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July 2001
Copyright 2001 Bentley Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved Including software, file formats, and audiovisual displays; may be used pursuant to applicable software license agreement; contains confidential and proprietary information of Bentley Systems and/or third parties which is protected by copyright and trade secret law and may not be provided or otherwise made available without proper authorization. Although this copyright protects the content of this Help file as the Intellectual Property of Bentley Systems, Bentley Systems grants you, the user, permission to print any topic in this Help file for your personal use while operating the software.
Restricted Rights Legend
Use, duplication, or disclosure by the government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c) (1) (ii) of The Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 or subparagraphs (c) (1) and (2) of Commercial Computer Software---Restricted Rights at 48 CFR 52.227-19, as applicable. Unpublished---rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. Bentley Systems, Inc.
Warranties and Liabilities
All warranties given by Bentley Systems about software are set forth in your purchase contract, and nothing stated in, or implied by, this document or its contents shall be considered or deemed a modification or amendment of such warranties. Bentley Systems believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information and the software discussed in this document are subject to change without notice and is subject to applicable technical product descriptions. Bentley Systems is not responsible for any error that may appear in this document. The software discussed in this document is furnished under a license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of this license.
Trademarks
Bentley Systems, the "B" Bentley logo, MicroStation, and InterPlot are registered trademarks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Digital Print Room is a trademark of Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. AutoCAD is a registered trademark of Autodesk. Paint Shop Pro is a trademark of Jasc Software, Inc. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
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Contents
Introduction to InterPlot .................................................................................... 1-1 The Plotting Interfaces ...................................................................................... 2-1 Using Settings Files........................................................................................... 3-1 Plot Resymbolization......................................................................................... 4-1 Managing Resource Files.................................................................................. 5-1 InterPlot Client Configuration........................................................................... 6-1 InterPlot Server and the Server Utilities .......................................................... 7-1 InterPlot Drivers ................................................................................................. 8-1 Using InterPlot with other Windows Applications.......................................... 9-1
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Introduction to InterPlot
Note For plot production, use InterPlot Server on the plot server. For plot production and/or digital archiving, use a Digital Print Room product on the plot server.
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Note For plot production, use InterPlot Server on the plot server. For plot production and/or digital archiving, use a Digital Print Room product on the plot server.
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General Features
The following is a general summary of new features: New Product Licensing Setup no longer requires you to enter a registration number during product installation. This means that InterPlot products will place a watermark on all plots until a license file is obtained from Bentley Systems. Improved printer validation All InterPlot client interfaces should come up faster on a slow network. Plot Preview Right-click inside the preview window to display the context menu. From the context menu, you can pan, zoom in, zoom out, and perform a window area. Organizer Reverse Command New Reverse command in Organizer enables you to reverse the print order. ProjectWise Integration InterPlot Organizer can now access files managed in a ProjectWise Datasource. Feature Table Editors New IPLOT and APLOT Feature Table Editors for plot resymbolization. The Feature Table editor provides a Windows GUI for writing Feature Tables. Support for Windows Applications InterPlot now provides a way for you to plot or archive data from various Windows applications. The InterPlot Client/Professional products include a new InterPlot Organizer Printer Driver for generating files from within Windows applications. These files can be plotted or archived using Organizer. Small-format documents saved in Adobe Acrobats Portable Document Format (PDF) can be associated with plot sets. Indexing/Accounting The InterPlot pen table language has been enhanced to enable automatic extraction of data from MicroStation and AutoCAD files. This data is written to the accounting file and can also be used as Digital Print Room attribute data (indexing). For more information, see the "How To" section of the InterPlot Reference Help.
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IPLOT Features
New IPLOT features include the following: Support for Descartes, Raster Manager, and Image Manager. Plot Preview right-click inside the preview window to display the context menu. From the context menu, you can pan, zoom in, zoom out, and perform a window area. New IPLOT Feature Table Editor for plot resymbolization. The Feature Table editor provides a Windows GUI for writing Feature Tables. For more information about Feature Tables, double-click the Plotting MicroStation Data book. New Pen Table keywords: text_node_number returns the text node number of a text node element. ip_xsize_num returns the plot xsize in numeric form. ip_ysize_num returns the plot ysize in numeric form. ip_scale_num returns the plot scale in numeric form. Better Integration with your CAD products. The InterPlot Client Configure utility enables you to select which MicroStation product to use as the IPLOT print/preview engine. Also, you can select one or more MicroStation products to integrate with the IPLOT dialog interface. Improved Align X and Align Y behavior. If some plots in a plot set come out rotated 180 degrees from the others, set the value of the IPLOT configuration variable IPLOT_ALIGN_METHOD to "coincident." More flexible Scale field in the IPLOT Dialog If you want to enter a scale of 200:1, you can now type in 200. Improved workspace validation on the plot server. The new IPLOT configuration variable IPLOTSRV_WORKSPACE_VALIDATION enables InterPlot Server a more flexible approach for locating MicroStation user workspace configuration files. Enhanced integration with ProjectWise document management system via the InterPlot Organizer interface.
