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General Questions
General Functionality
Installation FAQ
Administration FAQ
Trouble Shooting
FAQ
General Questions
Q: What is CADconform?
A: CADconform
is aimed at organisations that require drafting standards to be
maintained dynamically over a network. CADconform is aimed at organisations
that require specific CAD standards for their MicroStation design
files. It helps the organisation administer these standards through
four distinct methods:
The Drafting Menu: Provision of a drafting tool to interactively
place features automatically to specification.
The Report Generator: Generation of report tables detailing which
elements fail to match the required standards
Conform Draft: A Feature Conforming tool to correct invalid features
to the required standards
The Watermark Tools: A certification process to flag design files
which have been approved and warn the user when a certified drawing
has been modified.
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Q: What is CADconform's compatibility?
A: CADconform
is written as an MDL application to run in MicroStation. CADconform
operates on MicroStation V8 2004 and XM, currently running on Microsoft
Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP and Vista. For CADconform Server component, the
server machine can run any Operating System, as long as it is visible
to all client machines for purposes of locating the database through
ODBC. This means that the server machine could be running Linux,
as long as the database file can be seen by mapping a network drive,
or entering a UNC (Uniform Naming Convention) path.
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Q: Can I use a database to store my Drafting
Standards?
A: Yes, this
is where CADconform's power come to the fore, CADconform employs
an ODBC database architecture to distribute CAD standards over a
corporate Intranet, ensuring that these standards can be maintained
from one overall data source (Oracle, SQL Server etc. can be utilised).
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Q: Can I use my existing Bar Menu or
Settings Manager Standards?
A: Yes, CADconform
can import import MicroStation cell libraries, design files, Settings
Manager (*.STG) files, Barmenu (*.MDF) files, SiteMenu text files,
as well as its own native dictionary (*.DICT) format. So your existing
investment is maintained. You can also import and export drafting
standards to and from Excel Spreadsheets, databases, text files
and other standard document formats
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Q: How do I know when a DGN file has
been edited?
A: Initially
if a design file passes certification, then CADconform will attempt
to place a Watermark cell in the design file. At a later stage any
user of CADconform can use the Read Watermark function to check
to see whether a DGN file has been edited post CADconform checking.
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Q: Who develops CADconform?
A: CADconform is owned and developed
by Altiva Software Pty Ltd, the sister company of Corporate
Montage. Corporate Montage is an Australian based software research and development
company with offices in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Houston (USA)
and Frankfurt (Germany).
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Q: Who distributes CADconform?
A: CADconform is sold and supported
through each of the Corporate Montage and Altiva Software offices and through a number
of resellers around the world (see our Contacts
page)
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Q: How long has DGNconform/CADconform been available?
A: DGNconform has been commercially
available since the mid 1990's. In 2000, it was extended to a server
based solution to meet the increasing demand for a more controlled
environment to manage data standards. With the industry trend of
outsourcing becoming increasingly popular, it became important for
consultants to be able to draw and check to their clients data standards.
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Q: How long has DGNconform/CADconform been available?
A: "DGNconform Server" was rebranded as "CADconform" at version 6, to signify the release of the AutoCAD sister product. At the same time, Altiva Software was spun-off from Corporate Montage to focus exclusively on CAD Standards Software. CADconform now consists of two product families:
- CADconform for AutoCAD
- CADconform for MicroStation
The goal of CADconform is to create a seamless interface for both AutoCAD and MicroStation users to draw, check, correct and certify drawings to the CAD standard. In addition, CADconform stores its standards in a platform neutral database, so that the same standards used in AutoCAD can also be used in MicroStation, and vice versa.
CADconform version 6 requires a new licence file for existing DGNconform v5 users. You can still run version 6 on a version 5 licence, but only for the duration of your maintenance contract. Upgrading a version 5 licence to version 6 is free for current maintenance holders, simply contact Altiva Software to apply for a new licence file.
Q: How do I get Technical Support for
CADconform?
A: Email: support@corporatemontage.com.au,
contact any one of Corporate Montage's five offices or contact your
local reseller.
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Q: Can I purchase a maintenance &
support contract for CADconform?
