annotation cells

Hello,

I understand now the concept of Items, Item types, ... and the reporting of them - thanks to Bentley interaction in this forum!

I think it is indeed an improvement compared with tags in Microstation V8.

Another question now about placing cells and using Items:

I would like to create a group of Item properties and element properties in a specific layout in order to label shapes in my model. I can make that layout, place them in my model and link all text pieces as fields to specific Item properties or element properties of the shape. But for a second shape I have to do this again.

I would like to have a cell with different text pieces in a specific layout and when I place the cell I can link the cell to a shape so that all text pieces (Item properties or element properties) are linked to the chosen shape.

Much like Datagroup Annotation Cells are working in Aecosim.

Is that possible now in plain microstation? Can anyone give me a hint?

Thanks in advance,

Luc Dierick

  • so, in short, there is no differentiation between cells which are used for labels, and cells which are used for anything else?

    any cell which is available in the active model will also be available in the label cell selector.

    the result is that, should you have an extensive cell library which is defined by either MS_CELL or MS_CELLLIST, as I do (and it seems that Luc does), then you will need to scroll through that entire library in order to find the relevant label cell.

    if we are following the documentation, it does indeed suggest that labels should be created in a dgnlib. Which of course can be done, but because the only way to access the dgnlib with the label definition in it is to add it to the search path for cells, then the specific label cells are not any different to any other cells.

    this is consistent with how cells would be expected to work. but it seems to me that the shorter answer to my question is:

    no, you cannot specify only cells designed for labels for the label cell selector drop down.

    or am i not understanding something?

    p
  • Sorry, I need to correct what I mentioned in my last post, cell can indeed be stored in a Design Library (DGNLIB) as the models are the same DGN format as within a Cell Library. What I meant to say was that the configuration variable MS_CELLLIST can contain, as previously, a list of .cel files in the "cell" folder of the workspace. You can also attached a DGNLIB where you can store your created cells.

    A cell created with Text Fields etc. for the Place Label tool would not be classified as any different from other cells. Any cell that is listed under the Cell Library dialog or created in a Cell Library (.cel) or Design Library (.dgnlib) can be used in this tool. Not sure whether you might have seen this video or even have access to it from the EAP community (as it's now closed off) but you might find this useful.

    communities.bentley.com/.../99288

    Regards
    Andrew Bell
    Technical Support
    Bentley Systems

  • Andrew

    Yes, I saw that video. It is useful. It is actually how I ended up here today.

    I am trying to set up labels to work with our systems. Hence my question about filtering cell definitions.

    It seems to me that since cells are being used increasingly, and in differentiated use cases, a means of categorising them, and of excluding types of cells that arent relevant to the current task or workflow would be useful.

    Thanks for your responses

    paul
  • Unknown said:
    Cells are stored in Cell Libraries, not Design Libraries (DGNLIB)

    The use of a cell library (*.cel) or a DGN library (*.dgnlib) is organisational, not technical.  They are both DGN files having a well-known extension.  It makes sense for a CAD administrator to put cells in a cell library and other definitions (e.g. levels) in a DGNLib.

    An evil CAD administrator could put levels in a cell library and cells in a DGNLib, but his career in CAD administration would be curtailed.

     
    Regards, Jon Summers
    LA Solutions

  • Jon

    Whilst I agree with your sentiments, said evil CAD administrator would only have been following the official Bentley documentation.

    p