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CADconform for MicroStation Readme |
If you are running Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 in 64-bit mode, you may have replicated a known problem with a Windows update patch released in August 2014. See this link for more information on the nature of the problem and how to resolve it. A subsequently released hot-fix from Microsoft should resolve this problem, but if you continue to have issues or cannot install the hot-fix for some reason, then the issue can be resolved by CADconform through setting the variable: _CADCONFORM_TOOLS_REORDERALLWINDOWS = 1.
CADconform should work with any ODBC compliant database system. The most commonly used ones include:
The right database to use will depend on your own requirements. Most of the time Access is more than adequate to store the standards for CADconform, as generally there is only one administrator working on the standards database at one time. The various pros and cons of these databases is outlined below:
Pros for Access:
Cons for Access:
* This isn't really a limitation in practice, as
it would be extremely undesirable to ever have more than one
administrator editing a feature table concurrently.
Pros for SQL Server
Cons for SQL Server
Pros for Oracle
Cons for Oracle
CADconform is a 32-bit application that runs natively on 32-bit processors (x86) and on 64-bit processors (x86-64 aka x64) under 32-bit emulation (aka Windows on Windows 64 or WoW64). Currently MicroStation V8i is also a 32-bit application, which means all MDL applications running on MicroStation must also be compiled as 32-bit applications. MicroStation CONNECT Edition is a 64-bit application, and thus requires all add-ons to also be true native 64-bit applications. This means that the 64-bit version of CADconform will only run as a true 64-bit application on MicroStation CONNECT Edition. The AutoCAD version of CADconform is already available as a 64-bit native application, since AutoCAD is already 64-bit compliant.
If you have a problem where CADconform silently fails to create an HTML report, it is likely to be a permission issue. PowerDraft runs MicroStation applications with limited privileges, such that new files and directories cannot be created by other applications. In order to create a new file, PowerDraft needs to be running with administrative privileges. Once relaunched with these privileges, the HTML Report should work. After the new file has been created, CADconform should be able to rewrite the report without these elevated privileges in subsequent relaunches of PowerDraft; as the problem exists with creating new file, not rewriting existing ones. See the PowerDraft (Client) Requirements for more information on working around this problem.
CADconform creates the colour preview by showing the letter 'W' with the font foreground and background colour set to the element colour. On-screen, this creates a single filled rectange of colour to match the RGB (Red Green-Blue) value of the element colour. When sending this HTML page to a printer from your web-browser, it may default to turning off background imagery, resulting in the filled rectangle disappearing and the 'W' character showing through in the element colour. To avoid this, you need to tell your web browser to print background images. In Google Chrome this can be achieved by turning ON the toggle for "Background Graphics" in the Print Options. In most versions of Internet Explorer, it can be enabled through the Advanced Options "Print background colors and images" check box as described in technote KB296326. Similar options also exist for Firefox and Opera browsers. This option does not currently exist in the Microsoft Edge browser delivered with Windows 10, so it is recommended that Internet Explorer be used instead of Edge until this feature is added. To open IE from within the Edge browser, click on the three ellipses in the top right corner of the Edge window and choose "Open with Internet Explorer".
See Known Issues for a workaround for this. Newer versions of CADconform do not have this problem.
Typically in MicroStation the level properties are locked
using the DGNLIB file. When you create a workspace the levels are
defined in the DGNLIB and these are then essentially referenced into
the active drawings like an overlay. When you place data on a level it
becomes part of the drawing but there is still the level in the
original DGNLIB it came from. This provides a few benefits from the
standards perspective. For one thing, the user is unable to modify the
level properties while in the workspace unless they have access to
modifying the DGNLIB directly. Secondly, if you open a drawing in the
workspace where the level properties are different from the DGNLIB, it
is highlighted in the Level Manager and the “Update Levels” option
allows you to revert back to those properties defined in the DGNLIB.
There is also the file size saving benefit here in that you could have
hundreds of levels defined in the DGNLIB (and hence displayed in your
file while drafting) but they are never actually placed in the drawing
unless the level is used.
The bottom line is that you will typically see the levels defined in
the DGNLIB, the DGNLIB then locked from being changed by the drafters,
and if a user exits the workspace in order to force a property change
in the levels it will highlight in the Level Manager anyway (and can be
quickly corrected). So the control for this is already built into
MicroStation and not something CADconform replicates. On the AutoCAD
side we have this functionality because AutoCAD does not have a way to
lock out users from changing the layer properties, so it is very
beneficial to include that in the checking process. For MicroStation
users, this is not usually an issue for a properly configured CAD
standard.
This is a known limitation as Microsoft do not provide 64-bit JET drivers for Windows 7. The 64-bit JET drivers are delivered with Microsoft Access 2010, or can be downloaded separately from Microsoft. However, as MicroStation and CADconform are 32-bit applications, they are not compatible with the 64-bit JET driver. Instead it is better to either:
This will depend on how CADconform was installed on the computer. There are two main methods for installation (see the Installation Overview); either standalone or networked. Depending on which method was used to install CADconform, the steps are slightly different. Either way, we are looking to remove the following lines from a configuration file:
%if !exists ($(CADCONFORM_STARTUP_FILE))
_USTN_FIRSTDGNFILE > CADCONFORM
%endif
The location of this configuration file depends on the installation type, as shown below.
Standalone
Install or Client Installer run CADconform
A standalone install is typically where there is only one
or two copies of CADconform, or the computer is a laptop.
Alternatively, a Client Installer run CADconform is where CADconform
was installed on that specific machine as a client in the installer
options. In either scenario, we should have a local file in
"/MicroStation/config/appl/CADconform.cfg". If in doubt as to how
CADconform was installed, you should always look here first. This file
needs to be edited as follows:
Note that once _USTN_FIRSTDGNFILE is defined at al level higher than "Application" (e.g. "Project" or "User"), the toggle will become disabled in the CADconform menu, meaning the user cannot change it.
Other options for configuring Auto-Start are explained below:
Scenario #1 - the Auto-Start menu is shown but disabled, CADconform is pre-set to load or not by the workspace
Scenario
#2 - the Auto-Start menu is not available, CADconform is pre-set to
load or not by the workspace
This is similar to the scenario above, except it also requires editing
of the menu file. The lock command is unnecessary (step #3 above) since
the toggle is not displayed.
A watermark represents certification for the model that contains it, and optionally
any models referenced by that model. It guarantees the integrity of the model the
way it looks at time of watermarking. A design file may contain multiple models,
and these may be totally independent of each other. Therefore you can watermark
one design file containing multiple models individually, each with their own reference
files. Thus the watermark can be seen as a model-level certification, not a file-level
certification. So deleting a model will only invalidate the watermark in that model
if the model that was deleted was referenced by that model. Otherwise it is a change
that does not influence the model that was watermarked.
_CADCONFORM_USERS_CURRENT_GROUP
= ""
This will disable the active user group for the chosen workspace. Care must be taken that this affects only the administrator machine and not all users in a shared network, as otherwise it will disable the user group functionality for everyone.
At this point, CADconform is checking every element in the file (and all attached
reference files) to see if anything has changed since it was certified. If anything
has changed, then CADconform puts a single slash over the existing certification
watermark. This means that as long as CADconform is loaded, watermarks will always
display their current validity. Referenced models may also be checked, so if a change
is made in a reference file then the watermark in the master model will also invalidate
to show that a change has been made.
Copyright 2001-2020 Altiva Software, Inc. Last modified by Piers Porter.
