You are currently reviewing an older revision of this page.
Original Article Date: March 17, 2004
Not only can E-Links be used to link a web page to your graphics, but you can also use them to link to external documents such as Excel speadsheets, image files, PDF files via Internet Explorer or NTBbang.
Note: If you are completely unfamiliar with Engineering Links, it may be beneficial to review Linking elements to a webpage first. Method #1 - Linking to External Documents via Internet Explorer: To quickly link an external document to a graphical element, you can attach an E-Link that contains a local URL to the document. When the link is followed, MicroStation will launch Internet Explorer which will either display the contents of the file or offer it for downloading. This technique can be used on nearly all file formats including the ever-popular DGN, XLS, TXT, DOC, PDF, GIF, and JPG For example, to link to a PDF file - follow these easy steps: Go to Tools > Engineering Links open the E-Links tool box. Select Attach Engineering Link Keyin the local URL of the desired file as well as a description Select and accept either a single element or an entire selection set.
As mentioned above, following this link will kick off Internet Explorer and the linked document will be displayed for your viewing pleasure. (To reduce clutter, I have removed the standard toolbars that typically display when viewing a PDF file through Internet Explorer.)
Method #2 - Linking to External Documents Directly (without using Internet Explorer): If you prefer to link to external documents directly and not use Internet Explorer as a go-between, you'll have to utilize the MDL application called NTBang in conjunction with the ustnkeyin protocol. Before proceeding, please aquaint yourself with both NtBang and the ustnkeyin protocol by reviewing the following articles: Understanding and using NTBang UstnKeyin protocol Once NtBang is installed and configured, you can create compound keyins using the ustnkeyin protocol in conjunction with specialized NTBang keyins to execute the appropriate application to open the target file. For example, in older versions of MicroStation, your E-Link tag may look like this: ustnkeyin://!start excel d:\data\NiceData.xls
While in newer MicroStation, the E-Link tag would be: ustnkeyin://%d:/data/NiceData.xls Note: For files with spaces in the name, you may need to put the file name in quotations. ustnkeyin://%"d:/data/Nice Data.xls"
Notice that in each case the E-Link tag command starts with ustnkeyin and is followed by a system command of sorts. Using this technique you'll be able to start and open external documents by simply poking on an element wth the Follow Engineering Links tool.