CADconform for MicroStation Readme

Standards

Previous version of CADconform stored all of the CAD standards in an ODBC database. Each database was individually considered the "standard", and each company may have had one or more databases used to define that standard. Sometimes there were multiple databases - one for each discipline (electrical, civil, architectural, etc); and some companies preferred to only have one database with multiple dictionaries - one for each of their disciplines.

In CADconform v8.1, databases are no longer the top level of hiearchy. The new hierarchy consists of a "Standard" at the top, which is usually the organisation or company name, but may also be the name of the standard itself; e.g. "US National CAD Standard". Below this level is the "Disciplines" for this Standard. The disciplines map roughly to what the database used to be - one or more collections of dictionary files defining a subset of a standard. However, in v8.1 disciplines no longer have to be stored in a database, they can now optionally be stored as a series of files. This is not only faster, it also makes copying between standards and disciplines much simpler. It also avoids the problems of 32/64-bit ODBC driver compatibility issues between Connect Edition and MicroStation V8i.

Some brief information on Standards follows:

• Standards are now kept in a folder on the server called "/CADconform/Standards".
• The list of standards is built from the names of the folders under the "Standards" directory.
  
• When you log into CADconform you must first choose a standard as well as a discipline.
• A standard will usually be the Company or Organisation Name, or in some cases the name of an official (e.g. ISO) standard.
• Within each standard will be one or more disciplines (e.g. Road, Traffic, Survey, P&ID, Electrical, Mechanical, etc).
• Each discipline is only available from within a specific standard.
• The "Disciplines", "Database" and "File DSN" folders have been moved out of the root CADconform folder into a subfolder of each standard.
• Standards are the top level of hierarchy, so switching between different standards will change which disciplines are available for that standard.
• Standards can be managed (create, delete, rename) from the Standards Manager dialog launched from the Administration dialog (see image right).
• An automatic standard creation tool will appear for creating or importing standards if CADconform detects no standards/disciplines on startup.

Disciplines

CADconform for MicroStation v8.1 introduces the concept of a CAD standards "Discipline". Previously CAD standards were organised around databases. Sometimes the database represented an entire standard (such as the US National CAD Standard) or sometimes an organisation or company name (e.g. Rio Tinto, or Kansas Dept of Transport), or possibly a workspace or project within a standard (such as Architectural, Civil, Plant Design, etc). With CADconform v8.1, CAD standards no longer have to be stored in a database, and may be stored in a native file format instead. A standards "Discipline" represents a subcategory of a CAD standard that may be stored in either a database or as in the CADconform native file format. When CADconform is started, users now need to log into both a Standard and a Discipline, rather than just a database.

Discipline Configuration

When a discipline is first logged into, a matching configuration file is loaded. This file matches the discipline name and lives in the "Discipline" subdirectory on the server. This allows every discipline to have its own settings. For example, it might be that a discipline called "Geology" requires a different colour table to be checked against, and this is defined in the Geology discipline configuration file. Other changes may be a specific file-naming convention, such as Mechanical drawings starting with "M-", or P&ID drawings requiring a specific A3 border reference. These settings would be stored in the Discipline Configuration file so that the user can switch between as they switch between design files. If the configuration file for a discipline does not exist, then it is silently ignored and the active configuration is used. A new configuration file can be created or modified in the Discipline Manager tool.

Discipline Storage

Disciplines can be either use database storage or "native" file storage. The type of discipline storage can be switched between using the "Manage Disciplines" tool. Native disciplines are stored in a folder on the server, and contain a mix of XML and binary files. They replicate what was stored in the database.

Running Reports

In previous versions of CADconform, reports were always written to a database. In CADconform v8.1, reports are written to a discipline which can be either a database or a local directory. If writing to a local directory, then reports consists of XML files. Both report databases and XML files can be viewed seamlessly in the Report Viewer in CADconform.

Database Disciplines

Existing databases will still be supported, however for now new database disciplines have to have a File DSN manually created, as they were in previous CADconform versions. New native disciplines can be created automatically within the Discipline Manager.

Using Access Databases in MicroStation V8i

There are no significant changes in CADconform v8.1 for existing databases on MicroStation V8i. Existing 32-bit File DSNs will continue to be supported using either the legacy JET ODBC driver, or the newer 32-bit ACE/ADE ODBC driver when used with an Access database. Other types of ODBC-compliant databases continue to be supported, such as Oracle and SQL Server.

