Global File Changer is exactly what it sounds like. This thing can bulk modify just about anything in multiple design files and fast. It is my personal favorite Axiom product due to its amazing versatility.
While it is true that Global File Changer is incredibly multifaceted, the single most utilized feature by far is its ability to bulk modify text. Global File Changer allows you to change a number of text attributes such as font, justification, size and so on. However, the most commonly desired text-changing feature, in my experience, is the ability to replace an existing text string with a new text string. For this reason, I wanted to write it down for all to use.

Replacing text with Global File Changer
For this example, let’s say “Linkin Street” was misspelled as “Lincoln Street”:

• Load Global File Changer from the Axiom pull-down menu.
  

  Global File Changer’s main dialog box is jam-packed with goodies. Its bulk-file-changing capabilities are limited only by your imagination.

• From the Global File Changer main dialog box, choose Custom|Modify text… and then select the “Replace Text” tab.
• In the field labeled “Search string”, enter “Lincoln”. In the field labeled “Replacement string”, enter “Linkin”.
  

  Global File Changer’s Modify text dialog box allows you to replace a text string with another text string in multiple design files at the touch of a button.

• Since Global File Changer has the ability to process more than one set of search and replace parameters, it is necessary to confirm what you have entered into “Search string” and “Replace string” fields. Press the <Add> button to commit your entries to the list.
• Choose File|Save As… to load the “Save Modify Text File” dialog box. Enter a name and then navigate to a convenient location to save your text change parameters. Then press <Save>.
• Press the <OK> button to return to the main Global File Changer dialog box.
• The “Key-in File:” field will automatically filled in the command needed to change your text, based on the parameter file you created. Ensure that the “Design Files:” field lists the files you intend to process and the “Report File:” field contains the path and file name for the report file you want created.
• Press <Start>!

By synchronizing title block data from many design files with an Excel spreadsheet, it is possible to easily make a number of changes right in the spreadsheet and then have Title Block Manager automatically make those changes for you in the affected design files, thereby establishing uniformity of title block data.

In this article, we will go over how to do this. We will discuss how to handle sheet numbering when inserting a new drawing into a project.

Let’s say our project has one hundred design files in it, each with its own sequential drawing number. Now let’s say we want to add a drawing to this project, and have it be “Drawing #25”. This means we need to re-sequence the existing drawing numbers in 76 files to make room to insert the new drawing. With MicroStation alone, we would have to edit all 76 design files by hand. With Title Block Manager, we need only re-sequence the drawing numbers in an Excel spreadsheet (which can be done with a single command), and Title Block Manager updates the design files for us automatically. This is how it works.

Start Title Block Manager from the Axiom menu in MicroStation. This brings up the main Title Block Manager dialog box.

First, we will update an Excel spreadsheet with the title block information from the design files. Under “Mode:”, choose “Update database from selected design files.”

Click on the <Edit List…> button and add all the MicroStation files in the project to the list of files to process, including the new file which has not yet had a drawing number assigned to it. Then press <OK>.

Back in the main dialog box, press <Start>. Title Block Manager will prompt you for the name of the spreadsheet to update. If the spreadsheet doesn’t exist, it will be created. Push <OK> to accept the default spreadsheet.

You will now see the design files you selected flash by as their title block information is used to update the Excel spreadsheet. When the process is complete, you will be presented with a summary list like the following:

Now open the spreadsheet to see what Title Block Manager put in it. In our sample spreadsheet below, you will notice that all of the sample files have their “Drawing #” fields filled in except for the new file.

At this point, you would write “25” in the “Drawing #” cell of the 26th spreadsheet row. The spreadsheet now shows two drawings assigned the number 25 (see below).

Now, to re-sequence all the drawing numbers, you will use Excel’s ability to update number sequences. To do this, click over the Excel cell with the number 24 in it, and drag the mouse down to the first cell with the number 25. The result will look something like this:

Now, click on the little black square (called the fill handle) located on the bottom-right corner of the Excel selection set (seen above) and hold it down. Now, to re-sequence the cells in increasing order, drag the selection box down until you get to the last title block drawing number and release the mouse. Once you release the mouse, the numbers will be automatically re-sequenced. The drawing numbers are now properly re-sequenced up to 102 in Excel! The spreadsheet now looks like this:

After you have made your changes to the spreadsheet, save it and close it. Back in Title Block Manager’s dialog box, change the “Mode:” to “Update selected design files from database.” and press <Start>.

