Element Template Modification

I'm working in ORD creating a SUDA cell Library.

I've created a Civil Cell Library for cells per our Client requirements, so now how do I change/ add/ modify the active cell in the Element template?

I was copying the Sanitary Manhole are renaming it to the new Mh required, but the pulldown is blank when I look for my new cells.

How do I get my Workspace to read the new civil cell dgnlib?

Auda Freemon

  • I suspect you need to make sure that your configuration paths to your new file

    MaryB

    Power GeoPak 08.11.09.918
    Power InRoads 08.11.09.918
    OpenRoads Designer 2021 R2

        

  • Civil Cells are not traditional MicroStation Cells and SUDA Cells are.

    The difference between a regular cell and a SUDA cell are SUDA Cells need with a few special elements added to them according to a poorly documented schema - at least, as far as I can tell. All of my searches on setting up SUDA Cells lead only to videos, which are illustrative and informative, but hardly are a good reference guide to quickly refresh ones memory.

    A complete one-off SUDA Cell needs a 2D version and a top and bottom 3D version, all of which are pointed to by the MS_CELLLIST variable for the required Element Templates to be able to find them for its Cell Name dropdown list. Once all of those are in place, a Feature Definition can be created. And at that point, you have really only completed step 1. There are a plethora of other properties to assign and these must exist somewhere in the ether. Again, more poorly documented schemas.

    Sorry if this is turning into a rant, but these tools are powerful, but nearly infinitely complex to setup and maintain, let alone use.  


    Charles (Chuck) Rheault
    CADD Manager

    MDOT State Highway Administration

    • MicroStation user since IGDS, InRoads user since TDP.
    • AutoCAD, Land Desktop and Civil 3D, off and on since 1996
  • Thank you both for answering -

    First of all this is in OpenRoads Designer - CE

    The cell file is in the correct location based upon my workset.cfg

    I have created the plan, 3D top and 3D bottom cells based upon the videos found on the Bentley site, they have the placement points and lnes as shown in the videos.

    Now I need to assign those cells within the Element Template so that they will be used when I place the cell.

    The issue I am having is that if I create an New element in the element template, the new element does not show any cells when I try to assign the new cells to the appropriate elements.  If I copy an existing element and try to modify it to replace the existing cell with my new cell, the only cell available in the cell pulldown is the existing cell.

    So how do I add new elements to the element template when the fields will not populate with the new information I am trying to create?

    The OOB Suda Cells are ina dgnlib file. Do I need to make my file a .dgnlib file or a .cel file?  f it is a .cel file, where does it go in my directory structure?

    Charles - I agree with your rant - the documentation is poor at best. But I'm stuck. Where do I go from here?

    Auda F

  • The cells belong in a library. I recently read where they refer to cells as a DGNLIB. But I believe to function as a cell library, they must have a .cel extension. As a long time user, that confused the crap out of me.

    Look in the Configuration dialog box for the variable MS_CELLLIST. This is used to define cell libraries to search for cells. It might be possible to specify the DGNLIB that contains your cells - I have never tried that. MS_CELLLIST (note there are 3 L's in it) supports wildcards, like *.cel. If the cell libraries are in one of the folders pointed to by MS_CELL, then only file names are needed. Otherwise, you would have to specify the full path filename. Most people use the combination of MS_CELL and MS_CELLLIST to simplify the process.

    Many of us long time users always push for attaching a cell library when you need it, but as cell libraries grew and their cell's usages were expanded, the ability to search multiple cell libraries for cells made it unnecessary to have duplicate cells in different libraries for different needs if the cells were identical. It does mean that one has to make sure their cell names are unique as the first one found will get used, even if it is not the one the user intended.


    Charles (Chuck) Rheault
    CADD Manager

    MDOT State Highway Administration

    • MicroStation user since IGDS, InRoads user since TDP.
    • AutoCAD, Land Desktop and Civil 3D, off and on since 1996
  • Chuck:

    I believe that the "I recently read where they refer to cells as a DGNLIB" are Civil Cells which are- actually- individual dgnlib's. And yes, it is paramount that only one cell instance name should exist regardless of the number of libraries which are included in MS_Celllist. If one has the same cell name residing in different cell libraries, it is imperative that those cells are renamed for exactly the reasons you have already mentioned.

    Mark

    Mark Anthony Plum
    Chief Technology Officer

    1601 N.W. Expressway, Suite 400
    Oklahoma City, OK  73118