DXF/DGN translation: Making Fonts Active for the Import Function

DXF/DGN Import and export operations refer to a compiled file which on installed MicroStation/J is:

...\bentley\home\prefs\dwgdata\dwgcontrol.bas

On some installations, this may alternatively be:

...\bentley\Workspace\system\tables\dwg\dwg.bas

This file is a macro file written in the MicroStation macro language BASIC that controls several areas where translations between DWG and DGN are specified. One of these areas is font mapping.

For AutoCAD fonts, the font style is obtained from the shx/shp font file and a shape file may have many styles.

In MicroStation/J, this condition is recognized. In order to map a particular style associated with a font file to the required MicroStation font number, it is necessary to include extra information in the font section of the translation control file. For example:

MbeFontNameTable.addImportEntry "htx1", "o8116901", 168, 1.09, 0

The last two optional parameters enable control of text width and text obliquity (slope) which MicroStation does not handle well.

This line maps style htx1 in font file o8116901.shx to the MicroStation font 168 using an X scaling factor of 1.09 and no oblique characters. The value of 1.09 for this particular mapping was obtained by experiment and compensates for the arbitrary character spacing output by Isodraft.

For the AVEVA fonts there is one style per file.