Press <OK> to accept the default spreadsheet selection. Now, Title Block Manager will update the design files with the information from the modified spreadsheet. When this is complete, you will be presented with a box summarizing the changes that were made.
If you were to look at the title blocks in these sample design files now, you would see that their drawing numbers have all been re-sequenced with very little effort thanks to Title Block Manager.

One of the problems that MicroStation users face is that MicroStation’s LiveLinks software often does not automatically update spreadsheet or word processing data when a MicroStation file [in which this data is linked] is opened. The data is not automatically updated even though the spreadsheet or word processing file has been modified and saved after the import. In addition, the links created with LiveLinks, if later unlinked, tend to create unselectable elements in a design file. Also, without advanced configuration settings, LiveLinks imports the data as a single cell. If the need to edit the imported text in MicroStation arises, and the cell is therefore dropped to its components, each text character in the data is represented by a single text element. Axiom did away with the above problems with the release of Microsoft Office Importer 3.0.

Microsoft Office Importer creates links from spreadsheets or word processing files to MicroStation files that can be automatically updated every time that the MicroStation file is opened. For example, if a spreadsheet that has been linked with Microsoft Office Importer is modified and saved after it was originally imported in the MicroStation file, the next time the MicroStation file is opened, the spreadsheet will be automatically updated with the latest information every time — with no reliability problems! Links created with Microsoft Office Importer can also be updated any time after the MicroStation file is already opened. In addition, the links created with Microsoft Office Importer do not create file corruption when unlinked, and the data Microsoft Office Importer imports can be easily edited since it’s pasted as easy-to-edit text and text node elements. The following steps demonstrate how simple it is to set up the automatic update feature in Microsoft Office Importer.

1. In order for Microsoft Office Importer to update pasted data automatically each time a MicroStation file is started, it must be added as one of the applications that starts every time a MicroStation file is opened. To do this, select the MicroStation “Workspace” menu and select “Configuration”.

   

2. The “Configuration” dialog box pops up. In the “View/modify all configuration variables” section, scroll down and select the configuration variable called “MS_DGNAPPS”. Configuration variables hold information [which can be modified according to the needs of a MicroStation department] that is used to customize the MicroStation environment of a user or a site. In this case, by modifying the MS_DGNAPPS configuration variable, you will tell MicroStation to start Microsoft Office Importer every time a MicroStation file is opened.

   

3. Click on the <Edit> button. In the “New Value” field, move the cursor to the end of the existing value. Type a semicolon (;) and then the following line: “$(AXI)office\office.ma”. The “$(AXI)” value tells MicroStation where Axiom products are installed. “Office\office.ma” is where the Microsoft Office Importer application file is relative to the Axiom root directory.

   

4. Click <OK>, and click <OK> again. Then, click <Yes> when asked to save the changes to your configuration file. Then, restart MicroStation.

   

5. Once MicroStation restarts, you’ll notice that Microsoft Office Importer toolbar is loaded.

   

6. You’re now ready to paste linked data into MicroStation. Open the Excel spreadsheet or Word document and copy the contents you want to link. Go back to MicroStation and click on Microsoft Office Importer’s “Paste” button.

   

7. You’ll see the “Paste” dialog box pop up. To enable the automatic update of links, check the “Import with link to original document” checkbox and the “Update automatically when design file opens” checkbox.

   

8. Now enter a data point, and your data is immediately pasted and linked! To see the link information, click on the “Link Info” button. The link information is displayed right above the linked data as in the example below.

   
   
   

From this moment on, every time the design file is opened, Microsoft Office Importer checks the linked data against the data in the source file, and updates it in the MicroStation file when it has changed — no user intervention required!

