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RefManager avoids time-consuming
pitfalls on your path to V8.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, USA — Axiom wants to help
you migrate your projects to MicroStation V8.
The world's most experienced developer of time-saving MicroStation
software solutions, has devoted the past four years to the
resolution of V8 migration barriers for MicroStation sites
around the globe - and Axiom wants to share its hard-won corporate
experience with its clients and all MicroStation Today readers.
Read on to learn (painlessly) what Axiom and other MicroStation
users had to learn from the "school of hard knocks".
In particular, this article reveals some lessons learned about
V8 reference files and how you can use RefManager,
one of the most popular components of Axiom's MicroStation
Productivity Toolkit, to smoothly migrate your project
files to V8.
Where is V8's "Save Full Path" check box?
MicroStation V8 no longer offers the "Save Full Path"
checkbox in its "Attach Reference File" dialog box.
By default, a reference file's full path is always saved by
MicroStation V8. To override this default, set the new V8
configuration variable MS_DISALLOWREFFULLPATH = 1, but note
that this changes MicroStation V8's behavior globally and
only for future attachments you create. To remove the full
path from existing attachments in one or 1,000 master files,
your solution is RefManager for V8.
You could become quite attached to RefManager.
RefManager for V8 seamlessly accommodates the underlying
differences between reference files in MicroStation/J and
MicroStation V8. For example:
- V7 attachments consist of a link between a master file
and a reference file. V8 attachments consist of a link between
one model and another model. The referenced model might
be in the same file! Of course RefManager for V8
accommodates models attached to models - allowing users
to manipulate more than 70 reference file settings in multiple
master files, multiple models and multiple attachments.
- MicroStation/J offers 63 numbered levels. MicroStation
V8 offers one or more named levels. RefManager for V8
allows selection and manipulation of attachment levels by
name - for example, users can control any aspect of V8 reference
file level display and reference file level symbology by
level name.
- Despite these (and numerous other) differences, the V7
and V8 versions of RefManager have consistent user
interfaces - those users familiar with the V7 version of
RefManager should be able to immediately use RefManager
for V8 without retraining (once familiar with MicroStation
V8 itself).
The Path of Least Resistance
V8 projects often start with V7 files copied to a new V8 project
directory. CAD managers often report that their reference
file links are broken after saving their newly upgraded V8
files to a new server drive or directory. MicroStation V8
can't find a reference file if the saved full path points
to an obsolete V7 location.
There are several ways to solve this problem with RefManager
for V8 - even after project files have been upgraded to
V8. You can use RefManager for V8 to:
- Replace an obsolete V7 full path with a new V8-specific
full path. For example, replace the reference file path
c:\project\v7\border.dgn with n:\project\v8\border.dgn.
Do this if you want to continue using full paths in V8.
- Remove the full path from all reference file attachments.
For example, replace the full path c:\project\v7\border.dgn
with border.dgn. Do this if all of your project files reside
in the same directory or if the definition of the configuration
variable MS_RFDIR includes the directory containing your
V8 reference files.
- Replace the obsolete full path with a relative path.
For example, replace the reference file path c:\project\v7\border.dgn
with v8\border.dgn. Relative paths are new in V8 - do this
to take advantage of this new capability.
- Replace the obsolete full path with a configuration variable.
For example, replace the full path c:\project\v7\border.dgn
with MYPROJECT:border.dgn. Do this if you want the flexibility
of a user-defined configuration variable to define the location
of your reference files.
Regardless of your preferences or project conventions, RefManager
can update your reference file paths in any conceivable way
and can perform multiple modifications in a single batch processing
run - bulk manipulations which are not supported by MicroStation
alone. For tips on how to painlessly migrate your projects
to MicroStation V8, contact an Axiom MicroStation Consultant
today.
Call now!
For more information on RefManager
contact an Axiom MicroStation Consultant today! Call 727-442-7774
extension 9362, e-mail 9362@axiomint.com
or visit Axiom on the Web at www.axiomint.com
now!
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