Microstation Cell Library

Hi,

I see a new phenomenon which never happened to me before.  Cells sometimes lose all nested cells in them. It is puzzling.

I copied a cell library which I wanted to update from the network to a folder in the local drive.  Then I attached the cell library on the local folder and edited some cells. I then copied the cell library back it to the network location. When I load MicroStation I see that some cells have lost all the nested cells.  If I attach the cell library on the local drive it is fine. The size and modified date of both the cell libraries are exactly the same,   Something happens to the cell library when copied to another location.  Does anyone know what the issue is?

Dilip Bhandarkar

  • Cells sometimes lose all nested cells in them. Does anyone know what the issue is?

    It's hard to say without seeing the file.

    A cell library is a DGN file.  It has a .cel file extension.  Each cell is a DGN model in that DGN file.  Are those nested cells in the same library or somewhere else?

    I attached the cell library on the local folder and edited some cells

    It's not clear what you're doing.  You can open a cell library directly and edit its models.

     
    Regards, Jon Summers
    LA Solutions

  • Hi Dilip,

    please follow the best practices and always exactly specify product version. There have been 16 versions of MicroStation CE released so far in last few years!

    Cells sometimes lose all nested cells in them.

    I do not believe any cell can "lost" its content, especially not "sometimes".

    I copied a cell library which I wanted to update from the network to a folder in the local drive.

    Why the cell library was copied to another location to be edited only?

    As Jon wrote: Why you do not use standard way, using Open for Edit, available at context mouse button in Cells dialog?

    When I load MicroStation I see that some cells have lost all the nested cells.

    Without knowing the cell structure, it's hard to guess anything. Can you provide an example? Or at least, a screen capture of Properties dialog with a complete structure of the cell displayed?

    Does anyone know what the issue is?

    Not until you provide more details.

    How the cell is structured?

    Are nested cells really part of the original cell? Or maybe the original cell has reference attachment(s)? In such case (which btw is a serious fail in the cell design) when the cell is placed, nested cells are created from the reference(s), even when the original cell does not contain any such cell. It nearly every time leads to bad results and unpredictable behavior.

    Regards,

      Jan

  • Jon/Jan,

    This issue was in MicroStation 8i and MicroStation CONNECT.

    This morning I didn't get have any problems.  Everything seems to be fine.  I don't know what was wrong yesterday.  I am still updating the cell library. I will try it again when I am done and see.  Thanks for your help.

    Dilip Bhandarkar

    Please cancel my subscription as I have retired.

    Dilip Bhandarkar

  • This issue was in MicroStation 8i and MicroStation CONNECT.

    You did not tell anything like this in your original question. You did not specify the version in any way, but you tagged your post by "MicroStation Connect Edition".

    It seems you decided to ignore the best practices, because strictly speaking, there is nothing like "MicroStation 8i" or "MicroStation CONNECT Edition", it's not version specification (many version of V8i exist, also as I wrote already 16 versions of CONNECT Edition).

    I don't know what was wrong yesterday.

    Because you did not provide any further details, the problem cannot be analyzed or even discussed more.

    Regards,

      Jan

  • My OS is Windows 10 and the MicroStation version is 10.13.01.01.

    I know what the issue is exactly, but don't know why.

    In MicroStation my configuration variables are as follow:

    MS_CELL = Z:/Microstation/ALL/Cell/CONNECT/

    MS_CELLLIST = Z:/Microstation/ALL/Cell/CONNECT/*.cel

    The cell library folder is: Z:\Microstation\ALL\Cell\CONNECT\AMTRAKV8New.cel - See image below.

    Now I load MicroStation and try AC=CTEF.  See image below.

     The status shows that the cell is from AMTRAKV8New.cel.

    The cell has nested cells called NODE, LOC, DEVN1, etc.

    Now I exit MicroStation and rename the cell library from AMTRAKV8New.cel to AMTRAKV8.cel.

    Now, the cell library folder is Z:\Microstation\ALL\Cell\CONNECT\AMTRAKV8.cel - See image below.

    Now I load MicroStation and try AC=CTEF again. See image below.

     The status shows that the cell is from AMTRAKV8.cel.

    Notice the cell has only two line segments and all nested cells have disappeared.

    Why does this happen?  What has the name of the cell library have to do with nested cells?

    I have attached the cell library.

    Dilip BhandarkarAMTRAKV8.cel

    Please cancel my subscription as I have retired.

    Dilip Bhandarkar