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APLOT Features
APLOT features include the following: Support for AutoCAD R14 and later raster attachments. Plotting of raster attachments is supported for orthogonal plot rotations (0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees). Raster support is limited to the following file formats: BMP, JPEG, TIFF, CALS, PCX, and TGA. Extensive support for AutoCAD 2000. For more information about AutoCAD 2000 features, double-click the Plotting AutoCAD Data book. New APARM version/Maximum Filename Length Long Object Names Non-Plotting Layers Non-Rectangular Viewports Multiple Paper Space Layouts Layout Plot Settings Plot Style Resymbolization Lineweights ACIS Solids New Entity Types Hyperlinks Plot Preview Right-click inside the preview window to display the context menu. From the context menu, you can pan, zoom in, zoom out, and perform a window area. New APLOT Dialog Retain Mode to retain the settings between sessions. For more information about the Dialog Retain mode, see Using the APLOT Dialog section. New APLOT Pen Table Keywords to return the plot size/scale in numeric form. ap_xsize_num returns the plot xsize in numeric form. ap_ysize_num returns the plot ysize in numeric form. ap_scale_num returns the plot scale in numeric form. Support for Project Search Paths to locate xrefs, linetype libraries, and other client resource files. For more information about Project Search Paths, see the Project-Based Resource Management section. APLOT patterns can also be 1-bit raster images. Now you can use the same raster patterns for both APLOT and IPLOT.
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Product Support
There are a variety of ways to get the latest technical information on Bentley products. These include: Contacting your technical support provider. The main SELECT Support number is 800-778-4277. Referencing the Frequently Asked Questions (or FAQ) document on the Bentley Web site at www.Bentley.com. Searching the Online Help delivered with the product (note that some custom installation options will not include the online help). Checking regularly with the Bentley Web site at selectservices.bentley.com for TechNotes, bulletins, and FAQs. The electronic mail addresses for Bentleys Technical Support are as follows: U.S./Canada/Latin America Europe/Middle East/Africa Asia/Pacific support@bentley.com support@bentley.nl bsap.support@bentley.com
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InterPlot On-line
For fast, convenient, up-to-the-minute information about Bentley Systems products and services, connect to www.Bentley.com. For InterPlot product information, connect to www.interplot.com.
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Client/Server Configurations
This release of InterPlot 10.0 software requires certain configurations for plot processing and plot preview of MicroStation data. The following sections describe the possible configurations for upgrading to InterPlot Client 10.0 and InterPlot Server 10.0. InterPlot 9.1/10.0 Clients and InterPlot 10.0 Server InterPlot Client 9.1/10.0 clients can submit plot jobs to a plot server with InterPlot Server 10.0 installed. MicroStation SE or MicroStation/J must be installed on either the client or plot server machine to support this configuration. InterPlot 9.1/10.0 clients are required to have MicroStation SE or MicroStation/J installed in order to support the plot preview feature. InterPlot 8.0/9.0 Clients and InterPlot 10.0 Server IPlot Client 8.0 and InterPlot 9.0 clients can submit plot jobs to a plot server with InterPlot Server 10.0 installed. The InterPlot 10.0 plot server is required to have MicroStation SE or MicroStation/J installed to process the incoming plot jobs. InterPlot 8.0/9.0 clients both support the plot preview feature. InterPlot 9.1/10.0 Clients and InterPlot 8.0/9.0 Server InterPlot Client 9.1/10.0 clients can submit plot jobs to a plot server with IPlot Server 8.0 or InterPlot Server 9.0 installed. The InterPlot 9.1/10.0 clients are required to have MicroStation SE or MicroStation/J installed to support the plot preview feature.
IPARM Files
The settings you specify for a MicroStation plot job are saved in an IPARM file. Each step in the plotting process depends on the IPARM file. IPARM files contain the following information: Parameters used to create the plot job such as view, size, and rotation. Design file information. (Each IPARM file is associated with a single design file and its associated reference files.) Name of the printer to which you are submitting the plot. Names of associated plot files such as a pen table, color table, or rendering attributes file. Workspace name. By default, IPARM files have a .i extension. (The IPARM file extension is defined by the configuration variable IPLOT_IPARM_EXT in the IPLOT.CFG file).