A: Yes, CADconform is mainly
sold with an annual maintenance and support agreement. This contract
entitles you to phone, fax and email technical support, plus Version
upgrades and point releases that can be downloaded from the www.altivasoftware.com
web page.
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Q: What are the prerequisites for using
CADconform?
A: MicroStation V8 2004, XM or V8i
under Windows 95 ,98, 2000, NT, XP and Vista.
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General Functionality
Q: We use one of several standard border
sheets for all of our design files. Is there any way I can get CADconform
to warn me if I open a design file that does not have one of these
standard borders attached?
A: Yes. Simply
define the border sheets in the administrator's configuration file
under the variable: "_CADCONFORM_BORDERSHEETS", with each
one separated by a semi-colon. The full path or the relative path
(from "MS_RFDIR") can be entered. This will cause CADconform
to check for one of these files whenever a design file is opened.
If a standard border sheet is not attached, then CADconform will
open up the Drawing Scale dialog, allowing the user to enter a scale
manually.
The border sheet list is closely related to the Drawing Scale,
since CADconform can calculate the current scale from the border
attachment scale. If any other CADconform tool is opened and the
scale has not been set, then a warning message will appear as below:
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Administration FAQ
Q: How much network bandwidth does
CADconform use in day-to-day operation?
A: Very little. Configuration
files (such as the administrators configuration file and the menu
file) are read by CADconform at start-up from the network, but both of
these files are around 2KB. The largest files in CADconform are the executable
“CADconform.MA” and the database, which is usually around
a couple of Megabytes, depending on the database application and
the amount of data stored. Both of these are cached locally, and
will only be downloaded from the network when they have been updated
on the server. Note that the actual size on disk of the database
is much greater than the individual data transmitted when a Feature
Table is downloaded.
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Q: Is it necessary to make backups of
the database?
A: Yes. Since the database is
read from (and possibly written to) by all users, it is essential
that the data in the database remains intact. It is preferable that
some form of automatic backup or archiving of the server machine
is in place, but this is often not the case. At the very least,
it is important to make occasional backups of the database file
(or files, depending on the DB application) in the event that something
becomes corrupt. DB Applications often have repair tools, but these
should not be relied upon to fix every problem with database corruption.
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Q: What is the easiest way to make a
backup of a Feature Table?
A: The easiest way to backup
a Feature Table is to export it to a dictionary (“*.DICT”)
file. This allows the administrator to reimport the data to a new
database; or over the top of an existing Feature Table if a mistake
is made.
The easiest way to back up a feature table.
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Q: I have made a mistake in my Feature
Table and exported it back to the database. Is there any way to
undo this?
A: Currently there is no “Undo”
operation for exported Feature Tables. However, there is always
a copy of the Feature Table stored as a dictionary file available
in the local cache directory on each client machine (pointed to
by the Client Configuration variable “CADconform_CACHE_DIR”).
This file can be reimported using the Feature Table Editor’s
“Import” command.
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Q: How do I allow different menus to
be used by different users?
A: All configuration is done
through the two main configuration files – the Client Configuration
and the Administrators Configuration files. To make changes specific
to certain users, you need to change the Client configuration file
on each machine. The Client configuration variable “CADconform_MENU_FILE”
sets the full path to the user’s menu file.
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Troubleshooting FAQ
This chapter lists a series of common problems and how to avoid
them. It is broken down into the following sections:
Database Errors
Performance Issues
Conform Problems
Generating
Reports
Draft Problems
It is also worth consulting the CADconform Server Installation
Manual for problems with installing and running the software, or
configuring the database. See the CADconform Server User Manual
for “How To” style FAQs.
CADconform Server generates detailed error messages from both the
MicroStation database server and the ODBC database server. Generally,
if something goes wrong with the database, a helpful message will
appear explaining how to resolve it. The questions below represent
cases where a detailed error message does not appear.
Q: When I create a new database using
the ODBC Control Panel, I cannot open it in my database application.
Why?
