Text vs Text Node

Obviously I know how to place text/notes, etc. on drawings . . . just wondering where either text or text "node" would be most appropriate. 

From the Help file, it would seem to be more appropriate to use text nodes IF you are placing them as a placeholder for text to be added later. The two points below are from the Help.

1. Used to place empty text nodes in a design to be filled with text later using the Place Text tool or to be linked with a database row using the Attach Displayable Attributes tool. 

2. During the design process it can be efficient to insert placeholders for text to be added later.

There are two types of placeholders:

• You can place empty text nodes in your model in locations in which text is to be added later.
• You can place text with blanks, known as Enter Data Fields (EDFs), representing part of the text that is to be filled in later.

Hi Dan,

Dan Eckstein said:

but I cant find any decent explanation of when and WHY to use either/or.

my recommendation is "When not required explicit element type, do not care." ;-)  Simply place text and edit text, MicroStation will do the rest automatically.

Dan Eckstein said:

Why is there two options, etc.

It's because of history of design file format evolution ... in times when every bit was counted.

Dan Eckstein said:

why you'd need or want to do that.

Usually there is no reason to convert one type to the second one. Such requirement can appear, but it's often context specific.

With regards,

  Jan

Dan Eckstein said:

Text vs Text Nodes: I cant find any decent explanation of when to use either

A text element is just that, and no more.

A text node is one of at least two ways of grouping several elements.  It's handy when you want several chunks of text to remain spatially related.  A cell with text components performs a similar role.  In the old days, it was hard work to edit text inside a cell, but these days it's easy.

We often create a text node inadvertently.  A single text element has a single style.  If you write some text in MicroStation's text editor and change the style of one word, then you automatically create several text nodes.  For example,

• A single line of text would form a text element in the text style chosen in the text dialog
• Apparently a single line of text would create a text node element, because of different styles or symbology.

Usually, you aim to create simple text elements.  Circumstance may lead you to create a text node element.  As Mark comments, you might want a text node as a multi-line placeholder for later editing.

Following on from Jan and Jon, I prefer not to use text nodes as some of the newer  most useful tools wont work on text   if they are text nodes example my favourite tool copy increment text will not work with text nodes.. as for using enter data fields I personally don't use them any more as there are better tools today  like items and tags which can have preset fonts , txt size , text and levels and be turned  on / off .. but if you already have them then keep using .. horses for courses after all...