Updating linked data while working on the MicroStation file
If the source document is modified (and the changes are saved) after having been linked in the MicroStation file, and the MicroStation file is opened, the linked data can still easily be updated without reopening the MicroStation file. To do this, simply:

1. Click on the “Manage Import Link” button.

   

2. Then, double-click on any of the elements inside the linked data area. In the “Manage Import Links” dialog box that opens, click on the <Update> button. Microsoft Office Importer immediately updates the linked data with the latest modifications in the source file.

   

Axiom has just the solution to this problem — Global File Changer. Global File Changer lets you make almost unlimited changes to multiple design files quickly and easily! The changes you can accomplish with Global File Changer are only limited by your imagination. As an example of its power, Global File Changer can automatically attach a new cell library to 150 design files in as little as one minute and 15 seconds!

In this issue of MicroStation Today, we show you how to accomplish a task for which Global File Changer is frequently used – copying the level symbology settings of one design file to hundreds of design files. This is just one of a myriad of functions that Global File Changer can execute. See the end of this article to find out about other Global File Changer functions that can ease and speed up your MicroStation work.

Copying level symbology settings from one design file to hundreds of others

1. 1. Start Global File Changer from the Axiom menu.

   

2. On the main Global File Changer interface, click the <Edit List…> button next to the “Which design files do you want to process?” field.

   

3. 3. After selecting all the files you want to change, you’ll notice that the “Which design files do you want to process?” field will have “(edited file list)” in it. This means that all the files you selected are included in a file list.

   

4. 4. Next, on the main interface, click on the “Custom” pull-down menu and select “Copy level symbology from another design file…”.

   

5. 5. The screen below appears. Click on the <Select> button to select the design file from which you want to copy level symbology. To get back to the main screen, click on <OK>.

   

6. 6. You’ll notice on the main interface that the field labeled “Which file contains the keyin commands you want to execute?” now contains “#Axiom Copy Level Symbology c:\civil-projects\settings.dgn”. This means that the copy level symbology settings command will be executed using the level symbology settings of the design file you selected, in this case c:\civil-projects\settings.dgn.

   

7. 7. Next, you tell Global File Changer where to place its report file. Click the <Select> button next to the “What should we call the output report file?” field to place the report file in the directory of your choice. The report file informs you of the actions that were taken on each design file, such as opening the file and copying the level symbology settings as in this example. It also reports any problems Global File Changer encounters during processing, such as a file being open by another user.

   

8. 8. Once this is done, all you have to do is click on <Start>. That’s all there is to it.

   

You’ll notice that Global File Changer starts to process the files. After a few minutes, all your selected MicroStation files will have had their level symbology changed.
Click <OK> on the Progress Report dialog box to finish.

With RefWriter you just double-click on any element in the appropriate reference file to make that reference file the active design file. During this process, RefWriter will temporarily attach the other files (the original master design file and the other reference files) so you see exactly the same view. Below we show you how simple this is to execute.

1. Start RefWriter by selecting it from the Axiom menu. The RefWriter tool palette will look like this.

   

2. Click on the second icon from the left (below in red). This icon enables you to double-click any element in any reference file to make it the active design file.

   The icon in red allows users to write to any reference file by double-clicking any of its elements.

   
   

3. You’ll notice that a Settings box displays. In the majority of cases, the default settings will provide the desired result.

   

4. By double-clicking on any element in a reference file, that reference file becomes the master file while everything on your screen looks exactly as it did before. You can verify you are in the correct file by checking the file name on the left side of the MicroStation window title bar. For example, if you double-clicked on an element in a reference file named “reference-file.dgn”, this is the name that will now appear in the title bar.
5. Once you make all the modifications in the reference file, click on the fourth icon from the left to make the previous master design file active again.

   The icon in red allows users to make the previous master file active again.

If another user is editing a reference file, RefWriter only allows access in read-only mode.

In this tip, I detail how to streamline the usually time-consuming task of editing cells in cell libraries. First, I’ll discuss how to edit a cell using MicroStation alone – tedious! Then I’ll guide you, step by step, on how to do it with Axiom’s CellManager — ridiculously fast and easy!