A: Care must be taken when creating
new databases using the ODBC Control Panel. If the ODBC drivers
for the database application are newer than the database application
itself, then the application may not recognize the format of the
database file. For example, Microsoft Access 97 users will not be
able to open a database (*.MDB) file created by the Microsoft Access
driver greater than version 4. To get around this, create the new
database from within the database application itself.
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Q: When I try to log on to CADconform
Server, I get a message “Unsuccessful CONNECT statement”.
What am I doing wrong?
A: This message will appear
if:
- The ODBC data source has been misspelled or has not been configured.
Double check the data source name in the ODBC Control Panel.
- The ODBC drivers are not supported by MicroStation. See the
CADconform Server Installation Guide for driver compatibility.
- The MicroStation Database Components have not been installed.
This can be verified by clicking the MicroStation menu “Settings
> Database > Connect”. If the connect dialog appears,
then the necessary components have been installed, otherwise a
warning will appear.
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Q: I keep getting an error “Couldn’t
update the information table” or something similar. Why?
A: This error can appear when
the user selects a table in the Feature Table Manager that does
not have a corresponding information table. This usually happens
because the user has accidentally deleted the table, or imported
the table from another package. This table can be created manually
by creating a new Feature Table and copying the “iTable_TableName”
file using your database application, and renaming it to match the
Feature Table that causes the problem.
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Q: Every time I open MicroStation, or
go back to MicroStation Manager, I get an error in the MicroStation
Text window: “SERVER is already loaded”. Why?
A: This message may appear every
time MicroStation is started, or only when MicroStation Manager
is reopened by doing a 'File > Close, File > Open' combination.
The warning message appears because sometimes the database configuration
file "odbc.cfg" automatically adds the SERVER application
to $(MS_DGNAPPS) even if it's already set to load automatically.
To avoid this spurious error message, add a new workspace configuration
variable and set it as follows:
_USTN_DONTSETSERVER = 1
You may also need to remove “SERVER” from the “Design
Applications” category under “Workspace > Configuration”.
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Q: I have upgraded my Microsoft Access
driver to version 4, and now my Feature Tables take longer to import.
What has happened ?
A: According to information
on Microsoft’s Knowledge Base, some users have reported a 400%
decrease in performance between version 3.5 and version 4.0 of Microsoft’s
Access driver. Check the Microsoft website (www.microsoft.com)
for information on how to revert to the older driver if this is
an issue.
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Q: Importing and exporting Feature Tables
to the database takes too long. Can I do anything to improve the
speed?
A: There are a couple of ways
to speed up creation of Feature Tables. Firstly, if the Feature
Table export is slow because the network is very busy, you can copy
the database file locally and work from there. This should only
be done by the administrator, and only if no one else is likely
to edit the Feature Tables. Once the editing is complete, the database
file can be recopied to the network server.
Secondly, if the Feature Tables are quite large (over 3000 entries),
you may consider breaking them up into smaller tables. This can
be done by saving and inserting DICT files through the File menu.
It is also possible that if the Feature Tables were created automatically,
they contain many redundant entries. Try matching on as many possible
element types for each feature and only specifying symbology match
criteria (colour, weight, etc) where necessary. The “Delete
Duplicates” tool in the Feature Table Editor can help reduce
duplicate entries once these changes are made.
Large feature tables are often a result of importing cell libraries.
If this is the case, you may wish to consider using the
“_CADconform_ALLOW_UNKNOWN_CONFORMING_CELLS”
option instead of defining each cell individually. With this option
on, you will only need to define cells that are allowed that contain
components that do not conform. Cell components should usually conform,
so this should require a minimum number of entries, if any.
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Q: Why doesn’t the “Flash”
display option work on my machine?
A: Some graphics card drivers
have problems with MicroStation’s OpenGL functionality. When
this occurs, MicroStation cannot generate a proper timing interrupt;
and the flashing may appear intermittent or not at all. Check the
CADconform Server Installation Guide on ways to get around this
problem.
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Q: I have the Zoom toggle on, but I
can’t see the unknown feature in the view window. Why not?
A: There are three reasons why
this can occur:
- The view level for the feature is turned off.
- The element has a corrupt element range. Try using “FIXRANGE”
or EdG.
