Sending drawing commands from text file ?

Hi,

Is there a way to import into a drawing lines defined in a text file?

I want to draw polar measurements from a survey,
before computing cartesian coordinates.
The aim is to have a first overview of the measurements.

I remember that points can be injected by:

1°- Selecting the place point tool
2°- Calling a file of coordinates by entering
@"C:\mypath\myfile.txt"

where myfile.txt has content like
xy=494212.33,121456.13
xy=494210.22,121432.45
...

I hope something similar for other drawing elements
but cannot find any help about this in Microstation.
Even "@" is not listed in the index.

The file content should select the line tool
and set the parameters of each line to be drawn:
Xstation, Ystation, Angle, Distance.

.... something like:

PLACE LINE CONSTRAINED
494212.33,121456.12 33.152 0.000
494212.33,121456.12 144.251 24.536
494212.33,121456.12 34.785 202.451
494212.33,121456.12 54.235 300.254
494210.22,121432.45 3.125 50.236

I could write a macro and run it in Microstation,
but I prefer using another macro language and building
a "ready-to-draw" file.

Thanks.

Julien

 

Julien,

You can do it with this format:

PLACE LINE CONSTRAINED
xy=494212.33,121456.12;di=0.000,33.152;reset
xy=494212.33,121456.12;di=24.536,144.251;reset
xy=494212.33,121456.12;di=202.451,34.785;reset
xy=494212.33,121456.12;di=300.254,54.235;reset
xy=494210.22,121432.45;di=50.236,3.125;reset

The di= keyin use distance followed by angle. The reverse of your
request. Also the first line with a distance of 0.000 does not get placed.

HTH
Dan

 

Thanks a lot Daniel,

I had intuition: it is possible to import lines into Microstation.
Have tried your example. It works fine.

The distance of 0.000 was an error from me when typing some random
data to show what I expected.

Your answer leads me to another question: where can I find the
ascii-import syntax in Microstation's help files?
This must be useful in many cases when working with macros.

Julien

 

Julien,

I'm not sure what you mean by "ascii-import syntax". There is a command
for importing coordinates that is available in some versions of
microstation. I've never used it and I'm not sure what it's called. I'm
sure someone else in the group will know it.

This syntax:
@"C:\mypath\myfile.txt"
means, open this text file and interpert each line as a Microstation
keyin. It can take a lot more than just coordinates. You can string
together any sequence of commands you can dream up.

Dan

 

Daniel,

Thanks again. Your answer learns me that each line of a text file can
be processed as a keyin command and this allows to build a quite
complex drawing from a text file of such commands.

What I mean by "ascii-import syntax" is the command name and the
arguments.
The command names can be easily found in the user guide. Not the
arguments.

Looking at the following example:

PLACE LINE CONSTRAINED(...)

I could easily find the PLACE LINE CONSTRAINED command in Microstation
help files.

But where did you find that one should first give the start point
coordinates, then the distance, then the angle and finally the reset
keyword?
In other words the order of arguments.
The help about PLACE LINE does not speak about the keyin arguments.

Where did you learned that arguments should be separated by ";"?

What performs the "reset" keyword? I can figure it but is not listed
in the index of the user guide.

In other words, where can we find all the details of a text command.

Thanks.

Julien

 

Julien,

These are "Precision Input Key-ins". If you search the help for di= you
will find them. That section also talks about the vertical bar "|" which
lets you repeat a command multiple times.

The semi-colon ";" is the command separator. It allows you to put
multiple commands on one line. (Note that these are all separate
commands, not one command followed by arguments, which is why there was
no mention of them in the place line constrained command). An example
would be to create a custom toolbox through Workspace->Customize... on
the pulldwon menus. You can put a series of commands in the keyin field.

lv=1;co=5;lc=3;wt=3;place line constrained

This will set the level, color, linecode and weight and activate the
place line constrained command. This lets you do all your drawing setup
with one click. This syntax can also be used on function keys and
pulldown menus.

The order of the commands would be the same as using them interactively.

Reset is one of the built in commands and is the same as pressing the
reset button. I don't see it in the Help either.

The program to import/export coordinates is xyztxt.ma
(Tools->Annotations->XYZ text)

There are several dozen of those two letter short-cut keyins. They
pre-date the GUI and are not used as much as they used to be but they
are still very useful. Following is a list of 2-Character Keyins along
with the full command names that someone posted to one of the news
groups a few years ago. I don't know if it is still a complete list.

