Document Information

Document Type: TechNote

Product(s): MicroStation V8 2004 Edition and PowerDraft V8 2004 Edition 

Version(s): All versions less than 08.05.02.69

Original Author: Bentley Technical Support Group and Bentley Software

Use of "Delete Text Elements Containing Only Spaces" Compress Option.

Bentley Systems, Incorporated has recently become aware of a software bug that can result in the unintended deletion of certain text elements if the design file "Compress" command is used in certain limited circumstances when a particular non-default option is enabled.

Under certain conditions, when the "Delete Text Elements Containing Only Spaces" option is enabled, the algorithm that is used to determine whether a particular text element within the file contains only spaces can sometimes return incorrect results, indicating that a text element contains only spaces when in fact it does not. This causes the Compress logic to erroneously delete the text element. The text elements at risk are those that consist only of certain single-character ("stacked") fractions and the space character. If any other characters are in the text string, the text element is not as risk and therefore unaffected.

As a precautionary measure and so as to eliminate any risk of text element deletion, Bentley recommends all users immediately turn off "Delete Text Elements Containing Only Spaces" if it has been enabled.

For text elements to be erroneously deleted in this manner, at a minimum the following conditions must all occur:

1. The file must have been compressed using MicroStation V8 2004 Edition or PowerDraft V8 2004 Edition with a version number less than 08.05.02.69;
2. The "Delete Text Elements Containing Only Spaces" must be enabled;
3. The file must contain a text element consisting entirely of actual space characters and certain single-character fraction characters:
   1. If the text element uses a True Type font, the only fractions at risk are the single-character fractions ½ (ASCII 189) and ¾ (ASCII 190). Note that MicroStation and PowerDraft do not automatically convert the typed text "1/2" or "3/4" into single-character stacked fractions.
   2. If the text element uses one of the old-style Resource fonts, (e.g. one of the fonts that has the Bentley "B" Logo in the Font dropdown list) several of the single-character stacked fractions are at risk. However:
      • The single-character text fraction placement must have been enabled during the input of the text element.
      • The Text Style applying to the text element (or the "none" style if that is active) must have the "Fractions" option turned on. 
4. The text element must be a "simple" text element:
   • text within dimensions is not affected by this problem;
   • text elements within cells, groups, or text nodes are not affected;
   • text elements containing "enter data" fields are not affected.

If you believe you have any design files where the Compress command may have been run under the conditions listed here and have any concerns, please contact Bentley Technical Support via Service Ticket Manager (http://www.bentley.com/serviceticketmanager/) for additional information.

General Recommended Actions:

1.  Immediately check and turn off the "Delete Text Elements Containing Only Spaces" option, if it has been enabled. Note: The default setting for this option in a new installation of MicroStation and PowerDraft is off.

The "Delete Text Elements Containing Only Spaces" compress option is enabled if the checkbox next to that option is checked in the user interface (which is accessed by using the menu selection File->Compress->Options), or if the string "+SPACE_TEXT" appears in the MS_COMPRESS_OPTIONS configuration variable. The preferred way of turning it off is to put the string "-SPACE_TEXT" into the MS_COMPRESS_OPTIONS configuration variable in your site configuration file. Since the configuration variable overrides any attempt by an individual user to turn on the option, this will ensure that it remains off.

-OR-

2.  Upgrade to MicroStation V8 2004 Edition 08.05.02.70 or MicroStation PowerDraft V8 2004 Edition 08.05.02.74 or to MicroStation or MicroStation PowerDraft V8 XM Edition.

Further Notes:

1. MicroStation and MicroStation PowerDraft V8 XM Edition do not exhibit the problem described in this Service Bulletin.
   MicroStation and MicroStation PowerDraft V8 versions prior to the V8 2004 Edition did not include the Compress Options, and thus do not exhibit this problem either.
2. New releases of MicroStation V8 2004 Edition, version 08.05.02.70 and MicroStation PowerDraft V8 2004 Edition, version 08.05.02.74 are now available that correct this problem
3. A utility that checks your design files for at-risk text elements is available to help you evaluate whether your work practices result in text elements that are affected. This utility is called "textcheck", and it can be downloaded from: https://select.bentley.com/FulfillmentCenter/en/Search/Product/  under "Free Updates/Utilities".

- To install it, run the self-extracting program textcheck.exe. When prompted for a location, choose the location of your MicroStation install (default is c:\program files\bentley\). The files will be copied into the path corresponding to \program\MicroStation\mdlapps\.
 
- To run it, you enter these commands in the MicroStation keyin window:
 
mdl load textcheck
textcheck setlogfile
textcheck analyzecompressfraction
 
The utility will scan through all models of the currently opened design, find at-risk text elements, and log the results by appending the file name and number of at-risk elements to the file specified in .
If the "textcheck setlogfile" command is not issued, the output is to the MicroStation console window.
 
MicroStation's Batch Process utility can be used to run the textcheck utility on many files sequentially.
 
If textcheck is run on files where the problem has already occurred, the elements it is looking for will have been deleted and it will report no problems. Thus, you should run the textcheck utility on backups of your design files, and it will give you an idea of whether your work practices produce at-risk text elements.

See Also

Product TechNotes and FAQs

External Links

Bentley Support Service ticket Manager

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