1. Using MicroStation, when you want to edit an existing cell in a cell library, the steps involved are numerous and, to me, costly in terms of wasted time. Here’s how it’s done using MicroStation alone:
2. Assuming the appropriate cell library is already attached, select the cell you wish to modify.
3. Place it in a design file.
4. Note down the cell’s description. You will need to know what the description of the cell is so that after you modify the cell and place it back in its cell library, it will have the same description as before (cells in design files don’t retain their descriptions).
5. Drop the cell.
6. Make your modifications – adding, deleting or modifying elements.
7. Define your cell origin again with the “Define Cell Origin” tool.
8. Place a fence around the elements that will comprise your new cell.
9. Open the Cell Library dialog box (Element | Cells).
10. Delete the old cell. Again, be sure to write down the cell’s description before you delete it!
11. In the Cell Library dialog box, click on <Create…>.
12. Name the cell and – from your notes – re-enter the old description.

I’ve always considered this 11-step process time-consuming and indirect.

Axiom’s CellManager simplifies this immensely. Here’s how easy it is to do with CellManager:

1. Start CellManager by selecting it from the Axiom menu. (Note: For your convenience, CellManager will work on your attached cell library by default, but you can always have CellManager work on any cell library you like by simply choosing that library from CellManager’s main dialog box.).

   

2. Click on CellManager’s <Manage…> button to display all the cells in the attached cell library.

   

3. Once the “Manage” dialog box appears, select the cell you wish to edit.

   

4. 4. Click on <Edit…>.

   

5. You’ll notice that the “Manage“ dialog box temporarily disappears, and the cell you selected now appears in a temporary design file ready for you to edit adding and modifying elements as you please. When you’re done modifying the cell, click on <OK>.

   

Whammo! Your cell has been updated in your cell library. There’s no writing down cell descriptions, carefully placing new cell origins, placing fences, deleting old versions of cells, ad absurdum. All you need to do is open CellManager, select your library, click on <Manage…> and then click on <Edit…>. CellManager has made what should have been an easy process into an easy process!

Click here to find out more about CellManager.

When exporting cells to separate AutoCAD block files, CellManager’s new Export feature does away with the time-consuming, manual task of placing each cell that you want to export in a design file, dropping its complex status and then exporting it as an AutoCAD drawing file (.dwg). In this “how to” article, we show you the simple steps involved in exporting MicroStation cells to AutoCAD block files using CellManager.

Exporting cells to AutoCAD block files with CellManager

1. Select CellManager from the Axiom pulldown menu.

   

2. On the main CellManager interface, click on the <Select> button next to the Cell Library field to choose the cell library from which you will export your cells.

   

3. Press the <Tab> key on your keyboard five times. Doing this will automatically fill in the correct path for the Work File field. The Work File is a temporary MicroStation file to which CellManager attaches the selected cell library for processing purposes.
   
4. Next, click on the <Manage> button on the main interface. This will load the cell library previously selected.

   

5. On the Manage dialog box, click on the name of a cell that you want to export and then click on the <Tag> button to select it for export. Do this with all the cells you wish to export. You may also select all the cells in a cell library for export by clicking on the <TagAll> button. For the purposes of this exercise, we’ve selected only a few of the cells in the cell library (the “#” symbol indicates that these cells are selected for export).

   

6. Next, still on the Manage dialog box click on the <Export> button. You will then see the Export dialog box. Select the “AutoCAD block format” radio button. Click on the <Select> button to choose a directory in which to copy the exported cells. Then click on the <Copy to> button to copy the cells to the selected directory as AutoCAD block files.

   

7. CellManager exports all the selected cells to AutoCAD block files using your last used or default AutoCAD export settings. Click the <OK> button when the “Process Complete“ box appears. All exported cells now reside in their assigned directory as AutoCAD block files!

   

More on CellManager
Besides cell exports to AutoCAD blocks and vice versa, CellManager boosts your MicroStation productivity in many other ways. It is capable of copying groups of cells from one library to another, rescaling some or all cells in a cell library at the touch of a button, quickly locating and eliminating duplicate cells in cell libraries, renaming, deleting and modifying cells while viewing them graphically and much more.

Click here to find out more about CellManager.

