[ORD 2022 R1] Configuration Explorer with Managed Configurations

I'm trying to wrap my head around this too. I removed MicroStation CE U17 for this very reason, but am now having to deal with in the latest ORD. 

Bentley has changed the way _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION, _USTN_USER_CONFIGURATION, and MY_WORKSPACES_LOCATION variables work. This totally blows up how we managed different configurations in previous releases. You're now pretty much forced to use the Manage Configuration dialog. The configuration settings in this dialog is stored in a configuration.xml file in your user folder along with your personal.ucf.

I haven't seen any variables that control this location, or an option for a configuration.xml seed file. Trying to get standard configurations to all of your users is going to be a challenge. It would be nice if CAD Admins could create a seed file with this for all of their required configurations so it would be populated with the correct configurations the first time a user launches ORD. It would also be great if we could lock this file, or disable the ability to add/modify configurations so that users can't mess it up.

Folks:

I have not installed this new product yet, but what y'all are stating here is making me rather anxious. I will follow this thread with much consternation.

Mark

Well, I decided to use brute force and place it in the main configuration area. That works but I would still like  to be able to troubleshoot other configurations using all the tools in my toolbox.

I am still learning the CONNECT configuration differences and unfortunately, I end up away from these for months at a time, maintaining our V8i workspace and then have to review and relearn when called back to the CONNECT world.

The worst part is that we really only work in ProjectWise these days, but have to export it to work with Bentley as we develop our revised ORD workspace. And when I get back a WIP version I have to start all over again.

On a side note, I believe I figured out what piece I was missing and did get my New Configuration functionality working. Now if I can do the same with some other Agency configurations so I can see what they are doing in ORD that we might want to implement.

Kevin van Haaren has done some detective work on this new configuration setup.

https://communities.bentley.com/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/232341/msce-u17-manage-configurations-and-using-_ustn_custom_configuration-variable

Here is what I have determined so far:

• The Manage Configuration tool appears to be intended to replace the use of the variable _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION. In fact, that variable may have been deprecated and no longer even function.
• You can have multiple locations where configurations are stored.
• The root folder of each configuration location must have a WorkSpaceSetup.cfg file.
• It may or not be necessary to use the variable MY_CIVIL_ORGANIZATION_ROOT in the WorkSpaceSetup.cfg file. Further investigation is needed.
• I appears that you can use MY_WORKSET_LOCATION to relocate Worksets from the default location under the Workspace.
• I still have no idea how to trigger an MSDEBUG.TXT file using one of these Workspace Configurations
• You can manually edit the configuration.xml file in the user preference folder to add or modify Configurations (with caution and XML editing experience).

I have installed a couple of other agency workspaces using this tool. Some work as designed but others are proving to be problematic. The problematic ones are highly customized and the inability to create an MSDEBUG.TXT file is really hampering efforts to complete those installations. Similarly, the Configuration Explorer also appears to require some unknown settings to enable its use to evaluate these configurations.