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Each of MicroStations configuration variables are a particular type. This short little article is a brief overview of the five types of variables that are used to control MicroStations behaviour.
All of MicroStation's configuration variables are one of these five types: Path: These variables tell MicroStation where to find files. For example: MS_MACRO = d:/production/macros/ causes MicroStation to search in that location for macros. MS_DEF = d:/production/dgn/ tells MicroStation to look in that specific location when using File > Open for the first time. Note that in the actual configuration file where this type of variable is defined, it shows forward slashs "/". Additionally, path variables must always end with a forward slash in the configuration file.
Directory: A directory variable instructs MicroStation where to save files. Examples of this kind of a variable would be: MS_PLTFILES = d:/production/plots/ for the location to save plot files. MS_TMP = c:/temp/ to secify where temporary files are written to. Note that in the actual configuration file where this type of variable is defined, it shows forward slashs "/". Additionally, directory variables must always end with a forward slash in the configuration file.
Filename: This variable type tells MicroStation what file to use for a particular purpose. For instance, MS_DESIGNSEED defines which seed file to be used when creating a new design file.
Keyword: A keyword variable defines certain default settings such as the old V7 MS_UNDO which determined how much memory to allocate to the undo buffer.
Boolean: Finally, the boolean variable controls toggle settings that are either on or off such as MS_READONLY = 1 which turns on the read only mode when going into a file.
AskInga Article #196