Importing .HLB library files from old product versions into format used in the V8 product versions

   
  Applies To 
   
  Product(s): Bentley WaterCAD, Bentley WaterGEMS, Bentley HAMMER, Bentley SewerGEMS, Bentley SewerCAD, Bentley StormCAD, Bentley CivilStorm
  Version(s): 08.11.xx.xx
  Environment:  N/A
  Area:  Layout and Data Input
  Subarea: 
  Original Author: Scott Kampa, Bentley Technical Support Group
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Problem Description

Is there a way to import the old library files from products like SewerCAD V5.6 and WaterCAD V7, with a file extension .HLB, into the Engineering Libraries for V8 product versions?

Reason

The library files for the V8 builds of the OpenFlows products have a different format than older versions of the product. The new file format is .XML. Unfortunately, there is no way to directly import these files in the Engineering Library.

Steps to Resolve

However, there is a tool that can do this conversion.

The tool is only available with SewerCAD V8 at this time. If you have access to SewerCAD V8 (or are importing SewerCAD library files), you can use the steps below to do this conversion. If you do not have access to SewerCAD, you will need to contact Bentley Technical Support to do this product conversion for you.

Here are the steps that need to be done with the tool found in the SewerCAD installation folder.

1) Convert your Engineering Libraries file:

a) Close the model that you just converted and browse to your SewerCAD V8i installation folder. By default, this will be C:\Program Files (x86)\Bentley\SewerCAD8\

b) Double-click the file named "WaterObjects.Net.EngineeringLibraryConverter.exe" - this will open the Engineering Library Converter tool.

c) Select the product you want the library file for in the "Product" pulldown. Then select the type of library you would like to convert for the "Library Type".

d) Click the browse button next to "HLB library file" and locate the .HLB engineering library file used in the older product versions. When converting a section size library, you must also select the material library .HLB file.

e) Click the browse button next to "Destination Root" and select a folder to export the converted engineering library .XML file to.

f) Click convert to generate a .XML library file

*Note that for section size libraries, ensure that at least one selection has been made for the "Available in Materials" tab for all section sizes. Otherwise, the conversion process will not work properly.

Repeat this step for any library types that you need to use.

2) Match the libraries to your model:

a) The .XML file will now be present in the folder you selected for each library type that you converted.

b) Next, click the "Match" button in the main window of the engineering library converter tool. This new option allows you to automatically link library entries (in the .XML file) to library entries in the various catalogs of the model file that was converted to the V8 engineering library format. This way, instead of the library entries being "orphaned", they will be associated (by label) to the library files that you just converted.

c) Click the browse button next to "Engineering Library Filename" and select the .XML library file that you would like to match up

d) Choose the corresponding library type from the "Component" dropdown menu.

e) Click the browse button next to "Model Filename" and select the model file that you are using

f) Click "Match". A summary window will show you how many items were linked.

Similar to step 2 above, repeat this step for each library type that you need to match up to the model. Note that if the "Match" tool could not link library items due to mismatched labels, you can manually associate them once in the program (see step 4 below).


3) Add your converted libraries to the product Engineering Libraries

a) Close the engineering library converter tool and open your model.

b) Go to Components > Engineering Libraries.

c) Right click on the library type you'd like to import and choose "Add Existing Library".

d) Browse to and select the corresponding .XML file that you converted in step 2.

Repeat for any library types you need to import.


4) Connect remaining library items

a) Click the Components menu and select the catalog type you would like to check (for example, Conduit Catalog.)

b) Click the "Library" tab and click each engineering library component. You'll notice that the items that exist in the converted engineering library will show up as "Synchronized". Items that did not exist in the converted engineering library (that could not be "matched" by label) will still show as "orphaned". This can sometimes occur, such as if you used a particular section size in a pipe in the older version and then deleted the engineering library entry.

c) If you need to associate an "orphaned" entry in your catalog to an entry on your engineering libraries, click that catalog entry, click the purple book icon and select "Connect to Library".

d) Select the engineering library entry that you'd like to associate the catalog entry with and click "Select".

At this point, if you'd like, you can click the purple book icon again and select "Synchronize from Library". This will synchronize the catalog entry to reflect the record in the engineering library that you "connected" it to. You could also choose to "synchronize to library" if you wanted the engineering library item to reflect the catalog entry.

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