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The IPLOT dialog box allows you to scale, size, and rotate a plot; to select a printer; and to preview and plot a drawing. Right-click inside the preview window to display the context menu. From the context menu, you can pan, zoom in, zoom out, and perform a window area. With the dialog box commands you can specify parameters and settings, redefine and manipulate the plot area, and specify qualifiers. You can also control the display of levels, classes of elements, and some element attributes. You can also obtain a plot with different display characteristics, and specify queuing options and plot submission options. Additionally, the IPLOT dialog box displays error and status information. You can customize many aspects of this dialog box, including default values (such as the printer name) and the products general behavior. To customize the dialog box, use settings files and configuration variables. You can customize IPLOT on a system-wide basis as well as for an individual user. Many commands display additional dialog boxes that allow you to specify settings to adjust the plot. You control and operate IPLOT dialog boxes in the same manner as MicroStation dialog boxes. For settings that require a filename, you can either type the filename or use a file selection dialog box. When you type a filename, you are not required to provide the full directory path. IPLOT searches specific directories determined by configuration variables.
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If you do not remember the name of the file you want, file selection dialog boxes are a useful tool. These dialog boxes provide scroll boxes that list directories and filenames. You can use these scroll boxes to navigate through your directory structures to locate the file you want. Next to settings fields that require a filename, IPLOT displays a browse button. Browse buttons are labeled with an ellipsis (...). Click the browse button to display a file selection dialog box that allows you to search directories for a specific file. Note You can obtain detailed help on the IPLOT dialog interface by clicking Help > Help Topics on the IPLOT dialog box.
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InterPlot Organizer allows you to work on a group of plots as a single plot set. Organizer gives you full control over plot sets and the plots they contain. You can add, delete, and rearrange plots; view and modify the properties of individual or multiple plots; and preview and print all or some of the plots. You can also control how information about the plots in a set is displayed in the Organizer main window. Using Organizer, you can plot sets of MicroStation design files, AutoCAD drawing files, raster files, or Digital Print Room files without saving or reusing the plot sets. Or, you can create a plot set for a particular set of files to be replotted periodically (for example, at various milestone dates for a project). InterPlot Organizer offers you several advantages: The Organizer interface allows you to work easily with large sets of plots. At the beginning of a project, you can create a plot set file that corresponds to project drawings. As the design progresses, you can easily produce new sets of drawings by using the Organizer dialog box and the original plot set file. Using InterPlot Organizer is often faster than plotting with the dialog box because you do not have to wait for MicroStation to load the design file or AutoCAD to load the drawing file before you plot. Organizer allows you to create and edit settings files and to edit configuration files.
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The Welcome dialog box contains shortcuts for the two operations that load information into Organizer: creating new plot sets from files you select, and opening an existing plot set. 3 Click the appropriate option from the Welcome to InterPlot Organizer dialog box. 4 Click OK to dismiss the Welcome dialog box and perform the selected operation. Click Cancel to exit the Welcome dialog box without performing any operation. Note If you prefer that this dialog box not be displayed the next time you run InterPlot Organizer, click the Dont display this screen again option before clicking OK. Obtaining More Information on the Organizer Interface For additional information about Organizer, click Help Topics from within Organizer.
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An Organizer command line has the following syntax: iplotorg <command> <-qualifiers> plotset_file Note On Windows 98 you are limited in the number of characters per command line. To work around this limitation, you should: Use Organizers command file mechanism for specifying command line options. Add the location of Organizer to the system path. The following list describes each component of the command line: iplotorg command -qualifiers Activates Organizer. Represents one of the command line commands (Create, Modify, Export, Preview, Print, Archive). Represents one or more qualifiers used to control the command. These qualifiers are preceded by a dash. Qualifier values can be filenames, arbitrary character strings, or comma-separated lists of such items enclosed in square brackets. You can place the qualifiers in any order on the command line, but they must follow a command. Represents the name of a plot set (.ips) file.
plotset_file
Qualifier Interaction In general, if you use a particular qualifier more than once on the same command line, Organizer processes the last occurrence and ignores the others. The exceptions to this rule are the -add_plot and -attributes qualifiers used with the Create command as follows: -add_plot Organizer reads and adds each plot to the plot set file. -attributes Organizer applies each attribute in the order it is listed. Note Organizer reads the data sections of all settings files specified on the command line. If you specify a settings file with the add_plot qualifier, the data specific qualifiers in this settings file will override those specified using the settings qualifier.
