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Overview of user interface updates in
MicroStation V8 XM Edition
By Mike Arroyo, Axiom Product Manager
How would you redesign MicroStation's user interface so that
it increases the productivity of a designer? That is the challenge
facing Bentley as they work on the MicroStation V8 XM Edition.
Exploring the XM interface
Where the old MicroStation Manager used to be, XM now opens
with a Windows-compliant MicroStation Manager dialog box,
similar to Microsoft Outlook, with icons along the left side,
providing quick links to History, Desktop, My Document, My
Computer and My Network. This is a familiar dialog box layout
for anyone that has used Windows 2000 and later.
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| New MicroStation Manager dialog box |
Additional icons along the top edge replaced traditional
pull down menus for creating a new file, selecting specific
Bentley tools or accessing directory history. The preview
window appears on the far right. With this update, you will
be able to work inside this dialog just like any other Windows
applications.
Open a design file and you will see how the MicroStation
environment has been updated. With Windows-XP-looking (bubbly,
with rounded corners and shadows) icons, the new layout promises
to be a welcome change. Take a closer look at these updates.
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| The MicroStation V8 XM Edition beta user interface.
Since this is a beta version, the user interface may change
by the time XM is released. |
Main toolbox
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| XM's Main Toolbox |
The Main toolbox (labeled 1 in figure 1) has been slimmed
down to a single column (or row, as it can be moved) of icons.
Observe how numbers and letters appear in the lower left corner
of most icons. These are keyboard shortcuts that, when pressed,
up pops the associated menu at the tip of the cursor. Hold
the cursor down on the icon inside the Main toolbox and the
toolbox cascades open.
After a few minutes of getting acquainted with the new Main
toolbox, you'll be less tempted to dock toolboxes. Not only
will you recover screen space, but also the keyboard navigation
allows for increased productivity, as the user becomes more
familiar with XM.
View controls
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| XM's View Controls |
Notice the new view controls (labeled 2 in figure 1). View
control icons now appear along the top of the view. With a
right click, you can configure which tool to display just
like any toolbox. Don't worry. These tools may be set to display
along the bottom edge of the view as well (for those of you
that don't like change!).
Task List
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| XM's Task List |
A new concept in XM is the "Task List" (labeled
3 in figure 1) icon and a docked toolbox along the right side
of the interface. The Task List consists of a hierarchical
list of grouped toolboxes. To expand the list, double-click
on a selection and the associated tools appear below the Task
List icon.
Spend a few minutes going through the Task List and you'll
find many of the toolboxes that were previously located inside
the main toolbox. The Task List gives users the ability to
easily customize their workspace to only display the tools
needed to accomplish a task that is at hand. For example,
you will notice that the Dimensioning tools are not in the
main toolbox, but in the Task List on the right side of the
screen. When you select Dimensioning from the Task List, the
toolbox on the right side of the screen is replaced by the
Dimensioning toolbox. This is part of the new design workflow
of XM. When you are ready to change to another function or
process simply choose a new task. This activates a new set
of tools below the Task List icon. What a fantastic way of
swapping out toolboxes without requiring additional screen
space!
Moving across models
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| XM's "All Models Visited" icon |
Left of the View Groups box, just above the Status Area are
three icons (labeled 4 in figure 1). The "All Models
Visited" icon (sundial) allows you to view previously
opened models from a recently-viewed list. Or use the left
or right arrows next to the sundial to move between those
same models, whether they reside in the same design file or
in different ones. No longer will you need to use "File
| Open" to access previously-opened models, making it
faster to move in and out of project files. That's hot!
More useful icons
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| XM's Status bar icons |
The Status Area on the lower right corner displays several
icons (labeled 5 in figure 1). These include:
- The active fence icon (clickable icon with the following
options: inside, overlap, clip, void, void-overlap, void-clip),
- The current workmode icon (display-only icon that is empty
when working in DGN workmode and shows the blue DWG icon
when in DWG workmode),
- The save file icon (display-only icon that shows if the
design file has been saved since its was last modified.),
- The design history status icon (clickable icon that allows
users to initialize or delete the file's design history),
- The active focus icon (display-only icon that shows whether
the following commonly-used dialogs are active - has the
focus: the Tool Settings window, the Key-in window or the
AccuDraw window).
- And a digital rights icon (clickable icon that allows
you to see if the design file has a digital signature).
Conclusion
Since XM — at the time of the writing of this article
— is still in the beta testing stages, these interface
changes may become more refined, based on tester feedback.
At first glance, these changes may appear superficial. In
practice, the XM interface makes it easier to focus on design
tasks (making users more productive), which is the very reason
we use CAD in the first place! My hat's off to Bentley!
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