- The element range is too small to zoom in to, e.g. the element
is a line of zero length or a text element has a size of zero.
In this case, the error status field in MicroStation should contain
a message: “Element is too small to zoom in to.”
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Q: When Conform finds an unknown feature,
I don’t get any suggestions in the “Change To” list
box. Why not?
A: The suggestions in the “Change
To” list box will only display features of the same type as
the unknown element, either: cell, linear, shape or text. If there
are no suggestions in the list box, then there are no features of
this type in the Feature Table.
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Q: Why does Conform find an error with
an element that appears to have correct symbology?
A: Conform will not match an
element if the element type is not supported by the feature, regardless
of the symbology. For example, if a feature called “Concrete
Object Line” does not have the “Arc” toggle turned
on in its Feature Type options, then an Arc element will be flagged
as an error, even if the symbology of the arc exactly matches the
symbology of a Concrete Object line. If this is indeed the reason
why the element did not conform, then changing the element to a
Concrete Object Line will not solve the problem, because Conform
changes element symbology, not element type (it can not convert
an Arc to a Line). If the user attempts to change an element to
a feature type that doesn’t support the element type, then
a warning to this effect will be displayed in a pop-up dialog box.
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Q: Why does Conform find an error with
a cell that is not visible?
A: If the “_CADconform_CHECK_SHAREDCELLDEF”
option is enabled, then Conform will check shared cell definitions
(type 34). These elements are not normally displayed by MicroStation,
but they do control the symbology of shared cell instances (type
35). During this process, Conform will temporarily display the invisible
shared cell definition at origin (0,0,0) in the current highlight
colour. Once the element is conformed or ignored, the cell will
once again disappear. If you do not wish to check shared cell definitions,
then this option should be turned OFF.
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Q: The Report Generation is very slow.
Is there any way to speed it up?
A: The Report Generator can
become very slow when there are many invalid features in the design
file. You may wish to try doing only a minimum report with no Report
Types toggled ON, to see how many errors there are. You can then
fix some of these errors in Conform before trying the report again.
Additionally, you may wish to do reports on only a few levels at
a time, or only one feature type at a time. The largest report is
always the “Individual Error Report”, so turning off this
report type should give the best speed increase.
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Q: I ran the Report Generator but nothing
happened. What’s going on?
A: You may have forgotten to
use the “Add” button when defining which design files
to report on. Go back into the Report Generator and check if there
are any files in the Design File List. If there are files in the
list, then it is possible that you have opened the wrong database
file. Check the “ODBC Data Source” on the Report Generator
dialog box to see where the report went. Then go the ODBC Control
Panel to see which database file the data source is pointing to.
Additionally, it is possible that:
- Not all the levels of each design file were reported on.
- The report was restricted by either a fence or border shape.
- Certain element types were disabled in the “Scan Type”
options.
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Q: I often get database error dialog
boxes popping up when viewing reports. Why?
A: You will get “Table
not found” type errors when you click on a report type if the
corresponding report was not created. For example, to view a Feature
Summary report, you must ensure the report was created with “Feature
Summary” toggled ON.
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Q: When I click on a feature, it does
not start the Drafting command. Why not?
A: There are two main reasons
why this would occur:
- An element selection set exists prior to starting the command
- The Conform dialog box is open.
In the first case, this can easily be solved by clearing the selection
set with a data-point before restarting the draft command. When
a selection set exists, Draft automatically goes into Conform by
Feature mode.
In the second case, you will need to close the Conform window before
you can start drafting. When Conform is open, Draft automatically
goes into Conform Change to Feature mode.
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Q: My Draft tool-bar, menu-bar or tools
menu has disappeared. How do I get it back?
A: Various components of the
Draft interface can be disabled via the tool-bar and menu-bar, or
by resizing or docking the Draft window. In order to get these components
back, try any of these options:
- Undocking and resizing the Draft window larger
- Right-clicking on the list-box to get the pop-up menu
- Using the “Tools > Settings > Interface” options
- Using the tool-bar interface settings icons
The List box and tool bar can be shown by resizing the window larger.
Simply drag the edge of the Draft dialog to achieve this.
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