Create Command
Use the Create command to create a plot set file. You must specify an extension (.ips) for the plot set filename. Organizer will create the plot set in the current working directory unless you specify a directory in the plot set filename. Syntax: iplotorg create <-qualifiers> plotset_file
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You can use the following qualifiers with the Create command: -add_plot -archive_name -attributes -output -add_plot Use the -add_plot qualifier to add a plot to a plot set. Syntax: -add_plot=input_file -add_plot[plot_name]=[input_file, settings_file] plot_name input_file settings_file Represents the name to be assigned to the plot. If no plot name is specified, the CAD filename (without extension) is used for the plot name. Represents the name of the CAD file or PARM file to be added to the plot set. Represents the name of the settings file to be used when creating the plot. The common section of the settings file will be ignored. -printer -rendering_attributes -settings
Note If you do not specify the -add_plot qualifier on the Create command line, the plot set file created will be empty. Examples: To create a plot set and add plots: iplotorg create -add_plot=house.dgn -add_plot=car.dgn misc.ips To use a wildcard (*) to create plots from all the DGN and JPG files in a directory: iplotorg create -add_plot=c:\temp\*.dgn add_plot=*.jpg misc.ips -archive_name Use the -archive_name qualifier to set the name of the archive in the plot set file. Syntax: -archive_name=name Example: To specify the name of an archive: iplotorg create -add_plot=house.dgn -archive_name=arctwo misc.ips -attributes Use the -attributes qualifier to set plot set attributes in the plot set file. You can specify attributes such as Author, Plot Set ID, Revision, Account, Project ID, Related Web Page, PDF File, and user-defined attributes. Click here for a list of standard attribute names and keywords. Syntax: -attributes=[name1=value1, name2=value2, . . .] (Where name1 and name2 are user-defined attribute names.) Example: To assign plot set attributes: iplotorg create add_plot=house.dgn -archive_name=arcone -attributes=[URL=http://www.interplot.com, ProjectID=ab1] house.ips This command creates a plot set called house.ips, containing the plot house. The name of the archive associated with house.ips is arcone, and the plot set attributes are www.interplot.com (Related Web Page) and ab1 (Project ID).
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-output Use the -output qualifier to redirect error/informational messages to a log file. This prevents you from having to dismiss a window each time you run the command line. Syntax: -output=log_file (Where log_file is the name of the log file.) Example: To redirect error/informational messages to a log file: iplotorg create add_plot=house.dgn -output=err.log house.ips -printer Use the -printer qualifier to set the destination printer in the plot set file. If you do not specify a destination printer, the printer is set to the most recently used InterPlot printer (or to the system s default printer if no recently used InterPlot printer is detected). Syntax: -printer=printer_name Example: To specify a printer: iplotorg create -add_plot=house.dgn -printer=hp5si house.ips -rendering_attributes Use the -rendering_attributes qualifier to attach a rendering attributes file to the plot set file. Syntax: -rendering_attributes=rendering_attributes_file Example: To attach a rendering attributes file: iplotorg create add_plot=lever.jpg -rendering_attributes=screen.ra mech.ips -settings Use the -settings qualifier to specify a settings file when creating plots. This settings file applies the data specific sections and the common section to all plots. If you specify an additional settings file with the -add_plot qualifier, the data specific sections in this settings file will override those specified using the -settings qualifier. Syntax: -settings=settings_file Examples: To specify a settings file: iplotorg create -add_plot=car.dgn -add_plot=house.dgn -settings=common.set misc.ips This command creates a plot set called misc.ips containing the plots car and house and applies the settings in common.set to both plots. To specify more than one settings file: iplotorg create -add_plot=[house.dgn, house.set] -settings=two.set misc.ips This command creates a plot set called misc.ips containing the plot house. Organizer reads both settings files (house.set and two.set) and applies only the data specific section from house.set. The common section and data specific sections are applied from two.set. The data specific section in house.set will override those specified in two.set.