Dan


MicroStation 2-Character Keyins (some old/some new):

Key Command
--- -------------------
AA= ACTIVE ANGLE
AC= ACTIVE CELL
AD= POINT ACSDELTA
AE= ACTIVE ENTITY
AM= ATTACH MENU
AP= ACTIVE PATTERN CELL
AR= ACTIVE RCELL
AS= ACTIVE SCALE
AT= TUTORIAL
AX= POINT ACSABSOLUTE
AZ= ACTIVE ZDEPTH ABSOLUTE
CC= CREATE CELL
CD= DELETE CELL
CM= MATRIX CELL
CO= ACTIVE COLOR
CR= RENAME CELL
CT= ATTACH COLORTABLE
DA= ACTIVE DATYPE
DB= ACTIVE DATABASE
DD= SET DDEPTH RELATIVE
DF= SHOW FONT
DI= POINT DISTANCE
DL= POINT DELTA
DP= SET DDEPTH ABSOLUTE
DR= TYPE
DS= DEFINE SEARCH
DV= DELETE VIEW
DX= POINT VDELTA
DZ= ACTIVE ZDEPTH RELATIVE
EL= ELEMENT LIST
FF= FENCE FILE
FI= FIND
FT= ACTIVE FONT
GO= ACTIVE ORIGIN
GR= ACTIVE GRIDREF
GU= ACTIVE GRIDUNIT
KY= ACTIVE KEYPNT
LC= ACTIVE STYLE
LD= DIMENSION LEVEL
LL= ACTIVE LINE LENGTH
LS= ACTIVE LINE SPACE
LT= ACTIVE TERMINATOR
LV= ACTIVE LEVEL
NN= ACTIVE NODE
OF= SET LEVELS OF
ON= SET LEVELS ON
OX= ACTIVE INDEX
PA= ACTIVE PATTERN ANGLE
PD= ACTIVE PATTERN DELTA
PS= ACTIVE PATTERN SCALE
PT= ACTIVE POINT
PX= DELETE ACS
RA= ACTIVE REVIEW
RC= ATTACH LIBRARY
RD= NEWFILE
RF= ATTACH REFERENCE
RS= ACTIVE REPORT
RV= ROTATE VIEW
RX= ATTACH ACS
SD= ACTIVE STREAM DELTA
SF= FENCE SEPARATE
ST= ACTIVE STREAM TOLERANCE
SV= SAVE VIEW
SX= SAVE ACS
TB= ACTIVE TAB
TH= ACTIVE TXHEIGHT
TI= ACTIVE TAG
TS= ACTIVE TSCALE
TV= DIMENSION TOLERANCE
TW= ACTIVE TXWIDTH
TX= ACTIVE TXSIZE
UC= USERCOMMAND
UR= ACTIVE UNITROUND
WO= WINDOW ORIGIN
WT= ACTIVE WEIGHT
XD= EXCHANGEFILE
XS= ACTIVE XSCALE
XY= POINT ABSOLUTE
YS= ACTIVE YSCALE
ZS= ACTIVE ZSCALE

 

The Power of Keyins - Part 2
.....learn how to create script files to streamline your workflows!
http://www.askinga.com/article.asp?articleID=37


Quick link to the keyboard shortcuts...you know those keyins like AD=, RC=,
CD= and so forth. A great reference to print out and hang on your wall.
http://www.askinga.com/article.asp?articleID=31

BTW, If you haven't yet, you may also want to check out the Bentley
discussion groups -- see
http://discussion.bentley.com/help/ for more information regarding those.

 

Daniel, Inga,

Thanks a lot to you!

Daniel's post was a very complete answer to my question.
Thank you for the details about the semicolon, the "reset" keyword,...
And for the very long list of keyboard shortcuts!
I'm sure that I'll often look at it!

Inga, thank you for the useful links.
The www.askinga.com website looks great!
I saw that there are useful articles there.

Just one more question: when suscribing I'm asked to accept askinga
"Terms of service". Where can I find them?

Best regards.
Julien

 

Believe that to be http://www.askinga.com/privacy.asp

BTW, another helpful place that you might want to check out is http://discussion.bentley.com/help/

Phil Chouinard [www.Bentley.com]