[CONNECT] Area tool

RE: [CONNECT] Area tool

DavidG — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 17:50:30 GMT

My personal opinion/observation is that major bugs/defects will get fixed.

However further enhancement of new data type or user friendly tools for those new data types are unlikley.

RE: [CONNECT] Area tool

Jon Summers — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 17:01:41 GMT

[quote user="DavidG"]At this point I would advise extreme caution and rigorous testing before using Item Types in a production environment[/quote]

Thanks for that comment.

AreaAnnotator™

Should we consider porting AreaAnnotator to MicroStation CONNECT?

AreaAnnotator is freeware. It's available for MicroStation V8i. AreaAnnotator automates area annotation by enhancing MicroStation tag elements. MicroStation tags have reporting tools. For MicroStation V8i, AreaAnnotator answers the original question.

Bentley Systems have repeatedly commented on this Forum that tags are obsolete, deprecated, almost gone, nailed to their perch. Given such antagonism to old technology we're reluctant to port AreaAnnotator to CONNECT. Perhaps we should reconsider?

RE: [CONNECT] Area tool

DavidG — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 16:50:41 GMT

[quote user="Jon Summers"]MicroStation CONNECT introduces Item Types, which I believe are a complete answer to the question. Item Types let you attach data to a graphic element, and also have reporting and table options. Data can be exported from Item Types in numerous ways, powered by the underlying EC Schema technology. Please correct me I'm wrong![/quote]

True in theory. In reality my brief attempt to use them has resulted in 6 defects filed and another group still under investigation. At this point I would advise extreme caution and rigorous testing before using them in a production environment.

RE: [CONNECT] Area tool

Jon Summers — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 16:36:22 GMT

[quote user="Henk Ligtvoet"] You could consider using Text Fields[/quote]

While Text Fields are one answer to the question, they aren't a particularly good answer. Text Fields lack any kind of reporting facility. It's a reasonable bet that anyone wanting to have areas annotated will also want to extract reports of those areas for use elsewhere. For example, you may want to annotate room areas on a floor plan and subsequently perform calculations on those areas in Excel or some other tool. If you can't extract a report for use in Excel, Text Fields don't even get you half way.

MicroStation CONNECT: Item Types

MicroStation CONNECT introduces Item Types, which I believe are a complete answer to the question. Item Types let you attach data to a graphic element, and also have reporting and table options. Data can be exported from Item Types in numerous ways, powered by the underlying EC Schema technology. Please correct me I'm wrong!

RE: [CONNECT] Area tool

Henk Ligtvoet — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 14:41:53 GMT

Hi Katja,

For the moment there is not such a separate tool in the CONNECT Edition.
As an alternative, you could consider using Text Fields in combination with the information that is in the Element information:

1.Select the shape you want to measure/place the area of.
2.Open Element Info.
3.Open Place Text Tool.
4.Drag the Area property from Element Info and drop it into Word Processor you want to place as fields.
5.Place the field in View Window.

In the Text Preferences (File>Settings) you can switch off/hide the grey background of the resulting text.
The benefit of using Text Fields instead of the tools you had in the V8i Area Tools is that the Area information will automatically update when the size of the element you have measured changes.

An older article related to Fields may give you an idea of how this works:
communities.bentley.com/.../text-fields

Let me know, if this works for you.

Regards,

Henk