GenerativeComponents V8i SELECTseries 6 Commercial Release announcement (for reference)

GenerativeComponents V8i SELECTseries 6 Commercial Release available for download by Mueller

We are pleased to announce the availability of the Commercial release of GenerativeComponents V8i SELECTseries 6 (v08.11.09.331) through Bentley’s Software Fulfillment Center. This release contains a substantial number of new features and innovative capabilities that increase interoperability, productivity, and enhancements of the user experience. Most notably it updates the GenerativeComponents Extension so it installs in the project context as provided by its base applications, AECOsim Building Designer V8i SELECTseries 6 or MicroStation V8i SELECTseries 3 Update 2. When installed on AECOsim Building Designer, GenerativeComponents provides node types that create and manage AECOsim Building Designer components. GenerativeComponents Extension also integrates with ProjectWise managed workspaces for full integration into any AEC workflow. Last but not least, this commercial release consolidates development progress made since our previous commercial release. 

This GenerativeComponents V8i SELECTseries 6 version can be installed alongside any previous commercially released versions of GenerativeComponents or other Bentley applications, and should not interfere with the users’ current production environment. Important installation requirements and notices are found in the Readme. 

GCScript changes between GenerativeComponents V8i SELECTseries 6 and prior released versions are significant, reflecting the innovation that has occurred, and may require manual editing after opening scripts in SELECTseries 6.  Please contact Bentley Support for any migration help. 

What's New

Some of the significant new capabilities are described below.  More information on all of the new features can be found in the product documentation. 

• ABD-GC Add-In – When installing the GC Extension into ABD V8i SELECTseries 6, GC integrates into the ABD project configuration with a specifically built ABD-GC Add-In, accepts the project’s seed file, and does not insert GC contents into design files unless the user directs GC to do so by placing nodes in the design. 
• ABD node types – The ABD-GC Add-In contains GC's ABD node types, for example Wall, Slab, StructuralMember, Door, and Window.
• DataGroup attachment to GC Geometry node types – When the GC Extension is loaded into ABD, then GC's geometry node types offer the option to attach DataGroup information. 
• ProjectWise integration – In the process of integrating into ABD, GC has updated its file operations including creation of folders in any active project to comply with ProjectWise integration requirements.  GC's ProjectWise integration is at level 4, managed work spaces. 
• Node Types palette – The list of Node Types has been replaced by a palette for drag and drop of nodes into the Graph.  The Node Types palette structures the node types into Geometry and Utility node types.  When users create Generated Node Types, a section "Generated" is inserted.  When loading add-ins, sections are added for these add-ins, specifically an "AECOsim Building Designer" section for the ABD node types.  Right-clicking on node type icons expose the node types techniques, and mouse-over on listed techniques reveal the required inputs.  The user may also select another default placement technique for a node type. 
• Enhanced error reporting – In many places error reporting has been enhanced to provide more actionable information to users when nodes fail, or when other errors occur.
• Graph enhancements
  • Node alignment tools – Node alignment tools have been added to provide quick means of cleaning up the graph layout. 
  • Node resizing – Nodes can be resized to make them more conspicuous in the Graph.
  • Node coloring – Nodes can be colorized for easier identification.
• Auto-recording of Transactions – An added button in the Transactions window permits activation of recording of transactions at each recordable step.
• Renovated LawCurve node – The renovated LawCurve node replaces the combination of LawCurveFrame, Point instances, LawCurve that was required to create a LawCurve control. 
• Renovated Node Dictionary – The renovated Node Dictionary adds search/filter capabilities as well as enhanced navigation support by synchronous highlighting of nodes in Graph and geometry View. 
• GCScript enhancements – GC's internal GCScript parser has been replaced in order to enhance previously available capabilities,  provide new capabilities, additional support to users, and to permit future enhancements.
  • Record type – The record type (in some programming languages also known as structures) permits users to define more complex ways of storing related data of diverse types in memory with unambiguous means of access by named fields (rather than indexing into nested lists).  The general form is {name=expression, name=expression, … }, for example “record r = {x=0.7, y=Sqrt(100), color=Colors.Blue};” or to define just the record “record r = {x=, y=, color=};” which then can be filled “r.x = 0.7;”
  • Table type – A table is an associative collection of keys and values. (In some programming languages, this kind of collection is called a dictionary.)  The general form is {[keyExpression]=valueExpression, [keyExpression]=valueExpression, … }, for example “table t = {[5]=’five’, [line01]=line01.Length, [‘how now’]=’brown cow’, [Sqrt(16)]=Series(1,10,1)};” or by using “t.Add(5, ‘five’);”.  Items in a table are retrieved by indexing with the key, e.g. “t[line01] = line01.Length;”
  • Query expressions – Query expressions offer a powerful and concise option for operating on lists in a variety of ways.  The syntax for query expressions is “from identifier in list-expression query-clauses select-clause” with each query-clause being one of where, orderby, skip, take, distinct, select.  Examples are “from x in list where x < 4” or “from ln in lines orderby ln.Length take 3 select ln.EndPoint”.  Also, query expressions have been integrated into the “foreach” statement. 
  • Lambda expressions – Lambda expressions are a more concise notation for anonymous functions (i.e. functions without name), for example list1.Sort(function (x, y) { return x < y; }) can now be written more concisely as list1.Sort((x,y) => x < y). 
  • Measurement types – A measurement type is one of area, density, length, mass, position, and volume.  Every measurement type is a fundamental value type, which means it is as intrinsic to the language as the types bool, double, int, and string.  Use example is to provide the expression “length(m=2.0)” as input to the Length property of a Line.ByStartPointDirectionLength. 
  • Auto-complete renovation – The new parser permits implementation of a more comprehensive, consistent, and context-aware form of auto-completion, facilitating writing expressions or scripting in general.
  • Improved syntax error indication – When scripting, there is enhanced immediate feedback about syntax errors in the script.
  • Enhanced availability of List methods – New-or-improved list methods, which are designed to work well with query expressions, have been added, like list.First(), list.IndexOf(), list.Rest(), list.Average(), list.Minimum(), etc.  

To learn more about this release, requirements, FAQs, and other related information, please reference the ReadMe documents for the GenerativeComponents standalone version or the GenerativeComponents Extension, respectively.