iDesktop Problem When Closing Excel Spreadsheet or Word Document

iDesktop Problem When Closing Excel Spreadsheet or Word Document

Versions
ProjectWise Explorer 10.00.03.140
Word/Excel 2016
Windows 10

Let's say user is logged into ProjectWise in MicroStation via iDesktop integration. We have an MDL/C++ native code application running with a button to open an Excel spreadsheet or Word document which is stored inside ProjectWise. This calls ProjectWise SDK aaApi_OpenDocument() routine that opens ProjectWise document in the associated application, Excel or Word.

The problem happens when user closes the doc/spreadsheet and opts to check it back in to ProjectWise. The Word/Excel iDesktop module pops up the following dialog:

"Document 'Sample.doc' is currently open in another application. Please select Cancel to cancel check in operation or Continue to continue check in. If the document is checked in at this time further modifications made from the open application will be lost."

This problem only happens if MicroStation's iDesktop integration is active. When I invoke aaApi_OpenDocument() routine from another process or when I disable MicroStation's integration with ProjectWise using PW_DISABLE_INTEGRATION config var*, the problem doesn't occur. So I believe that there is some conflict between the MicroStation iDesktop plugin and Word/Excel's iDesktop integration plugins.

* To test this with MicroStation's iDesktop disabled, I log into ProjectWise from inside my MicroStation program programmatically but not via iDesktop login box.

One Workaround — A Separate Process to Get the Doc/Spreadsheet
Since the problem evaporates if we use a separate process (not our MDL app running inside an iDesktop-integrated environment), I'm considering how to just pass ProjectWise credentials to another process so user doesn't have to log into ProjectWise again.

Another Workaround
Is it possible to temporarily suppress the MicroStation iDesktop integration while MicroStation is running? That could work around this.

ProjectWise CONNECT Only, We Think
I think this only happens in ProjectWise CONNECT Edition. But that's definitely the version we're currently encountering this in.