Purpose

When creating a TIFF file using Distribution Services, inherently the output TIFF file will be rotated 90 degrees (portrait view). To create a TIFF file in a Landscape view, a settings file must be applied to rotate the view 90 degrees.

Overview

The following technote will cover:

• Creating an Archive that only produces TIFF files
• Create an InterPlot settings file to rotate the input files 90 degrees
• Creating a ProjectWise Set file which contains the InterPlot settings 
• Configure Distribution Services
• Use Distribution Services to automatically create TIFF files from MicroStation files

Pre-Requisites

The following should be installed per the implementation guidelines before the distribution job can be created. The user should have a working knowledge of these applications:

• InterPlot Server
• Archive Explorer
• A "null" printer either on the Distribution Server or InterPlot Server
• InterPlot Organizer
• Orchestration Frameworks
• Distribution Services
• Distribution Services Administrator
• Distribution User that will be set to run the Distribution Job
• Distribution Archive Group

Creating an Archive:

An Archive can be created that will produce many types of renditions. In this example we are going to create a single Archive that only produces a TIFF file.

As stated earlier, when creating an archive TIFF file the output TIFF file will be rotated 90 degrees (portrait view). To create a TIFF file in a Landscape view, a settings file must be applied to rotate the view 90 degrees. If we were also to create a PDF the PDF would be rotated, which would put it in a Portrait mode view.

In the following steps the Virtual Directories are assumed to have been created and that Archive Explorer is configured properly and has been tested successfully with InterPlot.

The steps below use data from the following example configuration:
Example InterPlot server Name: V8I-DISTSVR
Example Web Virtual Directory Alias: dprweb
Example Web page Directory: \\V8I-DIPSVR\dprweb
Example database used: DPRAarchive (ODBC Access data source)

Example File Storage Directory: \\V8I-DIPSVR\dprfiles
Example Virtual Directory Alias (VDA): dprfiles

Steps:

• Open Archive explorer and create an Enterprise Archive, then select OK
• Give a name to your Archive; write it down as you will need it when configuring the distribution job. The description is optional. Select Next
• Web Server Setup: V8I-DISTSVR
• Web Server Port: default to port 80 is standard
• Virtual Directory Alias (VDA): \\V8I-DISTSVR\dprweb
• Select Next
• Database Server Setup
• System Data Source: DPRArchive
        a. No passwords are needed since it is an Access database
• Select Next
• File Storage Directories Select Add
• Directory: \\V8I-DISTSVR\dprfiles\
• Virtual Directory Alais: dprfiles
• File Storage Security: (Admin of the machine)
• Select OK
• Select Next
• Uncheck "Web viewing and printing, recommended archive format [DPR]"
• Check thumbnails on with Landscape setting
• Select Next
• Choose the tiff file format to be created and select the Add button
• File format Properties: Set the properties of the TIFF file. NOTE notice that there is no option for rotation; this is why the InterPlot settings file must be assigned when a distribution job is created for this archive.
• Select Ok to dismiss the File Format Properties dialog
• Select Next
• The following settings will allow you to assign Plot Set Attributes. For this example all of the defaults will be used.
• Select ‘Next' until you get to the Finish dialog and then select Finish.
• View the Archive Explorer the new archive will be displayed. Select the archive and select the Open URL to confirm the archive is working. NOTE: No files will be displayed in this folder. The reason is that Distribution is only using the Archive to create the rendition. When an Archive is used by InterPlot organizer a file will be displayed in the Archive. It is good practice not to use the same Archive for Distribution as you do for InterPlot.

Creating an InterPlot settings file with Rotation set to 90:

NOTE: In this section it is assumed that ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer is integrated with ProjectWise.

InterPlot settings files (.set) can be created two different ways:

1. Using the InterPlot Organizer interface (Which creates a binary file)
2. Using an ASCII editor. Refer to the InterPlot organizer help for the correct syntax.

Using InterPlot Organizer to create the settings file:

1. Open ProjectWise Explorer and navigate to or create a folder where you want to save the settings file.
2. Create a new document using the ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer application file Wizard. This will create a .ips file.
3. Save the name of the IPS file, for example TiffOnly.ips

      The next few steps will be to set the rotation option to 90 and save the settings to a .set file.

