Creating Templates for Tables

The MicroStation CONNECT Edition provided the feature of creating tables in your DGN files. If your organization has standard templates that your tables should follow, you can create such templates in MicroStation and apply them while placing tables in your sheets. This feature is called Table Seed.

A table inherits properties, text, formatting, and style settings from a table seed. There are certain guidelines that you need to follow to create successful and usable table seeds:

  • A table seed can be defined only in a DGN library (.dgnlib) file and the location of that file should be defined in the MS_DGNLIBLIST configuration variable.  The default locations to which MS_DGNLIBLIST points to are: $(_USTN_SYSTEMROOT)\dgnlib\*.dgnlib;$(_USTN_SYSTEMROOT)\dgnlib\DrawComp\*.dgnlib;$(_USTN_WORKSPACESTANDARDS)Dgnlib\*.dgnlib;$(_USTN_WORKSETSTANDARDS)Dgnlib\*.dgnlib;$(_USTN_ORGANIZATION)dgnlib\*.dgnlib.
  • The model in which you create the table seed should contain only one element, that is, the table seed. If you want to add text in any cell of the table, double-click the cell to open the Text Editor and then enter the desired text. With that, the text becomes part of the table element and is not treated as a different element.
  • The name of the model in which you create the table seed becomes the name of the table seed.

Creating Table Seeds

Following are the steps to create a table seed:

  1. Open a DGN library file that is pointed by MS_DGNLIBLIST.
  2. In it, create a new model, and name the model with the name that you want your table seed to be.
  3. In the Drawing Workflow, Annotate tab, select the Place Table tool.
  4. In the Place Table tool settings, set the desired number of rows and columns and enter a data point.
  5. To convert the existing rows to title, header, and footer rows, select the row, open the Properties dialog and change the Type option in it.
  6. As per your requirement, change the formatting such as changing fill color, adjusting row height, column width etc. 
  7. To add text to the seed table, double click on the desired cell. The Text Editor window opens. Add the desired text and press <Ctrl+Enter> or click outside the Text Editor window.

Using Table Seeds

Once created, the table seed displays in the Seed drop-down list of the Place Table tool settings window.

As mentioned above, the name of the model in which you create the table seed, is the name of the table seed. You can select it from the Seed drop-down list, and the table seeds settings are applied to the placed table.