Standards Checker

The Standards Checker, added to the MicroStation V8 2004 Edition, allows you to check your files against a set of standards that are defined in a separate DGN file or set of DGN files.

As delivered, the Standards Checker can perform the following operations:

1. Generate a report that lists any differences between your file and the file(s) that contain(s) the standards

2. Interactively go through a file, giving you the option to ignore, fix, or skip each noncompliant standard

Note that the Standards Checker can be customized to do more things through the use of VBA or MDL. This article covers only a few of the delivered capabilities.

Before beginning, you first need to understand the files that are involved in setting up and running the Standards Checker, and each file's purpose. The following diagram will be used as a base for setting up the Standards Checker.

Figure 1

Part 1
The first step is to set up a file that contains your Standards Checker settings:

1. Create a new design file (I will call this file standards.dgnlib).

2. Go to Utilities>Standards Checker>Configure.

3. Click the Create New Standard Checker Settings icon.

4. Give the settings a name in the Settings Name field.

5. Toggle the fields that you want the Standard Checker setting to use for this Standard Checker. For example, checking "Check Levels" and "Check Text Styles" will only check the levels and text styles in a file when running those particular Standard Checker settings.

6. Click the Settings button next to each check field that has been enabled in Step 5. Here you are given a choice as to which file(s) you will use for your source standards (those files that contain the standards you want to use). You are presented with three choices-referred to as A, B and C in the above diagram.

A: Configured DgnLibs - If selected, all of the files specified by the MS_DGNLIBLIST configuration variable are used as the standards source.

B: Selected DgnLibs - If selected, only the specified files from the MS_DGNLIBLIST configuration variable are used as the standards source.

C: Active File - If selected, the file in which you are configuring the Standards Checker (standards.dgnlib in this example) is used as the standards source. With this option, you can create a standards file that includes both the actual standards and the settings for checking those standards.

Note that if either A or B are used, at least three files will be needed for the Standard Checker process (the file being checked, standards.dgnlib, and at least one file specified by MS_DGNLIBLIST). However, with the third source option you will only need two files (the file being checked and standards.dgnlib).

7. Toggle the boxes next to the properties you would like to check. For example, if you select ByLevel Color, the Standards Checker will look for any levels with different ByLevel Color than that in your standards source.

You have now set up the relationship between the standards.dgnlib (which contains Standard settings) and the configured/selected dgnlib(s) (which contain(s) the source Standards used for checking). This relationship is shown in the above diagram as Part 1. Now we will move to Part 2, using what we have just set up to actually check a file.

Part 2
1. Open a design file you would like to check with the Standards Checker.

2. Go to Utilities>Standard Checker>Check.

This Client Server article is republished in its entirety from 2005 for reference purposes.

By Erik Lofgren, technical support analyst, Bentley Corporate Office
22 July 2005

Figure 2

3. Click the Browse icon to select the standards.dgnlib file created in Part 1 (You have the option of pointing MS_STANDARDSCHECKER_SETTINGSFILE to automatically load a Standards DGNLIB file).

4. In the Settings Name field enter the name created in Step 4 of Part 1 (Optionally, you can set the settings name that the Standards Checker will always use with the variable MS_STANDARDSCHECKER_SETTINGSNAME).

5. Make sure that the Interactive button is checked on and select OK (Note - I will cover the other two options below). You will now be interactively presented with each standard in the active file that does not meet with any of the standards in the DGNLIB files configured by the standards.dgnlib.

Figure 3

6. As you can see in this image, the Standards Checker has found a level that is not in the configured DGNLIB files, Exterior_Walls. At this point, you are given three choices:

Ignore - Choose this option to ignore the discrepancy. Once a discrepancy between the file being checked and the configured DGNLIB files is ignored, it is flagged as being Ignored. This is beneficial when you want to check the file again. As you can see in the previous image, there is an option to Show Ignored Problems in the Standards Checker dialog box. When unchecked, previously ignored problems will not be picked up by the Standards Checker.
Fix - Choose this option to fix the problem. The Standards Checker presents you with all of the levels in the configured DGNLIB files. By choosing a level and selecting the Fix option you are telling the Standards Checker to move the elements on Exterior_Walls to the desired Level and effective removing the Exterior_Walls from the file being checked.
Skip - Choose this option to skip the problem. Use this option when you want to simply skip a discrepancy but do not want to flag it as Ignored in future sessions.
If Show Ignored Problems was checked on in the Standard Checker dialog box (Step 5), you will be presented with each previously ignored problem and will be given the choice to "Stop Ignoring" or "Continue Ignoring."

Figure 4

7. Once you have ignored, fixed, or skipped all of the discrepancies, a Standards Check Complete dialog box will pop up and show you a general list of what was done to the file.

Figure 5

8. If "Report File" was checked on in the Standard Checker dialog box (Step 5) you will also be prompted to review the report file. Clicking Yes to "Review Report File" will open an .xml file in which a detailed report of what was done to the file being checked will be listed. You do not have to have to run the Standards Checker interactively to run a report file. With just "Report File" checked on, the Standards Check Complete dialog box will immediately pop up asking you if you would like to review the XML file.

Figure 6

Example of how a VBA macro can be used with the Standards Checker

MicroStation includes a few examples of VBA macros that you can run with the Standards Checker. By default, they are located in Bentley\Workspace\System\vba\examples\.

For example, the SCCompleteRefCheck.mvba will scan through a file and report and reference attachments that are not resolved. To do this:

1. Add SCCompleteRefCheck.mvba to MS_STANDARDCHECKER_APPS.

2. You will then be presented with an additional check option in the Standards Checker dialog box: VBA Reference Checker.

Figure 7

3. When the Report File is opened you will see a list of references that are not resolved in the file(s) being checked.

Figure 8

Additional Notes

1. Additional information about the Standards Checker can be found in the Administrative Guide in the delivered documentation under Ensuring Standards Compliance.

2. In MicroStation V8 XM Edition you will be able to store custom line styles in DGNLIB files. Therefore, you will be able to use the Standards Checker to check files for non-compliant line styles.

3. Also in MX you will be able to check for non-compliant Element Templates stored in DGNLIB files. An element template is a set of element attributes, including color, level, line style, and line weight, that is applied to an element that is being placed.

See Also

MicroStation's Standards Checker in ABD