Using Access Databases in MicroStation Connect Edition

Users of Access databases in Connect Edition are now required to use the 64-bit ACE/ADE ODBC drivers. This is due to a limitation in Windows, which requires that 64-bit applications (such as MicroStation Connect) use 64-bit drivers only. Unfortunately, these 64-bit drivers are incompatible with 32-bit versions of Microsoft Office, and may therefore cause problems if both Office (32-bit) and MicroStation Connect Edition are installed together. If a 64-bit version of Microsoft Office is installed, then the correct driver should already be available. However, most users with a pre-existing Office installation will likely be running the 32-bit version. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that Connect users immediately switch to using native-file disciplines with CADconform. Migration can be done by the administrator as a once-off process using either MicroStation V8i or Connect Edition. For more information on Access databases and driver issues, see the Installation Guide on the Altiva website.

The Administration Dialog

The User Manager icon on the CADconform toolbox has been replaced with the Administration icon. User Management is itself now one of the tools available on the Administration dialog.

The Standards Manager

Standards can be created, renamed or deleted using the Standards Manager tool. This tool can be opened from the Administration window by choosing the "Manage Standards" button.

The Discipline Manager

New disciplines can be created, modified or deleted using the Discipline Manager tool. This tool can be activated from the Administrator ribbon in CADconform for MicroStation Connect Edition, or from the Administrator dialog.

The CADconform Standards Hiearchy

The CADconform Login dialog showing the Standards and Discipline options

The new Administrator dialog

How do I switch to using Native Disciplines?

To convert an existing database to a native file discipline:

1) Open MicroStation and login to a discipline as a CADconform administrator.

2a) If running MicroStation Connect: from the CADconform Administrator ribbon, click "Manage Disciplines";

Or...

2b) If running MicroStation V8i: click the "Administration" icon on the CADconform toolbox, then click "Manage Disciplines"

3) Set the Discipline Type to "CAD Standards" if necessary

4) Select the required database discipline to change from the Discipline listbox

5) Click "Edit"

6) Change the Storage Type to "Native"

7) If you want to create a configuration file for your new discipline here, choose either "Edit Preferences" or "Edit Preferences File". It will be created from the default platform configuration file.

8) Hit "Save & Exit"

9) Log out and Log in again to your new native discipline

10) Check that all of your feature tables were ported across and work correctly

11) When you are satisfied with the results, you can delete the old database discipline using the Discipline Manager dialog

The new CADconform toolbox

• Support for MicroStation Connect Edition
  
  
• Support for Connect Editions of: OpenRoads Designer, AECOSim, Navigator
  
  
• Discontinued CADconform support for: PowerDraft 2004, PowerDraft XM, MicroStation 2004, MicroStation XM
  
  
• CADconform now supports 64-bit ODBC databases
  
  
• Added a new (optional) ribbon interface for CADconform
  
  
• The CADconform toolbox is now optional and can be disabled
  
  
• Redesigned icons for larger sizes and more colours
• Support for faster native file storage to replace databases
  
  
• Ability to convert databases to native file format
  
  
• Added support for XML report files
  
  
• Added support for truncated design file paths in reports
  
  
• New Administration dialog for controlling disciplines and settings
  
  
• Every discipline can now have its own configuration file launched automatically at login.
  

• New V8 licence file format, see here more more info.
  
  
• Support for feature types: 3D Solid, Hatch, Note/Leader
  
  
• Platform support for Bentley Navigator, AECOsim and e-promis.
  
  
• Symbology icons in the Report Viewer
  
  
• Modified rows can now be highlighted or removed from the report.
  
  
• Fully customisable reporting columns
  
  
• Checking of hatch type, angle, cell and spacing.
  
  
• Faster watermarking and watermark integrity checking.
  
  
• Ability to merge selected features in the feature table editor.
  
  
• Ability to choose the drafting command for every feature type from a drop-down list.
  
  
• Added tab pages to the Conform window to flip between preview images, text description or both.
  
  
• Support for DTM (type 106) elements used in OpenRoads.
  
  
• The Batch Processor can now keep track of the active model via a toggle command.
  
  
• Added ability to check and correct cells on 'is annotation cell' status.
  
  
• Unicode support for design files with Asian language strings (levels, style names, etc)
  
  
• Conform allows a "current scale" to be set, which allows quick selection of the active multi-scale setting.
  
  
• Improved string filtering in Conform, including the ability to match on level name.
  
  
• Option to check/fix on text scale proportionality independently of text size.
  
  
• Option to check on maximum element size (useful in 3D models with compound cells).
  
  
• The pooled licence 'alive' timer now operates in a  separate thread to MicroStation, eliminating potential pauses due to network congestion.
  
  
• Reports can now be sorted by the last two selected columns, and numeric columns are no longer sorted alphabetically.
  
  
• Option to allow features only if they are found in a certain model (e.g. the title block reference model).
  
  
• Support for negative text size.
  
  
• Added a command to view a customisable log of configuration variables from the 'Tech Support' window.