What happens when a number used in all the design files in a large project changes when the project is almost finished? After your heartbeat returns to normal, you get creative. First, let us explain to you a little about the job and what happened. The project name was “Route 33 Bridge Replacement, Final Design.” We were replacing two movable bridges and three miles of roadway through the town of West Point, Virginia. Our client was the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and we were almost finished. The sheet count at this point was totaling over 1,000 sheets.

Brian Treacy and Keith Dunn of Parsons Brinckerhoff, Norfolk, Virginia

Now, a PPMS number is a five-digit VDOT contract number, which corresponds to a specific portion of work on a job. As per VDOT’s CAD standards, every directory and design file must include the PPMS number in the actual directory or file name. Route 33 started out with one PPMS number, but one day our boss came and told us that the contract has been split up into five (thus needing five different PPMS numbers) and wanted to know how long it would take us to implement the changes.

We told him, truthfully, a few weeks, because the project configuration file, directory names, file names and reference file names would all need to be changed. That would also mean that we would need to reattach all of the reference files after we made the changes! Fortunately, we were able to figure out how to accomplish this daunting task in a day! The following is what we did using Windows Explorer, DOS, Notepad, RefManager and Global File Changer.

Step 1: Fixing the Directory Structure
Using Windows Explorer, we fixed the directory structure by renaming the folders and creating new ones to reflect the new PPMS numbers. Then we moved the appropriate files into the appropriate directories.

Step 2: Editing the Project Configuration File
Using Notepad, we opened up the project configuration file and changed all of the MS_RFDIR paths to reflect the changes to the directory names. The MS_RFDIR variable contains the path for locating the directories containing reference files.

Step 3: Renaming the Files
Using the DOS command prompt, we navigated through the directories and changed the files names using the DOS Rename command. Using this command we were able to replace a portion of the old file name (the old PPMS number) with the new one for all of the files in the current directory at the same time. Here is an example: (Note: The real project PPMS numbers are not being used.)

We used the Rename command as follows:

The asterisk is a wildcard. In this example, it is taking the place of the sheet number and the file extension and keeping them safe from being changed.

After the directories, workspace and file names were all updated, it was time to move on to the contents of each file. All of the reference files were now lost because their names had to be changed and there was text in each sheet that associated it with the old PPMS number. We needed to switch out the old reference filenames for the new filenames and we needed to do a global text replacement to update the PPMS numbers in each file.

Step 4: Fixing the Reference Files
From the Axiom menu we selected RefManager. Instead of fixing the files individually, we used it to fix the reference file names and paths in a batch process. First, we set the mode to “Modify Reference File Attachments” and the “Modify” dialog box appeared.

RefManager dialog box

RefManager’s “Modify” dialog box

From this dialog box you have access to modify almost all aspects of an attached reference file, from detaching files, to turning levels on or off, to changing level symbology, to scaling and rotating a reference file, to replacing one file with another; even the update sequence can be modified. The only change we needed to make at this time, however, was to update the old filenames and directories, so from here we selected “File Name” and the “Modify Reference File Attachment File Name” dialog box appears.

“Modify Reference File Attachment File Name” dialog box

From here we selected “Case Insensitive Substitution” from the “Editing Method” drop-down. We then set “Apply to:” to “Only Vector Reference Files” since we weren’t using any raster files. Then we turned on “Save Full Path” to catch any files that were not attached that way. After these selections, it was time to define what would actually be changed, which was every occurrence of the old PPMS number in each file’s directory, name and logical name. The command that does this looks for two pieces of information: the old and new text — both separated by a vertical bar with no spaces between them.

The last part of this step consisted of determining which MicroStation files needed the reference to be fixed. Easy, all of them! This was done by pressing <Edit List> from the RefManager dialog box, which gave access to the “Edit File List” dialog box, upon which we simply added all of the files that needed to be modified.

Axiom’s “Edit File List” dialog box

Step 5: Global Text Replacement
Finally it was time to change the PPMS numbers located within each drawing. Each sheet contained the number twice; once at the top and once at the bottom. In order to change the numbers in all of our drawings, we decided to use Global File Changer from the Axiom pull-down menu. The reason for using Global File Changer was because of its ability to modify all of the drawings in a batch process.

