gdi import fails

Re: gdi import fails

Krister Surell — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:05:17 GMT

O, I'll look into the gdi error later.

I've just discovered that I could create a single file of my plot by following the workflow described below (reference map to plot frame). If I then save everything using ff= the new file will contain clipped shapes inside the reference clip boundary IF I have clip mode on when I do my ff=. The fence in this case is outside both the plot fram and the clip boundary. Great!

/Krister

Re: gdi import fails

Martin Roy — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 03:19:56 GMT

Well, as I said earlier, some Microstation operations which are made for plain graphics don't result in correct feature instances that respect the restrictions of the class. We sometimes have to consciously block operations to keep data integrity. In a similar way, even for selection Bentley Map has the concept of subfeatures, multipart collections etc and logically when selecting a piece, you really are selecting the whole instance as it's an ownership relation. We must therefore change the Microstation selection behavior when we are running.

I am surprised that you get an error in the import, however in SelectSeries 2 the import was going through the OGR library whereas we have a proprietary way to connect to Oracle for the 2-tier mode. In the next release (SelectSeries 3), both cases will go through the proprietary code so hopefully your case would work. If you require assistance with this you could contact support and they should be able to help you.

Martin

Re: gdi import fails

Krister Surell — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:24:16 GMT

Ok, I'll try to do some redesign for the plotting workflow.

My original question, however, has not been answered. Why can't I do a sdo import on the same information I can do sdo query on (see error message in the original post)?

Also, it would be great if I could use Bentley Map for all task, not only the map related ones. This includes standard MicroStation stuff like clipping, element selection also behaves strange in Bentley Map. For now, you have to run plain MicroStation for certain task.

Regards,

Krister

Re: gdi import fails

Martin Roy — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:22:01 GMT

Hi. the Oracle node, query operations etc are for 2-tier connections where the instances you see in the dgn are really just proxies for the information in the database. By design you cannot modify them unless you hold a lock to the instances and you intend to post that change back to the database.

Import on the other hand is the means by which you transfer information into the dgn where the end goal is to have a copy of the imformation. You could use the fence to limit the instances you import, and you could afterwards clip as you wish. However there are some limitations on the clipping operations of Microstation that Bentley Map supports simply because not all operations would result in valid XFM instances. For example, a polygon instance sitting on the border of your clip could become a line, and that is not valid.

That is why it is easier and safer to reference the data into another model and use the clipping service of the reference mechanism to ensure you only display what you want, without necessarily trying to change the instances.

Martin

Re: gdi import fails

Krister Surell — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:51:07 GMT

Yes, the layers are read-only since they don't have a sequence. Since they are read-only, I cannot figure out why I can't modify them as I please? Putting them in a separate model means that I could clip the information, but that require some major workflow changes (this is an old project that is converted to Bentley Map). Isn't there a way to "drop" read-only data read through "gdi query" to plain MicroStation elements that can be modified as I please?

Regards,

Krister

Re: gdi import fails

Jeff Bielefeld — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:08:06 GMT

Krister,

In the Bentley Geospatial Administrator, when registering your Oracle Spatial layers, if you do not assign a sequence generator to the layer you have effectively defined a "read only" layer (e.g. users can query geometries but cannot post changes back). So as Jerry correctly states, you could query the feature instances into a design model and use the suggested reference/clip approach or you could leverage the existing Print Preparation functionality of Bentley Map to perform your clipping etc...

Re: gdi import fails

Jerry Walter - Bentley — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:54:34 GMT

Query the data as you usually would. Create a Map model and attach the data in the queried model as a reference. Use a fence to apply the clip boundary for the reference file.

HTH

Jerry