wms not working in PowerSurvey

Daniel Messerich said:

I was wondering if there was a change in MicroStation

What is the exact version no. (e.g. v10.x.y.z) of MicroStation and PowerSurvey that you are using? Use key-in VERSION to see the version no. in the MicroStation Message Center, or Help→About MicroStation in the backstage.

See this blog that shows you how to obtain MicroStation's version number.

Have you upgraded either PowerSurvey or Windows recently?

Sorry. I always forget that information.

PowerSurvey (SS v4) 08-11-09-878

The wms does not work in MicroStation (SS v10) 08.11.09.916

The imagery is trying to load, but only get the camera icon.

Sorry. I always forget that information.

PowerSurvey (SS v4) 08-11-09-878

The wms does not work in MicroStation (SS v10) 08.11.09.916

The imagery is trying to load, but only get the camera icon.

Hi Daniel

the camera icon may mean the WMS source does not retrieve data or the data is restriced for user/password identification.

When at alst does WMS retireving works in MicroStation (SS v10) 08.11.09.916, PowerSurvey (SS v4) 08-11-09-878

HAve you really tested open WMS Sources?

Frank Klein said:

the camera icon may mean the WMS source does not retrieve data or the data is restriced for user/password identification.

No, camera can mean anything either WMS source is not available or Microstation can't internally process valid response. There is zero debug options to be sure what is happening. Only option is to click preview and if preview works then check further.

I am having issues with wms in different states. I have used both in the past. There is an error for every wms I try to reference.

Hi Oto,

you're right. We know that the WMS implementation of Microstation products is worse in the the last years. It seems there is no development .

But that does not help Daniel. He might open a service request with Bentley. Or trying the WMS source with open software like QGIS.

Frank Klein said:

But that does not help Daniel. He might open a service request with Bentley.

It won't help either he will get reply that they tested it in QGIS and it works. No kidding, we are comparing top notch proprietary software with top notch opensource product and which wins? In QGIS we get full debug logs and requests to verify what is going on and it doesn't help either because there are no issues in QGIS.

After that they will ask to install Wireshark and log request locally(as there is no debug option in MS even that it explicity requests errors to be reported in XML). After looking into Wireshark log it will show that there are no issues of course because it is MS internal issue handling the requests. What is most stupid is that even if server responds with error it gets replaced with this stupid "crossed old camera" icon, same happens if it is internal issue so we have zero options to debug anything. PowerSurvey is discontinued without direct replacement so no fix. Lack of proper WMS support is Microstation trademark for years.

Daniel Messerich said:

There is an error for every wms I try to reference.

That also doesn't mean anything because there are issues with the cached entries in WMS dialog and if you accidentally input wrong request then it is no longer possible to input correct one. Not sure how to clean the WMS dialog history.

Honestly WMS is not really supported in v8i it is in "lack of technology" preview state.   Try to print with WMS background and you will get even more camera pictures even that it works in view. CONNECT is little bit better at least printing works but still the same hardcoded requests and outsourced suboptimal development. Some defects I reported are even marked as fixed but still the example WMS I sent doesn't work so it is not even tested if the fix is fix.

It has been discussed previously but the main issues in v8i are as follows:

• Requests are hardcoded. This is suffix which Microstation appends to WMS URL - ?EXCEPTION=application/vnd.ogc.se_xml&VERSION=1.1.1&SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=GetCapabilities
  Some WMS servers doesn't like parameters in allcaps so try to use lowcaps. If parameter version is not recognized server will respond in version 1.3.0 which is broken in Microstation.
• The current internal representation of a WMS hardcoded a tiled raster, each tile having a fixed size of 256 per 256 pixels.
• There is some internal bug how the WMS cache is handled so intermittent issues are noticed even that server is available and no issues in connection.
• No error logging or debug options except camera picture.

What can be tried:

1. Try turning Workspace > Preference > Raster Manager > “Display Raster Using an Independent Process” Off and On.
2. Edit XWMS file and increase MAXWIDTH and MAXHEIGHT to 10000 pixels to limit request tile size. It won't help printout as it has other tiled approach.
3. Edit XWMS and check that URL tag has same value as in <CapabilitiesRequest> key. Servers which are behind proxy do not correctly specify data request location. It is actually server issue but in QGIS we have option to ignore such redrect. Preview is misleading as it uses CapabilitiesRequest URL so preview may work but fail to load service.
4. ScaleHint value "infinity" not supported so replace it with value in XWMS.
5. pass parameters in lowcaps as I mentioned previously.
6. As a last resort do a restoredefaults if on same machine it works in PS but not in MS.