What is a workspace?

Original Article Date: March 25, 2004

While rooting around the other day, I found this old document that I wrote a few years back. It's simply a primer for workspaces and explains the role that they play in the configuration of MicroStation. Nothing fancy, but may be a good read for the newer CAD administrator.

A workspace is simply a custom MicroStation environment or configuration. By selecting a workspace, you customize MicroStation for a specific job, discipline, project, or task. There is always a workspace operating when you run MicroStation.

The role of the workspace is to:

Tell MicroStation where things are:

• Cell libraries
• Reference files
• Seed files
• MDL’s and macros
• Design files

Define the user interface:

• What tools are available
• What tools aren’t

Tell MicroStation about your preferences:

• Window layout
• Button assignments
• Memory allocations for pre-V8
• Tool settings
• User Preferences

Define functionality:

• Resources files for fonts and linestyles
• Settings groups
• Function key menus

A workspace is therefore made up of:
What you see - The user interface, and the environment - what MicroStation defines at startup.



Workspaces allow you to:

• Create standard data files for the office that don’t have to be repeated on each individual workstation.
• Organize data outside of the MicroStation's directory structure on a per project basis.
• Protect files from deletion and modification by storing them on a safe, backed-up network server.

Workspaces are complex!

• MicroStation is robust, complex engineering software with hundreds of configuration variables - some exposed and some hidden.
• Installing any EC, third party application, etc. will give you additional configuration variables.
• KISS principle - only modify what you need. The simplier the better!

The components of a workspace:
MicroStation sets up the workspace by it’s definition of the following components:

• System data - configuration settings
• Application data - software configuration settings
• Site data - office standard configuration settings

MicroStation sets up the workspace by your definition of the following components as selected from the MicroStation Manager:

• Workspace name
• Project
• User Interface
• Style (Pre-V8 only)

Three basic parts to Workspaces:

• Configuration variables - tells MicroStation where files reside so it can find them. For example: MS_RFDIR=c:\dgn\
• Interface - The graphical user interface which can be customized by the user.

Preferences - the infamous UPF file that stores user settings such as what toolboxes are docked, the window background colour, and so forth.

The Active Workspace:

User Configuration File:
The name of the User Configuration File is used as the name of the workspace. The file has a suffix of UCF and is found in the .../Workspace/Users/ folder. There is one UCF file for each available workspace name as listed in the MicroStation Manager. This file has two basic functions:

• It contains values for any configuration variables set by the user to control MicroStation's behavior.

It can specify the three active workspace components.Selecting a workspace from the MicroStation Manager reconfigures MicroStation to use that workspace’s components. The information stored in the User Configuration File may also contain a user’s overrides of settings in other configuration files (Project, System, Application and Site).

Project Configuration File:
A project is one component that can be associated with any workspace. It is used to set the location and names of data files associated with a specific design project. Examples would be the names and locations of cell libraries, font resources files, and line style resource files.

Settings within the PCF file can be over-ridden by those found in the User Configuration File.

Data files for sample projects are provided with MicroStation and are located as modules or subdirectories under ...Workspace/Projects/Examples/ directory.

The sample files are a great place to learn from so it's recommended that you do not delete them. When customizing your own project, copy, rename and edit the delivered .../Workspace/Projects/Untitled.pcf file. This file provides an excellent starting point for creating your own projects and meeting the needs of your organization.


User Interface:
The Interface option menu allows you to select a specific look and feel of MicroStation's tools and general on-screen appearence. When a specific user interface is being used, MicroStation will read the information contained within the modification resource file(s) stored in the .../Workspace/Interface/ directory.


User Preference Files:
The UPF file has two primary functions:

• Storing the settings found in Workspace > Preferences
• Storing the layout of the GUI (locations of tool boxes, which windows are open, last settings used etc). This file is dynamic and is written to when exiting MicroStation or when changes have been made to Workspace > Preferences. Due to this, it can become corrupt during an unexpected exit or when multiple sessions of MicroStation are open and are using the same workspace. In the event that it’s corrupt, the UPF file can safely be deleted and MicroStation will create a new one when it’s re-started.
  
  
  Style:
  The Style option menu allows you to select whether to use the older Command Window method of communicating with MicroStation or the Status bar. This setting is remembered from session to session and is only available in pre-V8 MicroStation.

AskInga Article #194