In ProjectWise version 8.1, Bentley has introduced a new capability - workspace profiles. The workspace profile allows you to define the location and combination of User Configurations (*.ucf), Project Configurations (*.pcf) and Interface files (*.m01) that make up a MicroStation workspace. You can then apply that MicroStation workspace to a particular vault within the ProjectWise environment by using the workspace profiles your ProjectWise Administrator has defined.Once a vault has been assigned a workspace profile, any document associated to MicroStation opened from within that vault will be opened using the configurations defined by that workspace profile.
Let's take a look at how a workspace profile is created. Then we can look deeper at how it is used, as well as explore some additional available capabilities that will allow you to take full advantage of this capability.
Figure 1: Workspace Profile properties dialog To create a workspace profile, login in to the datasource through the ProjectWise Administrator interface. Next, expand the datasource and right click on the Workspace Profile icon in the left frame. Select New>Workspace Profile. Give your profile a unique name and description.
One other field in this dialog is required. Enter the parent directory for your workspace files in the MicroStation Workspace Root Directory field. This value represents the directory to which the _USTN_WORKSPACEROOT variable is set. This defines the root directory in which all your workspace configuration resources are stored.
Under the MicroStation Workspace Default Settings grouping, browse to the appropriate workspace components to define the User, Project, and Interface to be used for this profile. You have the option to define the particular components of the workspace you want associated to this profile. These are not required, but if you wish to define them, this is where you would do it. It is possible to select the name of the User Configuration file and the Project Configuration file you wish to use. You can also specify an interface to use, if you wish.
The next option, "Allow Users to Override Default Workspace Settings," determines whether or not the user will be prompted with a dialog to change the workspace options defined above when MicroStation is opened. In order for this option to function properly, the MCM.cfg file needs to be modified on each client machine to activate the use of the ProjectWise Workspace dialog. To do this, open the MCM.CFG file (default location - c:\program files\Bentley\pwexplorer\bin\mcm.cfg) and uncomment the variable _MCM_PROMPTFORWORKSPACE=1. Save the changes. Now from a client machine where MicroStation is opened through ProjectWise, a dialog will appear, allowing the user to select their desired workspace components similar to the options on the MicroStation Manager.
*Tip - instead of accessing each client machine and editing the mcm.cfg file, add this command line switch as an Additional MicroStation Command-Line Argument in your workspace profile: -ws_MCM_PROMPTFORWORKSPACE=1
Note: In previous versions of ProjectWise, many users will recall the utility pwwrkspc.ma that was available to allow the workspace dialog to open with MicroStation. This capability has been incorporated directly into the ProjectWise iDesktop integration and is no longer a separate installed mdl application. So now in order to activate it, you simply need to uncomment the variable noted above. A pwrkspc.ma file is still delivered with ProjectWise 8.1, but this file is not the same as the previous one. If this file is loaded because users still have old configuration settings, it alerts them to the current configuration changes required to run the Workspace dialog for ProjectWise 8.1.
Figure 2: User overrides dialog for Workspace Profiles In addition to defining these settings for a workspace profile, you can go one step further and define overrides for individual users or user groups. This allows a configuration of a workspace profile that uses different components for different users. Simply highlight the user(s) or group(s) and select the new components you wish them to use for the profile. Hit the Set button, and you'll see that it saves those components regarding the users and groups you had highlighted.
Hit the Apply button to save the workspace profile. It is now available to be applied to your ProjectWise folders and documents.
Figure 3: Setting the Workspace Profile during folder creation
Figure 4: Example of document settings showing an inherited Workspace Profile When you create a folder or a document in ProjectWise 8.1, you will now have an option to define a workspace profile. This creates a situation where any document associated to a MicroStation-based application will use the workspace components as defined in that workspace profile when opened.
Note: Workspace profiles are not used when using the Document>QuickView or Redlining menu options.
Documents and folders within the parent vault will inherit the workspace profile setting. To verify that, a folder or document has inherited its workspace profile, it will display the workspace profile setting in the properties dialog followed by parenthetical information noting from which folder it inherited its setting. As shown in Figure 4, this document is using the workspace profile "Design" that has been inherited from the parent folder named "Paul." Those documents and sub-folders that have already been explicitly set with a workspace profile will not inherit their setting from the parent folder.
Now that you know how workspace profiles are created in the ProjectWise Administrator, and how they are applied in the ProjectWise Explorer, you can start using them to your advantage. You can use them to help define project specific workspace settings, discipline specific settings or company specific settings if you are working with consultants in your projects. How you use them is up to you.
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This Client Server article is republished in its entirety from 2003 for reference purposes. It was written for ProjectWise v8.1 and may not apply to any other version.
Original Author: Bentley Technical Support Group