Process Models and Handle V8 Symbology Settings

By Eiren Smith, Axiom’s Vice President for Technology – www.axiomint.com

In the October 2003 issue of MicroStation Today, I announced the release of SpecChecker for V8. This month, I begin a multi-part series detailing many of the excellent new features waiting to be discovered in SpecChecker for V8.

How SpecChecker for V8 processes models
One major addition to SpecChecker for V8 is its support for MicroStation V8 models. SpecChecker (V7 version) has always had the ability to process multiple design files in batch. SpecChecker for V8 is no exception. But, now that MicroStation V8 supports (multiple) models, the question arises: Which model(s) contain the elements you want SpecChecker to check against your standard? Processing the right models is as important as processing the right files or checking the files against the right standard.

SpecChecker for V8 gives you several options regarding which models to process, as you can see in this picture:

SpecChecker for V8 gives you control over which models to check against CAD standards.

With the “Active model only” option chosen (the default selection), SpecChecker for V8 processes only the active model in all the files processed. Every file with at least one model will have an active model.

Use “Default model only” to have SpecChecker for V8 process only the special “Default” model in all files it processes. Although MicroStation V8’s “Models” dialog box allows you to rename the “Default” model, it prohibits you from deleting it. So any V8 design file or cell library you process should have a “Default” model, even if that model has been named something else. Never fear. No matter what it has been renamed, SpecChecker for V8 will still find the “Default” model.

Use “All models except sheets” to have SpecChecker for V8 process all design models and ignore sheet models. Most files will have at least one design model to process.

Use “Sheet models” to have SpecChecker for V8 process only sheet models (if any), ignoring design models.

Use “All models” whenever running SpecChecker for V8 on cell libraries, as each cell in a V8 cell library is its own model. You may want to use this option when processing design files too, but that depends on which models you want to process. Whether you use this option when processing design files is a personal decision that depends on how your company or project uses MicroStation V8 models.

How SpecChecker handles V8’s symbology settings
SpecChecker for V8 has rich support for level symbology, element symbology and ByLevel symbology and supports any legal combination thereof. Under “Settings | Change settings…”, in the “General” settings category, you will find the “Symbology:” option button (see image below).

SpecChecker for V8 has rich support for level symbology, element symbology and ByLevel symbology.

This option button has two choices: “Element” and “As displayed”. To understand how they work, let’s talk about the possible symbology settings of any given element in MicroStation for V8.

First, we have element symbology. Element symbology is the color, weight and style settings stored in the element itself that control how that element looks on the screens and plots. When a MicroStation user offhandedly says just “symbology”, what they are usually talking about is “element symbology”. If an element’s weight is set to 2, it displays and plots at that weight.

One special element symbology setting – introduced in MicroStation V8 – is ByLevel symbology. ByLevel symbology is now a choice for each symbology setting (style, weight and color) for each element. In V8, levels have their own symbology settings, which are passed to any elements whose element symbology settings are set to “ByLevel”. So if a certain level’s ByLevel weight setting is set to 5, each element on that level whose weight is set to “ByLevel” will display at that level’s weight (5). Elements do not have to use ByLevel symbology. And elements can have mixed symbology – just because an element has ByLevel weight doesn’t mean it has to have ByLevel color or style.

The last part of the symbology puzzle is “level symbology”. Level symbology is a whole different beast. And it is beyond the scope of this article to cover level symbology completely. Using level symbology allows MicroStation to display and plot elements based on symbology assigned to each level. There is no element property that controls whether an element is displayed with level symbology. Level symbology is different from ByLevel symbology in that it applies to all elements on a given level – and only if the level symbology view attribute is turned on for that given view, as level symbology is a per-view setting. But for this to really have an effect, the level symbology “Override” setting (there is one setting each for color, weight and style) must be turned on for that level.

With that substantial MicroStation V8 symbology primer out of the way, here is how SpecChecker for V8 handles symbology.

If you choose “Element” (see partial view of “SpecChecker Settings” dialog box below), then the element symbology value stored in each element will be analyzed by SpecChecker. This value may be a number, a custom linestyle name or “ByLevel”.

If you choose “As displayed”, then SpecChecker for V8 will treat each element exactly as it is displayed (in other words, as the user sees it) in the active view in each model. This could incorporate level symbology, ByLevel symbology and element symbology.

So, using “As displayed”, SpecChecker for V8 can support a mix of element symbology (including elements set to “ByLevel” for their color, weight or style) and level symbology – all in the same file.