use the new definition.
It is possible to keep multiple versions of the connection node drawing file and swap them in and out of the RequiredSymbols folder to achieve the connection node appearance needed for the current design situation.
Make a backup copy of SOLIDNODE.dgn. This file can be found in the "\RequiredSymbols\ANSI-IEEE" and "\RequiredSymbols\IEC" subfolders of the Program folder for promis•e or the Program folder for Substation as the case may be.Backup the file found in the folder corresponding to the drawing standard being used.
Open or create a schematic page.
Draw two wires that connect so a node appears.
From the MicroStation pull down menus, select Element > Cells.
Right click the SOLIDNODE name on the resulting Cell Library dialog. If SOLIDNODE is not listed, perform step 3.
Select "Open for Editing". If prompted to open the file as Read-Only, as will be the case with Windows 7, choose "Yes". The SOLIDNODE.dgn file will open.
If the file opened as Read-Only, select File > Save As and save the SOLIDNODE.dgn file to a temporary, writeable location that such as the Desktop.
Modify the properties of the circle using the "Change Element Attributes" tool or Element > Information.
Select File > Save to save the SOLIDNODE.dgn file.
Open a page using Project Manager to close the SOLIDNODE.dgn file, or close the software.
If working on SOLIDNODE.dgn in a temporary location due to step 7, use Windows Explorer to move or copy the SOLIDNODE.dgn file from the temporary location to the location noted in step 1, electing to overwrite the original.
Note: While modifying SOLIDNODE.dgn, the fill will not be shown in the default "Wireframe" display style; select another display style such as "Filled Hidden Line" to view the fill.
The changes made to SOLIDNODE.dgn will appear for nodes created by subsequent wire connections. There is no built-in automatic way to update existing nodes. A node can be updated by deleting enough wire segments so that the node disappears and then redrawing the deleted wire segments.
Make a backup copy of SOLIDNODE.dwg. This file can be found in the "\RequiredSymbols\ANSI-IEEE" and "\RequiredSymbols\IEC" subfolders of the Program folder.
Open the SOLIDNODE.dwg in the appropriate path listed in step 1 using File > Open. If prompted to open the file as Read-Only, as will be the case with Windows 7, choose "Yes".
Make the desired changes.
Save and close SOLIDNODE.dwg.
Subsequently created pages will use the new node definition.
To update nodes on an existing page:
Type INSERT at the command line to insert a block
Insert the modified SOLIDNODE.dwg somewhere on the page.
Elect to redefine the block definition when prompted.