Migrating Customizations to MS V8i


 Product(s):MicroStation V8i
 Version(s):08.11.07.171 and later
 Environment: N/A
 Area: N/A
 Subarea: N/A

Overview

This article will help explain how to migrate customizations from previous versions of MicroStation to V8i.  Bentley is now moving towards task-based designs. If you have previously used Settings Manager, then you have taken steps towards guiding your users through a series of menu items to help in the finished design process.

Settings Manager - Settings Manager controlled a series of menu items to be used or accessed while working on a design. It controlled active levels, colors, menus/tools, cells, scales, etc. With this setup, The user was able to easily select the proper menu item from Settings Manager and it would automatically control what was needed.

If you wish to continue to use your existing tools and menus, that is not a problem. These are still available and updateable. However, Bentley is now attempting to make the process in which a CAD manager maintains these easier.

Before you begin

Let's examine your existing customizations that you want to migrate over to V8i SS2.  Ask yourself these important questions:

You need to get everything in order first; your Settings Manager files, custom toolboxes, toolframes, pulldowns, MDLs, Macros and anything else you used to create the interface.

Important Note: Experience with previous customization resource files is needed for this.  If you do not know what files are used and where they are located (arbitrarily created tools under WORKSPACE>CUSTOMIZE), or if you are using MDLs, etc. then you must find out before continuing.  This is very important!  Technical Support can not easily tell you what you have created or where it is placed.  This is up to the CAD manager to determine and understand.  If sometihng is unclear, there is training available, as well as information under the HELP inside of MicroStation. This functionality needs to be well understood in order for you to continue past this point.

MicroStation V8i SS2 uses the same basic folder structure that was used in previous versions back to MS/J. Therefore, you can move the files that support the previous setup to the same relative folder you were using. However, you may want to create a separate directory structure for V8i SS2 until you get things organized and created the way you want. Accessing the existing files (MS/J or V8) directly is likely to cause trouble for anyonr currently using the older version. It is suggested to create a similar directory structure for V8i SS2 outside of where MS/J or V8 is currently working. Creating this directory structure and pointing V8i SS2 to it will allow you to access this data. You should now be able to use the settings file for Settings Manager, as well as be able to see and use your custom tools.

Migrating Tools from Interface file




Looking through the TOOLS tab under the Application Tools, you should see your custom tools from the earlier version.  You need to get the custom tools copied up to the User Tools >(filename) folder.

 

 
This might seem redundant at first.  You will see later on when the old "interface file" is removed from the interface folder, the custom tools under "Application Tools" will disappear.  Since you copied these to "User Tools", They are copied to the DGNLIB that you are in and will still be available.

Migrating Settings Manager tools

If you are currently using Settings Manager and wish to incorporate this into the tools, templates and tasks, then you will need to do the following:



Reminder: At this point, following these steps will place the existing tools into the active file (*.dgnlib). Therefore, these templates, tools, tasks, etc. now exist in the active file rather than in a resource/stg file.

If you are creating a new interface, and you are not bringing over any customization from an earlier version, you should be on the same page with the current dialog available. At this point, the only difference will be that there are custom tools and templates from the previous versions already available, whereas a new interface will not have any. The name listed will match the name of your active design file (in this case it was tool_template.dgnlib). Notice there are no Templates currently listed.

Any custom pull-down menus you created will be listed under the MENUBAR option on the right-hand list of the TOOLS tab. You can see the pull-down menus listed below. This is where you add to the list if you wanted more pull-down menus. Then you could drag and drop tools.

Recap

You should have the old resource files (ustn.m01, etc.) in the new interface folder where they are currently being read by SS2. You should also have the *.stg file imported into the CUSTOMIZE dialog.

With this completed, you should be seeing a list under the Templates dialog and the custom tools under the Tools tab>User Tools.

If you are creating new tools, etc. you will not have any Templates or Tools.

The tools tab will list your design files current tools, tasks, and menus that are available. There are User Tools (these are the custom tools we will create) and there are application tools (these are delivered by the applications). There are also User Tasks (these are tasks that we will generate) and application tasks (these are delivered by the application). Notice the User Tools and the User Tasks both have sub headings by the filename currently open. This is where you will put your Tools and Tasks.

Templates will control settings like levels, color, fill mode, text style, cell name, cell scale, dimension style, etc.

Tools are similar to the old toolboxes. But now instead of controlling settings, it has been simplified. You supply the command string, description, associate a template (to control the settings) and give it an icon.

Tasks contain tools. Tasks are a workflow of options users will go through to complete a section of your design. For example, laying out contours or doing a single-line diagram. The specified task will1 have all the tools available to complete these tasks.

Once you have the tools and templates, you can now create Tasks. Under User Tasks, you want to design a workflow for your users to pick from in order to do certain things (IE: Sheet layouts, Drainage, Details, etc.). At this point, it would be similar to what you did if you had set up a menu in Settings Manager.

Note: From this point forward, the data you have created now exists in the active design file you have had open during the creation process. You should no longer need the settings files or the ustn.* files. If you now define the MS_DGNLIBLIST variable to include this design file and your workspace is shared (depending where this is defined), all users should see our Tools, Tasks, and Templates.

Tools and Templates need to be created first. Once these are created, then you can create your Tasks and Pull-down menus.

As an additional note: The screenshots are from the SS2 product - in other versions of the product these tools/dialogs may change slightly.