       4. Open the .ips file
       5. Add a design file, (It can be any file, but a file has to be loaded to make/save the 90 degree rotation option.)
       6. Under the Edit menu select Settings FileCreate
       7. Select iplot then press the Create Section menu
       8. Press the Edit Section button
       9. The Create Settings dialog will open. This is where the Rotation angle of 90 degrees will be set.
       10. Select the Layout tab of the dialog box. In the Rotation section select Specify angle, and input 90
       11. Select save, and save the name for example Rotate90.set. For this example save the .set file in the same folder as the  TiffOnly.ips. 
        12. Close the Create Settings file dialog. 
        13. To verify the settings file has been created properly, from the Edit menu of InterPlot organizer select Settings FileApply. Select  the .set file you created in step 12. After the settings file has been opened view the Rotation column it should now have 90 as the rotation angle.
         14. Close the .ips file, you do not need to save the ips file.

NOTE: From the steps above a settings file has been created that now can be applied to the Distribution Job to rotate the file 90 degrees

Using an ascii editor to create the setting file:

1. Open ProjectWise, navigate or create a folder that you want to save the settings file to
2.  Create a new document; this is going to be a simple ascii file so select a template file either inside of ProjectWise or outside that will be used as a template. Name the file RotateTiff90.set
3. Open the file.
4. In the first line type "rotation=90". This is the modifier keyword, which can be found in the ProjectWise InterPlot Help file.
5. Save the file.
6. For testing purposes apply this settings file using InterPlot Organizer, and confirm that the rotation column is set to 90

Creating a set file to be added to a distribution job:

Note: An InterPlot settings file cannot be used directly in creating a Distribution Job. A ProjectWise Set file must be created then the settings file added to it.

1. Open ProjectWise Explorer
2. Select a folder where the set file will be created
3. Select Document->Set->New
4. Name the set file RotatedTiff.set (you can name the file anything you want just make note of it)
5.  Add the iplot settings file by dragging and dropping into the Set dialog

Distribution Services configuration:

Note: In this section you will be configuring Distribution services to use an Archive that was created in the previous section: Creating an Archive

1. Open Distribution Services Configuration
2. Select the Distribution Share (This should have already been created when Distribution Services was installed)
3. Select Next
4. Create an Archive group for example \\v8i-distsvr\Rendition
5. Input a null printer for example \\v8i-distsvr\null
6. Input the Archive Name:
   a. NOTE: This must exactly match the Archive that was created in the "Creating an Archive" section.
7.  Select Next
8.  Select Standard configuration
9. Check "ProjectWise Connector"
10. The Distribution Configuration now has been successfully configured

Creating a Distribution job to produce a tiff file from a MicroStation Design File:

1. Open Distribution Services Administrator
2. From the menu items, select Job->New
3. From the Dialog that opens select the datasource that contain the files for Rendition/Distribution
4. Apply the Distribution user, which logs you into the datasource
5. Optional: Select the active interface to use
6. The "New Definition" dialog will open, which has 3 tabs that will need to be populated.
7. Input Files Tab: 
   a. The Options: (Note for this technote a single file will be selected)
        i. Add Document(s)
        ii. Add a folder
        iii. Add a search
8. Select the "Add Document" option, browse to the MicroStation Design file you wish to make a tiff file from.
9. Rendition Settings tab:
   a. Select the Archive that was created in the section "Distribution Services Configuration"
   b. In the Configuration Sets section select the "Add configuration Set" icon
   c. Browse to the file that was created in the section "Creating a set file to be added to a distribution job". When the file is selected the actual InterPlot settings file that was added to the set file will be displayed, select that settings file.
   d. When the file has been added select the file in the list box. Please take note of the "check" icon on the right hand side, this MUST be checked on. The set file you added MUST have a "Red Check" icon. If it does not then distribution will not apply the settings file when creating the distribution and the rendition will not be rotated.
10. Distribution Settings tab:
    a. Optional "Active Interface"
    b. Select ProjectWise Connector (Unless a different connecter has been configured with Distribution services)
    c. Select Icon "Add Distribution Definition" (The Distribution, where the tiff file will be created is configured in this section.)
         i. Select the Datasource for distribution
         ii. Input the Distribution Username and password
         iii. Select the folder that the tiff file will be created in
         iv. Optional:
         The distribution destination folder structure can be modified by selecting the "Mirror Source... or Distribute source files.,." options
         v. Rendition Attributes: Optional settings, refer to the Distribution Services administration guide for detailed instructions on setting these options.
11. Select Ok

Finished:

Now the job can be ran and a tiff file will be created that is in the correct orientation (Landscape view) and be distributed to the selected folder. If at any time the MicroStation file is changed the job can be ran again to recreate the tiff file.

External Links

Bentley Technical Support KnowledgeBase

Bentley LEARN Server

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