I am looking for some ideas for sheet number automation. We currently do not use paper space models in our sheet drawings. Most of the data shown in our sheet drawings are from reference files. We have separate dgn files that contain our border cells, plan border, cross section border, profile border, etc. The border dgns are referenced in as well. With only 5 or 6 border dgns for each project, we can edit the type, year, and project no. in those 5 or 6 files that in-turn updates the entire project.
The Type, Year, and Project No. text is edited in the border cell in the border dgn. They are consistent through out the project. The Sheet No. is text that is placed in the sheet drawing when created using GeoPak.
The match line text is also placed in the sheet when created using GeoPak. There are times where this match line text is a cell that contains the information shown.
The "XX" would need to be alphanumeric. Sheet number examples, 2, 2-1, 2-2, 2B, 2B1, 2B2, 3, 3A, 3B, and so on for other sheets. If we have to insert a sheet in the middle of other sheets, the trailing sheet numbers would have to be updated. Small projects are not so much of a problem, it's the larger projects that create issues. We have some larger projects that have upwards of 1000 sheets in the entire project. Hence the need for sheet number automation.
I have looked at pen tables to handle this. That creates a problem. The string used in the pen table will be shown until it is printed. The sheet numbers needs to be displayed in the sheet drawing. Another avenue would be to have the sheet number based off the model name. That creates a problem as well. That would be against Cadd Standards. I've looked at other ways but with no success.
Any ideas and input are welcome. Thanks in advance!
Dustin Hunt said:I am looking for some ideas for sheet number automation
You haven't mentioned it, but can we assume you want something for VBA? If so, then take a look at this Text Incrementer.
Dustin Hunt said:The Type, Year, and Project No. text is edited in the border cell in the border dgn. The Sheet No. is text that is placed in the sheet drawing when created
What many people, including Bentley Systems, do is to create drawing information using MicroStation tag elements. It's easier to automate tag updates than it is to automate text updates.
If using MicroStation CONNECT then you might consider moving to Item Types. Bentley Systems tell us that tags are deprecated in CONNECT. However, since ProjectWise continues to use tags for drawing title blocks, take their advice with a pinch of salt.
Regards, Jon Summers LA Solutions
It doesn't have to be VBA. I have been searching the net to find an efficient way to automate sheet numbers. I use the "Text Incrementor" to update my cross section sheet numbers when new sheets get inserted before them and it does the job. That has saved loads of time updating hundreds of cross section sheet numbers. Now I'm looking at the plan sheets. Using the "Text Incrementor" in the plan sheets can modify other numbers/text that are in the sheet that I don't want changed. I've not used MicroStation Tags in the past. I didn't see any use for them until now. With the tags having unique id's, I can look at changing them on a sheet by sheet basis automatically.
As for ProjectWise I'm not currently using because of the limitations it has for GeoPak users. At some point when TDOT switches to ORD, we will then implement ProjectWise.
Dustin Hunt said:I have been searching the net to find an efficient way to automate sheet numbers
Post your question on the MicroStation Forum. You'll find a few people with similar questions and ideas.
I'll do that.
On a side note, I've been working thru "Learning MicroStation VBA" about Tags. I'm working thru the code to get all tags of all files in a folder. When I step thru the code, it is finding my files but it not locating my Tags. What am I missing? I have included a zip file with the dgn's and mvba, GetFolderTags. I've got 4 tags in the design files, MatchLineLeft, MatchLineRight, SheetNumbers, and TitleBlock. I'm working toward being able to update the tags using VBA but if the code doesn't see the tags, I'm stuck at the beginning.
TagUpdates.zip
Hi Dustin,
Dustin Hunt said:On a side note
please respect this forum best practices and create a new post for this new issue!
Regards,
Jan
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