File-Related and Miscellaneous Options

Several switches in this section represent pathnames. These can include standard Marine environment variable settings; for example:

SWITCH SeedFileName '%PDMSEXE%\dgndata\pdmsSeed2d.dgn'

A file name can include internal spaces without problems, but spaces at the start or end of the file name require additional quotes; for example:

SWITCH SeedFileName 'C:\Program Files\MicroStation\from PDMS.dgn'

SWITCH SeedFileName '|  seed with leading spaces.dgn|'

OutputFileName

Specifies the output DGN file name produced when exporting DGN file information. For example:

SWITCH OutputFileName '%PDMSUSER%\DGN_file_name.dgn'

SeedFileName

Specifies the DGN seed file name to be used to create the output DGN file. If no seed file name is provided, an internal default seed will be used. The seed file must be a valid MicroStation 2D seed file, and must not contain any inconsistent element data. Any tag-set definitions in the seed must not conflict with those created by Draft_DGN_LI. For example:

SWITCH SeedFileName '%PDMSEXE%\dgndata\pdmsSeed2d.dgn'

SWITCH SeedFileName 'mySeedFile.dgn'

The use of a seed file is optional.

A sample seedfile pdmsSeed2d.dgn is supplied with Draft_DGN_LI. This contains a colour table that maps the default Marine colours 1-16 into Microstation colours.

Note: In configurations that use the supplied seedfile, the MapColour switch should be set to ‘1-256:0-255’

Units

MicroStation uses three levels of working units: Master Units, Sub-Units and Positional Units (or Units of Resolution) DGN version 8 adds alternative unit definitions, which are not directly supported.

The seed file contains the size ratios of these three units, and may contain descriptions (max. two characters) of the master and sub-units, but there is no universal set of descriptions in use. The Units switch may be used to override the settings in the seed file, and must contain the size of a master unit in millimeters (MASTMM):

These keywords are not case-sensitive, but the values of MASTNAME and SUBNAME are case-sensitive. The most common scenarios will be:

• The working units are set up in the seed file. In this case, the Units switch just contains the size of a master unit in mm. For example, with an imperial seed file, with master units inches, the Units switch should be:

  SWITCH Units 'MASTMM:25.4'

• The working units in the configuration override those in the seed file: all Units options are needed. (A minor exception is that if the MASTNAME setting is recognized as a common value, MASTMM may be omitted.) For example, to set both the master and sub-unit names to millimeters, with one sub-unit per master unit, and 1270 positional units per sub-unit, the Units switch should be:

  SWITCH Units 'MASTNAME:mm,SUBNAME:mm,SU:1,PU:1270,MAS

  TMM:1.0'

The MASTNAME and SUBNAME values cannot be quoted strings, but can include characters such as " (inches) and ' (feet). Only the first two characters of these values are significant, and it is not possible to include a space or comma in them. (If you wish to use a space or comma in MASTNAME and SUBNAME values, you must set up the working units in the seed file, as in the first scenario.)

Some more examples of Units settings, respectively for Master units in feet accurate to 1/64th inch; and meters accurate to 0.01mm:

SWITCH Units |MASTNAME:',SUBNAME:",SU:12,PU:64,

MASTMM:304.8|

SWITCH Units 'MASTNAME:m,SUBNAME:mm,SU:1000,PU:100,

MASTMM:1000.0'

ScaleFactor

A Scale Factor is applied to the entire DGN file to enable full-scale Design units to be output in the DGN file. The default value is 1.0.

ShiftX

A horizontal shift is applied to everything written to the DGN file to position the drawing at any required place on the Design Plane. The shift is measured in MicroStation Master Units, and the default value is 0.0.

ShiftY

A vertical shift is applied to everything written to the DGN file to position the drawing at any required place on the Design Plane. The shift is measured in MicroStation Master Units, and the default value is 0.0.

ExcludeBack

If this switch is set to On (the default is Off), any Backing Layer of the Draft drawing is not transferred to the DGN file.

ExcludeOlay

If this switch is set to On, (the default is Off), any Overlays on the Draft drawing are not transferred to the DGN file.

ExcludeSheetFrame

If this switch is set to On, (the default is Off), the sheet frame on the Draft drawing is not transferred to the DGN file.

ExcludeFill

If this switch is set to On, (the default is Off), no hatching (including solid fill) in the Draft drawing is transferred to the DGN file. This may be useful for good performance in MicroStation, since hatching is transferred as a set of lines.

ExcludeSolidFill

If this switch is set to On, (the default is Off), all solid fill is ignored and not transferred to the DGN file. However, other Hatching is still transferred.

ExcludeArrowFill

If this switch is set to On, (the default is Off), any solid fill for terminators on dimension-lines and label leader-lines is omitted from the transfer to the DGN file. Other solid fill and hatching is transferred.

Note: More than one of these switches to Exclude Fill may apply to the same entity. If any of these switches is true, then the entity will be excluded. For example, either ExcludeSolidFill or ExcludeArrowFill could be used to exclude the fill for dimension-line arrowheads. However, ExcludeArrowFill is more specific.