	Product:	MicroStation
	Version:	V8, XM, V8i, CONNECT, 2023
	Environment:	N\A
	Area:	Reference
	Subarea:	N\A

Background

Have you ever wondered what the “Display Overrides” setting in the reference attachment dialog box does? Not only do you need to know what it controls but you will need to understand where and how it works.

Practical example of using the “Display Overrides” setting

Did you ever have all your design data referenced into one model? You can think of this model as the container model. You then create multiple drawing sheets by referencing the container model into the sheet models. Now you want to change the display (turning a reference off or turning a level off in view display) in all the sheet models but you also want to have the overall plan sheet displayed differently than the other sheet models. How can this be accomplished without opening every model and making your changes? The “Display Overrides” setting in the reference attachment settings can allow you to make your changes without opening each model. Read on to find out how to get the results that you desire.

What settings are being controlled?

The "display override" option, listed in the Reference Dialog Box, controls how reference display, locate, snap, raster reference display, and level view display (not global display or global freeze) are handled for nested reference files. So for nested reference files, in the reference dialog box, the on/off of the display of the reference, the on/off of the reference locate and the on/off of the reference snap are controlled according to the "display override" option. In addition it also controls the raster reference display of rasters attached through the nested reference file and level view display (not global display or global freeze) of the nested reference files.

On/off of the display of the reference
On/off of the reference locate
On/off of the reference snap
Raster reference display
Level view display

Which files are affected?

The setting only affects how nested references are displayed in your active model. The setting gets set in the direct attachment settings but it only affects the display of the nested attachments that come through that direct attachment. It does not affect the display of the direct attachment.

Scenario

Let's say you call your active model “Master Model A”. Your direct attachment is called “Direct Attachment B” The nested attachment is called “Nested Attachment C”. “Nested Attachment C” is attached to “Direct Attachment B” and that is attached to “Master Model A”.

Setting options

Never Override means that no matter what changes you make to the settings for Nested Attachment C, from within the Master Model A, are for that session only. Upon reloading the file, the settings for Nested attachment C will always revert to the settings that are set in the Direct Attachment B. Therefore, NEVER overriding what the Direct Attachment B settings are for Nested Attachment C.

Always Override means that no matter what changes you make to the settings in Direct Attachment B, for the Nested Attachment C, those settings will be ignored and whatever settings you set in the Master Model A for that Nested Attachment C will be honored. Therefore, ALWAYS overriding what the Direct Attachment B settings are for the Nested Attachment C.

Allow Override means that you can control these settings from the Direct Attachment B for Nested Attachment C and these changes will be honored in Master Model A, UNTIL a change is made to a setting in Master Model A. Once an "override" is set in Master Model A for any of the settings, the files become out of sync and act independent from each other. Therefore, this will act as "Never Override" but will "Allow" you to make the override if you choose to. But if you do make a change then the files become out of sync and changes made to the Nested Attachment C from the Direct Attachment B will no longer be carried through to Master Model A. It is then acting like “Always Override”.

So how does this relate to the “Practical example” above?

In the example at the start of this article, for the overall plan sheet you would set the “Display Overrides” setting for the container reference to “Always Override”. That will allow you to display the reference information in the overall plan sheet independent of the other sheet models or references. For the other sheet models, you would want to set the “Display Overrides” setting for the container reference to “Never Override”. This allows you to make display changes (turning a reference off or turning a level off in view display) in the container file and those changes will be reflected in all the other sheet models. Just remember which display settings are affected by the setting.

Other language sources

Original Author:

Rick Ruth

Display Overrides setting in the reference attachment dialog box