Best practice for equipment data extraction for V8i?

I intend to create a one line document with a dozen equipment types, each type will have some common tags but will have a couple of unique fields like the number assigned to it and maybe what equipment it supports.  My end goal is utilizing smart cells with editable elements which I then can either create a BOM onto the drawing or send to excel for a report.  Please point me in the right direction.

-Mac

  • Unknown said:
    My end goal is utilizing smart cells

    What's a smart cell?  Why not use MicroStation tags, which are intended for annotating and reporting?

     
    Regards, Jon Summers
    LA Solutions

  • Mac,

    Tags and tag reports are great!

    I use them all the time...everyday...

    I posted a pdf on a tutorial I found a long time ago  called tags101 it will teach you everything you cant get from microstation help or any  microstation book or even bentley  Learn doesnt cover tags as well as this tutorial every step is covered.. once you learn this you will see lots of uses for tags you never though of before and wished you had..... go to the thread below and download the  tags101.txt and rename it tags101.pdf

    communities.bentley.com/.../345229

    It was  originally  published  by Karen Fugle from BE microstation  UK user group..

    This tutorial will teach you everything you want  to have "smarts" built into your drawings and be able to extract reports values etc.. you can even get element attributes like a polygons area, and objects level name or colours so with extra smarts like level names and cell names and tags you can make powerful searches on tags and tagged elements.. uses are not only  BOM but asset management, land or cadastral  information management and  basic GIS information management..

    If you also get  some  vba licensed tools  or make your own you can also extract and update the tag values  some of these are  Caddpro, Axiom tools, La Solutions Flexitable ....  all of which sell custom VBA to manage tags, title block tags, and tag reports even as batch process over many drawing...

    Lorys

    Started msnt work 1990 - Retired  Nov 2022 ( oh boy am I old )

    But was long time user V8iss10 (8.11.09.919) dabbler CE  update 16 (10.16.00.80) 

    MicroStation user since 1990 Melbourne Australia.
    click link to PM me 

  • Thank you!! I've printed out the PDF and am studying it now. I hope to create a BOM within the drawing and attach it to the drawing. Short of that, having the ability to create a BOM report for the drawing grouped by equipment types would be fantastic. Any other pointers would be well received. -Mac
  • What I have done in the past is create the  report and extract the tags to text.txt, rename it text.csv and open in excel then reformat  count etc put nice headings

    and convert to excel then bring back to mstn with embbed or linked excel through the copy special,

    another  alternative  is to just set it up in csv with headings and counts ext the way you like then run an old microstation basic  macro still delivered with microstation called TABLE.BAS

    It will create text tables with lines for rows and columns and text  imported from a text file even csv files... it takes a few attempts to get it perfect  but it doesnt not like anything fancy like level overrides or bylevel so set up a level called table to import all this or even default you can change it later

    its not smart  so work out the the widest column needed from viewing your csv then  set the  number of  characters  colours linestyles etc...it has prefs file

    then if it needs work you can use fence stretch or align tool ( under the copy tools) 

    Let men know offline via Private message me if you need help with any of this...

    Lorys

    Started msnt work 1990 - Retired  Nov 2022 ( oh boy am I old )

    But was long time user V8iss10 (8.11.09.919) dabbler CE  update 16 (10.16.00.80) 

    MicroStation user since 1990 Melbourne Australia.
    click link to PM me 

  • Unknown said:
    Having the ability to create a BOM report for the drawing grouped by equipment types would be fantastic

    That's one reason we created FlexiTable™ for MicroStation V8i.

    FlexiTable can...

    1. Harvest data, including tags, from your DGN models
    2. Export data to various formats including CSV, XML, HTML and Excel
    3. Import data from various sources including CSV, XML, HTML and Excel
    4. Create graphic tables (BoMs and Schedules) in your MicroStation DGN model

    FlexiTable is a licensed app. for MicroStation V8i.

     
    Regards, Jon Summers
    LA Solutions