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  • The Build - Part 4 - All Aboard the cfg Ride - Including Other Apps

    Bear
    Bear

    Now that we have the base to build from, how do we go about including other Bentley application as well as other apps from vendors like Axiom etc.? 

    Well, it's all about order, load and line order to be more precise. What we need to think through it whether an app is global (for all users), local (just for the office) or something that we need to be able to have overwritten or appended at the client or project level. this…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • The Build - Part 3 - All Aboard the cfg Ride - Site cfg's

    Bear
    Bear

    Just a little addition to the cfg article yesterday.

    One for the options we looked at in our file:

    STD_40_Inclusions.cfg

    were the lines for including out 'site' cfg files:

    %if exists ($(SITE_STDS))
    %include $(SITE_STDS)*.cfg
    %endif

    This area is set aside for each 'site' or office to use for including such things as printer name lists (used by standard apps), office discipline apps (not part of the global or company delivered…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • The Build - Part 2 - All Aboard the cfg Ride

    Bear
    Bear

    As we get into the build configs, you'll start to see why the set up of the appl config is so important. Just to remind you, check out:

    http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Build-Kick-Off-USTNSITE-Part-4574598.S.153410694?qid=06b10905-4eee-4f72-bce8-221eec8b1f44&trk=group_items_see_more-0-b-ttl

    As we do have a development build and a live build I do have a copy of each appl file kept in each build due to the different…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • The Build - Part 1 - Standard Directories

    Bear
    Bear

    The hta is a great start point for any build, but what about the build itself? It's very important to put some time and effort into getting this right or you will end up with a mess that is hard to configure and even harder to maintain. The build I have now is an accumulation of 10 or so years work that I have tweaked and changed to better suit clients and my own thoughts. 

    As I have mentioned before in other articles…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 13 - Support Request Email

    Bear
    Bear

    Don't want to use Excel to have users create support requests. No stress, check out the tute below to create a link that opens up a blank email form:

    html - email links
    Creating an email link is simple. If you want people to mail you about your site, a good way to do it is place an email link with a subject line already filled out for them.

    HTML Email Link Code:
    <a href="mailto:email@tizag.com?subject=Feedback" >Email…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 12 - Excel Help and Change Requests

    Bear
    Bear

    I'm not a big fan of IT style Help Desk web sites where you have to log a call and wait for someone to contact you, if they do at all. I'm still a big fan of having the CAD Systems Group to be hands on and not a faceless entity. As such I've always preferred users call or email the support group direct, but there are times when you need more information for a help or change request. This is where I use some Excel files…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 11 - Multiple Software Install Locations

    Bear
    Bear

    For the next series of posts, download the hta example from:

    http://communities.bentley.com/communities/everything_else_community/f/289/p/80102/220916.aspx#220916

    Up until new we've stay away from variable driven application and stayed with fixed paths to get familiar with what to do. The reality is often very different, especially if you are dealing with multiple office who are still doing their own thing. Don't get me…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 10 - Run Your Own Scripts

    Bear
    Bear

    On the whole, I've been pretty lucky to have a good relationship with different IT groups, but on occasions I've had to work around groups who just don't want to work closer with the CAD Systems group. This means finding ways to run some of the login script functionality that I have in place.

    In the end I've added this to the hta file functionality as well. We'll go through what the login scripts themselves…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 9 - Kill Button

    Bear
    Bear

    Ok, say I have an overriding need to kill the build to run the application in vanilla mode. Not something I would open up for all users, but this can be a handy addition to the dev hta file.

    All you need to do is add the required button with the code:

    <SCRIPT language="VBScript">
    sub kill
    Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    if CFGpath.FileExists("C:\Program Files (x86)\Bentley2004…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 8 - Dev Build hta

    Bear
    Bear

    As I've mentioned before, I run 2 different builds. One build is for testing and development and the other is the active main build. NOTHING is live tested, everything is testing in the dev build first before deploying. 

