Applies To

iCS for PDF V8i and CONNECT Edition will use MicroStation to process AutoCAD DWG files when creating the PDF rendition. If the ProjectWise title block attributes are not getting updated in the PDF rendition, there are two probable causes.

When using iCS for PDF V8i and iCS for PDF CONNECT Edition, check the Attribute Exchange Rules in ProjectWise Administrator. Be sure to create the Attribute Class under MicroStation Title Blocks. Typically, you can copy the same section from the AutoCAD Title Blocks section which has already been defined.

Next, make sure the attributes are set to update when the file is copied out – enable “Document is “Copied out” in the Properties of MicroStation Title Blocks.

When using iCS for PDF CONNECT Edition to create renditions of AutoCAD DWG files, if MicroStation CONNECT Edition is being used as the print engine, the title block attributes will not update without a configuration change.

AutoCAD block attributes are not displayed as MicroStation tags by default when displaying in MicroStation CONNECT Edition. When opening AutoCAD DWG files in MicroStation CONNECT Edition, you will see the title block text has a background:

and if you analyze it, it is a text node, not a tag element:

DWG files are configured to automatically convert to text nodes when displayed in MicroStation CONNECT Edition. To make them display as tags and therefore get updated in ProjectWise, you need to enable this feature. This configuration change needs to be made on the iCS server where MicroStation CONNECT Edition is installed for publishing PDF renditions.

From ProjectWise Explorer on the iCS server, open the DWG in MicroStation CONNECT Edition. Next, close the file and check in, you will see the following dialog:

Cancel this dialog, you will see the dialog below:

Right click on a dwg file and select options:

Check the option “Block Attributes as Tags”:

This setting is saved to a file called DwgSettings.rsc. This file is typically stored in the user’s preferences folder (the user logged in when setting in DWG options). My file was located here:

C:\Users\dawn.gentry\AppData\Local\Bentley\MicroStation\10.0.0_1\prefs\dwgdata

I copied this file to a location that was more central to all users for user with iCS for PDF but you could put it anywhere:

C:\ProgramData\Bentley\MicroStation\10.0.0_1\prefs\dwgdata

The following change should be made to the worksets used on the PDF rendition jobs. When opening the DWG files in MicroStation CONNECT Edition, I used the default workset:

C:\ProgramData\Bentley\CONNECT Edition\Configuration\WorkSpaces\NoWorkSpace\NoWorkSet.cfg.

I modified this file as follows:

MS_DWGSYSTEMDATA = C:/ProgramData/Bentley/MicroStation/10.0.0_1/prefs/dwgdata/

Restart the ProjectWise Orchestration Framework service so the new changes are picked up. The PDF renditions created should now update the title blocks.

Now when you open the DWG file in MicroStation CONNECT, you should be able to see the Title blocks updated and therefore, the PDF renditions will have the correct information as well.