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MS_RFDIR limitations

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Original Tip Date: Feb 9, 2007

MS_RFDIR limitations
  
In MicroStation V8 2004 Edition and earlier, MS_RFDIR had a limit of about 30,000 characters it could "store" and about 255 characters for the paths.

Although this was adequate for most situations, it posed a problem for those wanting to define/assign hundreds of folders to this variable and thus exceeding the 30,000 character limit. Add extra long folder paths and you're faced with limitations imposed by MS_RFDIR .

Since MS_RFDIR does not accept wild cards, one simple solution is to utilize multiple project configuration files (PCF) to lighten the load. Or, depending upon your folder structure, to create custom variables that define a portion of the path and call those up with MS_RFDIR as shown below. This is especially useful for those extra long folder paths that exceed the path limit of MS_DIR.

Instead of this:
MS_RFDIR > H:/CAD/2007/CLIENT XYZ/0001/DGN/
MS_RFDIR > H:/CAD/2007/CLIENT XYZ/0001/BORDERS/
MS_RFDIR > H:/CAD/2007/CLIENT XYZ/0001/STEEL/
MS_RFDIR > H:/CAD/2007/CLIENT XYZ/0001/FABRICATION/
MS_RFDIR > H:/CAD/2007/CLIENT XYZ/0001/MECHANICAL/

Try this - define a variable to replace H:/CAD/2007/CLIENT XYZ/0001/
MS_0001 = H:/CAD/0001/2007/CLIENT XYZ/
MS_RFDIR > $(MS_0001)/DGN/
MS_RFDIR > $(MS_0001)/BORDERS/
MS_RFDIR > $(MS_0001)/STEEL/
MS_RFDIR > $(MS_0001)/FABRICATION/
MS_RFDIR > $(MS_0001)/MECHANICAL/

Or this:
In THE project.pcf add the following:
%include $(_USTN_WORKSPACEROOT)standards/refs.pcf

And in the refs.pcf add:

MS_RFDIR > $(Proj_Refs)
MS_0001 = H:/CAD/0001/2007/CLIENT ABC/
MS_0001 = H:/CAD/0001/2007/CLIENT XYZ/
Proj_Refs > $(MS_0001)/STEEL/
Proj_Refs > $(MS_0001)/FABRICATION/
Proj_Refs > $(MS_0002)/STEEL/
Proj_Refs > $(MS_0002)/FABRICATION/

Note that in MicroStation V8 XM Edition the path and character limit for MS_RFDIR has been increased. With thanks to Greg Owen and Jason Dias for the additional tips.

 

 AskInga Tip #698

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