    As such I also run a different hta file for the dev build. The main guts of the file run the same as we have looked at in the articles to date, but with a few subtle differences. The first of these…

    • Tue, Oct 9 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 7 - Opening Windows Explorer

    Bear
    Bear

    The one thing I do like about the hta interface isn't so much the fact that I now have a way to deliver builds, but the fact that I can add a lot more value to these builds through the same interface. One of the easier, but more popular, additions is the Explore button I have on all my hta files. The idea here is that instead of having to search Windows Explorer through a great list of paths, I can use the variables in…

    • Mon, Oct 8 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 6 - Disable Application Button by Project

    Bear
    Bear

    Remember, everything we've gone through in these exercises can be seen in the spsi_cad.hta available for download in Part 1. 

    We've seen how to use 'if MSpath.FileExists' to check that the software has been installed in the correct location, but how do we use this same option to lock out and application? Well, the basic idea here is that I have a folder with the same name as the variable 'project'. Inside this folder…

    • Mon, Oct 8 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 5 - Check if Application is Installed

    Bear
    Bear

    OK, we've now seen how we can add variables from the hta, start MicroStation and the other verticals and also add the cfg file we need to get the build running. It's time to add a bit more functionality to our hta, the first of these being a check on installation paths or if a package has been installed correctly. 
    If you're like me you have started to install your CAD applications in custom locations. This has…

    • Mon, Oct 8 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 4 - Starting an application

    Bear
    Bear

    We've set out client and project variables, but how do we start our different packages. I say packages because I haven't worked in an office yet where we use just MicroStation and just V8i so your build and hta must be able to cater for different Bentley verticals and versions. Lets have a look at the buttons first.

    Remember, this is just a basic first attempt at setting up a hta. Funny enough, I did a presentation…

    • Mon, Oct 8 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 3 - Setting Variables Such as Client or Project

    Bear
    Bear

    OK, so now we have the basics of our hta file, time to build what we need. The first thing I needed to get my head around was how to pass variables for 'client' and 'project' from the hta to MicroStation. Gotta love Google and after a bit of digging found I could set variables in the hta and have MicroStation pick them up like it would environment variables. The only real issue I had was what was the best way to do this…

    • Mon, Oct 8 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Part 2 - Defining a hta File

    Bear
    Bear

    Well, if you read the first part and the wiki link you'll see that hta files are a mix of html and vbscript. The reason I started to go down this path is that I wanted a way I could have a build delivered without the problem of people having to know vba or similar. It's a fairly easy thing for someone to pick up the html and vbscript lines in a hta to edit and build on.

    The hta I'll be using as a base for the first…

    • Mon, Oct 8 2012
  • How hta Changed the Way I Deliver Builds - Introduction

    Bear
    Bear

    Been waiting on Bentley to get their Blog area fixed, and here we are.

    One thing that I struggled with for many years was how to deliver a better interface front end for accessing MicroStation and how to set variables for Client, project etc. Then, around 6-7 years ago a mate of mine showed me some work he'd done using hta files. One of those Euraka moments for me and it's changed the way I do a lot of things with builds…

    • Mon, Oct 8 2012
  • Adding an Error Alert to a Bentley cfg File

    Bear
    Bear

    One issue we have with the build we have been looking at is how do we let the user know if they haven't set the hta correctly. The biggest issue I find is that users forget to select the client or project variable. An easy way to add an error in the cfg is to use:

    %if !defined

    An example of this would be to check if the project variable has not been set. If not set then trigger an error which will stop the application…

    • Mon, Oct 8 2012
  • Free CHM Creator

    Bear
    Bear

    As a part of the builds I do I like to have a help files with tips, hints, user guides etc. Check out:

    http://helpmaker.en.softonic.com/

    Easy to set up and create CHM files. If you already have a lot of existing docs in Word format then you can just copy and paste to generate the pages in HelpMaker.

    Remember, to have these files view properly, they must be run locally. Easy enough to do this from batch files through login…

    • Mon, Oct 8 2012
  • Print vba

    Bear
    Bear

    I'm no vba expert, but with a little knowledge you can put together some very handy tools that others can easily edit. To help out I have attached the vba I use.

    Basically, all I do is use forms and keyins to run my printing. As, on many occasions, I do the initial setup for firms and they manage once installed, I try and keep things simple. For this reason I use a pltcfg for each printer. This means that once I…

    • Thu, Sep 13 2012
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