I am working on an existing drainage file and I am new to the drainage model tools. We are using a .dgnlib for our pipe feature definitions, conduit catalog & prototypes. It is my understanding that the Conduit Catalog is being read from my local C: drive. I have not been able to locate any information about configuration variables in regards to the Conduit Catalog .xml file. If I want to have a Conduit Catalog stored on a network drive or in ProjectWise (current project is on ProjectWise) is there a way to define that path? We don't want to recreate this Catalog for every project.
I have tested adding to the conduit catalog in a dgnlib and also using the import/export to engineering libraries. In the 2021 Release 1 there is an issue with "update standards from dgnlib" for Drainage & Utilities feature definitions that already exist in a dgn., but the functionality is working in 2021 Release 2. I have attached a video showing the two methods.Drainage and Utilities Updating Standards from dgnlib
Robert Garrett said:what you need is not nearly as complicated as you describe. Maybe this will help:
Your entire first point missed the fact that I already stated I am working on an existing file. I already know that having all necessary resources defined in a .dgnlib and creating a new file from it brings all the data.
Robert Garrett said:In addition to various other CFG variables you also need SUDA_Seed_File to point to this dgnlib.
I did mentioned that we do have a .dgnlib I am adding new data. The variable defined and pointing to the .dgnlib
Robert Garrett said:In the active project, you can right click on the filename in OpenRoads Standards to "Update From DGNLIB" but this does not update prototypes or catalogs
This does not always update the design file. It is hit or miss as stated. One nice thing is that you can use Copy/Paste from the .dgnlib to the design file in Project Explorer. I stated previously that the catalogs & prototypes are not updated in this manner.
Robert Garrett said:So, what about engineering libraries, specifically the conduit libraries related to your question? Forget them if you can.
This was the whole point of my original question. I can't forget them. My question was "how to update an existing conduit library from the .dgnlib?"
Robert Garrett said:But you can import a new catalog from an engineering library
Yep, figured that out from a separate post that a link was provided. It is still a very cumbersome process. If you have an existing set of Concrete Pipes and you need to add a new size (in the .dgnlib), in order to import this into an existing design file you need to import the entire Concrete Pipe set, which creates a duplicate if you do not delete the existing Concrete Pipe set in the design file. Deleting the original breaks the link in the Prototype to the catalog which, in turn, breaks the link in the feature definition to the Prototype.
Exporting the modified catalog from the .dgnlib to the catalog (Conduit Catalog.xml) also seems to create a duplicate of the Sets. Now when I go to import these to an existing file I need to import all the duplicates, look at each on to see which has the new data and delete the ones that are not correct. I do not see all of these in the .dgnlib when I open the catalog, just when I go to import.
Robert Garrett said:Over time, the need for such updates to catalogs will diminish as our dgnlib files become more mature.
Yes, this will be great, however, as I stated previously, we always have projects where there is a pipe/inlet/culvert etc. that is not in the standard library so we need to add those. We like to include those in the resource files so we do not need to add them if we run across them again.
Microstation CONNECT 10.17.00.209
ORD CONNECT 2021 R1 10.10.1.3
Microstation v8i SS 10 08.11.09.919
Power InRoads v8i 08.11.09.615
ProjectWise 10.0.3.453
Good Morning - what you need is not nearly as complicated as you describe. Maybe this will help:
Robert Garrett Senior Consultant
www.envisioncad.com
Ok, this is not a very straight forward process.
First I open the Conduit Catalog dialog in the .dgnlib file.
Click the drop down Synchronize Options, Connect to Library. Select the desired library & click on the diskette icon (which is counter intuitive) then select ProjectWise Checkout.
Add any new Labels or conduit sizes
Click on the Synchronize Options icon and select Export to Library. Select the .xml library by left clicking on it then click the Select button in lower right corner. In the next dialog select Check In, Unlock or Leave Out (I usually select Leave Out as I am still using the file in my design file).
Switch to my design file.
Open the Conduit Catalog. Select the Synchronize Options
At this point one would assume you could choose Synchronize from Library. That did not seem to work (at least not consistently). I choose Import from Library when Synchronize is not working. The problem with the Import is that the process only allows you to select a Label, not individual size definitions so you need to delete the original (ex. I have a Label Concrete, Circular with 23 sizes defined. I need to delete Concrete, Circular before I do an Import because it will create a duplicate Concrete, Circular).
Using the Import function seems to cause any links for the Feature Definitions to the Prototypes to be broken and you must redefine that link in the feature definition.
Once you are done with the Conduit Library, currently you either need to click the Synchronization Options icon, I select Browse Engineering Links, then upon closing the dialog you have a new dialog where you can select Check In or once you close the file you can go into ProjectWise Explorer, find the Conduit Library and manually check the file in (or use Local Document Organizer dialog).
The whole process has been a hit or miss scenario. There are times I need to go back to the .dgnlib and switch back to my design file to figure out why something is not working the way it should. One big issue for consistency sake is the Prototypes. As stated previously the Prototype information does not carry over to the design file. I guess at project startup this information would be imported. I have been adding the Prototype information to the .dgnlib then redefining it in the design file. You need to make sure you copy down all the settings, including the name of the Prototype. We want everything to match back to the .dgnlib because other users may go into an existing file and copy information (even though they should not).
Hopefully there is some discussion on getting this to work in a more efficient manner as projects always have items that need created after the initial onset.
Answer Verified By: mwlong
Thanks for the link. It looks interesting. I just need to investigate and test in depth.