Top and bottom screenshots of drawings

From the Global File Changer dialog box, we selected <Edit List>. This is where you select all the drawings that contain the old PPMS numbers that you want to modify. It is the exact same dialog box as the “Edit File List” shown in step 4. Once the files were selected, we needed to be able to select all of the old PPMS numbers in each file and change them to the correct number. We selected “Modify text” from the Custom pull-down menu.

Select “Modify text” from Global File Changer’s “Custom” drop-down menu.

From the Modify Text dialog box we had the opportunity to change every aspect of the text, such as scale, rotation and symbology. But we didn’t need to change any of these attributes, only the contents of the text itself. So, we selected “Text replacement parameters” from the “Parameters” pull-down menu. This opens the “Replacement Strings” dialog box.

To do the search and replace, we typed the old number in the “Search string” field and the new number in the “Replacement string” field. We left “String Format” drop-down set to “Wildcard” and pressed <Add> to generate the replacement list.

Finally, after the search and replacement strings were defined and stored in a list, it was time to run Global File Changer by selecting <OK> from the Replacement Strings dialog box and then pressing the <Start> button from the Global File Changer dialog box.

Select “Set text replacement parameters” from the “Parameters” drop-down menu in the “Modify Text” dialog box.

“Replacement Strings” dialog box

Conclusion
After everything was complete, to say the least we were a bit amazed. We had just renamed our entire directory structure, all of our drawing filenames and reference filenames, fixed all of the text in the drawings and fixed all of the reference file attachments (which should have been the most time-consuming task). Without Global File Changer and RefManager these reference file tasks would have taken hundreds of monotonous man-hours. With them, it took less than a day!

Join the forum discussion on this post

By Eiren K. Smith,Vice President for Technology, Axiom

In this tip, I detail how to streamline the usually time-consuming task of editing cells in cell libraries. First, I’ll discuss how to edit a cell using MicroStation alone – tedious! Then I’ll guide you, step by step, on how to do it with Axiom’s CellManager — ridiculously fast and easy!

1. Using MicroStation, when you want to edit an existing cell in a cell library, the steps involved are numerous and, to me, costly in terms of wasted time. Here’s how it’s done using MicroStation alone:
2. Assuming the appropriate cell library is already attached, select the cell you wish to modify.
3. Place it in a design file.
4. Note down the cell’s description. You will need to know what the description of the cell is so that after you modify the cell and place it back in its cell library, it will have the same description as before (cells in design files don’t retain their descriptions).
5. Drop the cell.
6. Make your modifications – adding, deleting or modifying elements.
7. Define your cell origin again with the “Define Cell Origin” tool.
8. Place a fence around the elements that will comprise your new cell.
9. Open the Cell Library dialog box (Element | Cells).
10. Delete the old cell. Again, be sure to write down the cell’s description before you delete it!
11. In the Cell Library dialog box, click on <Create…>.
12. Name the cell and – from your notes – re-enter the old description.

I’ve always considered this 11-step process time-consuming and indirect.

Axiom’s CellManager simplifies this immensely. Here’s how easy it is to do with CellManager:

1. Start CellManager by selecting it from the Axiom menu. (Note: For your convenience,CellManager will work on your attached cell library by default, but you can always haveCellManager work on any cell library you like by simply choosing that library fromCellManager’s main dialog box.).
2. Click on CellManager’s <Manage…> button to display all the cells in the attached cell library.
3. Once the “Manage” dialog box appears, select the cell you wish to edit.
4. 4. Click on <Edit…>.
5. You’ll notice that the “Manage“ dialog box temporarily disappears, and the cell you selected now appears in a temporary design file ready for you to edit adding and modifying elements as you please. When you’re done modifying the cell, click on <OK>.

Whammo! Your cell has been updated in your cell library. There’s no writing down cell descriptions, carefully placing new cell origins, placing fences, deleting old versions of cells, ad absurdum. All you need to do is open CellManager, select your library, click on <Manage…> and then click on <Edit…>. CellManager has made what should have been an easy process into an easy process!