[CE U12] Level numbers

Ooohhh...that doesn't sound good at all.

Hi Rod,

a few comments:

Rod Wing said:

In both V8i and CE all of my levels in my .dgnlibs have the numbers set to nothing.

I think no such setting exists in MicroStation. Every level has a number, always and without any exception. It's system (or maybe better to say DGN V8 format) feature.

The number can be:

• System defined (assigned?) number is default option, used when user defined number is not used.
• User defined is optional and not recommended to be used.

By default, the level number are not displayed, which means system numbers are used and there is option to override them by user.

Rod Wing said:

When I view a dgn file in V8i with the level dgnlibs referenced by the MS_DGNLIBLIST variable the level number field for all of the levels is blank, as I would expect.

The numbers are blank not because they do not exist, but because CAPABILITY_LEVELS_USE_AUTO_GENERATED_NUMBERS is not defined.

Rod Wing said:

In CE, that is not the case. Using the same scenario all of the levels are numbered.

I guess it's because CAPABILITY_LEVELS_USE_AUTO_GENERATED_NUMBERS is defined in your workspace.

Rod Wing said:

When I view them in level manager I have four levels assigned the number 1, four levels assigned the number 2, etc. 

Are they numbered 1, 2, 3... or *1*, *2*, *3*... ? "Normal number" means it was defined by user explicitly (manually, or maybe the file was created in some old version, where the concept of system generated numbers was not used), whereas "asterixed numbers" are used for generated numbers.

Rod Wing said:

In V8i levels with duplicate numbers aren't available.

Compare your workspaces, how _USTN_CAPABILITY variable (or other variants like _USTN_CAPABILITY_DGN etc.) is defined.

Rod Wing said:

I have one design file in CE where this creates a problem.

I guess people at Bentley Support will need to have a copy of your workspace including dgnlibs to be able to simulate the issue.

With regards,

  Jan

Jan,

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I understand that the level numbers when set to "nothing", or blanked out, will have system generated numbers. I am looking for some consistency in the number display. 

The CAPABILITY_LEVELS_USE_AUTO_GENERATED_NUMBERS is not defined in either V8i or CONNECT. 

Below is a screen capture of Level Manager in one of my level dgnlib files that illustrates what I'm seeing. 

The levels defined in the active dgnlib file have nothing displayed in the level number field. The levels referenced from the attached level dgnlibs via the MS_DGNLIBLIST variable all have their auto-generated numbers displayed.

If you enlarge the screen capture the pop-up box reads:
To display auto-generated numbers, turn on CAPABILITY_LEVELS_USE_AUTO_GENERATED_NUMBERS 

The levels attached from the level dgn libraries should follow that setting as well.

Hi Rod,

Rod Wing said:

The levels referenced from the attached level dgnlibs via the MS_DGNLIBLIST variable all have their auto-generated numbers displayed.

They are not auto-generated number in my opinion, from two reasons:

• When CAPABILITY_LEVELS_USE_AUTO_GENERATED_NUMBERS  capability is not defined, the auto-generated numbers are not displayed and the column is blank. It means auto-generated numbers are used for newly (?) created levels in active design file, but the levels from dgnlib use explicit manually defined numbers.
• The auto-generated numbers are displayed using "asterix format" like *23*.

Rod Wing said:

I am looking for some consistency in the number display.

I agree both V8i and CE should behave the same.

Maybe nobody really tested the situation when dnglib contains different levels with fixed manually defined (the same) numbers, because it's something that is treated as obsolete and not recommended for many years (I am not sure exactly in what version the numbers has become hidden).

I assume the problem is in a mechanism how numbers are changed when the level definition is copied to active design file when the level is used for the first time.

With regards,

  Jan

Just upgraded to CE U13 and the problem has gone away.

The auto-generated level numbers that were displaying in U12 version of the Level Manager dialog are no longer displaying in U13.

The problems I was having with select design files and placing elements incorrectly on the Default level is fixed.