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Modify Command
Use the Modify command to modify a plot set file. You must specify an extension (.ips) for the plot set filename. Organizer will modify the plot set in the current working directory unless you specify a directory in the plot set filename. Syntax: iplotorg modify <-qualifiers> plotset_file You can use the following qualifiers with the Modify command: -archive_name -attributes -output -archive_name Use the -archive_name qualifier to set the name of the archive in the plot set file. Syntax: -archive_name=name Example: To specify the name of an archive: iplotorg modify -archive_name=arctwo misc.ips -attributes Use the -attributes qualifier to set plot set attributes in the plot set file. You can specify attributes such as Author, Plot Set ID, Revision, Account, Project ID, Related Web Page, PDF File, and user-defined attributes. Organizer appends any attributes you specify here to the plot set file. Click here for a list of standard attribute names and keywords. Syntax: -attributes=[name1=value1, name2=value2, . . .] (Where name1 and name2 are user-defined attributes.) Example: To assign plot set attributes: iplotorg modify -attributes=[URL=http://www.interplot.com, ProjectID=ab1] house.ips -output Use the -output qualifier to redirect error/informational messages to a log file. This prevents you from having to dismiss a window each time you run the command line. Syntax: -output=log_file (Where log_file is the name of the log file.) Example: To redirect error/informational messages to a log file: iplotorg modify -archive_name=arctwo output=err.log misc.ips -printer Use the -printer qualifier to change the destination printer in the plot set file. Syntax: -printer -rendering_attributes -settings
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-printer=printer_name Example: To specify a new printer: iplotorg modify -printer=hp5si house.ips -rendering_attributes Use the -rendering_attributes qualifier to attach a rendering attributes file to the plot set file. Syntax: -rendering_attributes=rendering_attributes_file Example: To attach a rendering attributes file: iplotorg modify -rendering_attributes=screen.ra mech.ips -settings Use the -settings qualifier to specify a settings file to be applied to all plots. Syntax: -settings=settings_file Example: To specify a settings file: iplotorg modify -settings=common.set misc.ips
Export Command
Use the Export command to export plots to the current working directory. When plots are exported, they are written to the disk as PARM files, using the plot names for the PARM filenames. You can use the following qualifiers with the Export command: -output Syntax: iplotorg export <-qualifiers> plotset_file -output Use the -output qualifier to redirect error/informational messages to a log file. This prevents you from having to dismiss a window each time you run the command line. Syntax: -output=log_file Example: To export the plots in a plot set: iplotorg export output=err.log house.ips
Preview Command
Use the Preview command to preview a plot set on the screen before you submit it to a printer. When you run this command, a Preview window appears containing the first plot in the plot set. In the Preview window, use the and the button to display the next plot, the button to display the previous plot,
button to close the Preview window after previewing the last plot.
You can use the following qualifiers with the Preview command: -output
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Syntax: iplotorg preview plotset_file -output Use the -output qualifier to redirect error/informational messages to a log file. This prevents you from having to dismiss a window each time you run the command line. Syntax: -output=log_file Example: To preview the plots in a plot set: iplotorg preview output=err.log house.ips
Print Command
Use the Print command to submit a plot set to a printer. Syntax: iplotorg print <-qualifiers> plotset_file You can use the following qualifiers with the Print command: -copies -collate -delete_plotset -output -copies Use the -copies qualifier to request multiple copies of a plot set. The number of copies is not stored in the plot set file. Syntax: -copies=n Example: To specify a number of copies: iplotorg print -copies=2 house.ips -collate Use the -collate qualifier to request that the plot set be collated. If you are only printing one copy of the plot set, this qualifier is ignored. This flag is not stored in the plot set file. Syntax: -collate Example: To specify that a plot set be collated: iplotorg print -copies=2 -collate house.ips -delete_plotset Use the -delete_plotset qualifier to specify that the plot set file be deleted if printing is successful. Syntax:
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-delete_plotset Example: To delete a plot set after printing: iplotorg print -delete_plotset misc.ips -output Use the -output qualifier to redirect error/informational messages to a log file. This prevents you from having to dismiss a window each time you run the command line. Syntax: -output=log_file Example: To print the plots in a plot set and dismiss the window: iplotorg print output=err.log house.ips
Archive Command
Use the Archive command to archive a plot set. Syntax: iplotorg archive <-qualifier> plotset_file You can use the following qualifiers with the Archive command: -delete_plotset -output -delete_plotset Use the -delete_plotset qualifier with the Archive command to specify that the plot set file be deleted if archiving is successful. Syntax: -delete_plotset Example: To delete a plot set after archiving: iplotorg archive -delete_plotset misc.ips -output Use the -output qualifier to redirect error/informational messages to a log file. This prevents you from having to dismiss a window each time you run the command line. Syntax: -output=log_file Example: To archive the plots in a plot set and dismiss the window: iplotorg archive output=err.log house.ips
Command Files
Organizer also supports the use of command files for specifying command line arguments. To specify a command file, use the following syntax: iplotorg.exe @command_file (Where command_file is the name of an ASCII file.)
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No space or tab is allowed between the at sign (@) and the filename. There is no default extension; you must specify the full filename, including any extension. Wildcards can not be used. All of the command line arguments must be specified in the command file. Command files can not be nested. In the command file, arguments must begin and end on the same line and each must be separated by spaces, tabs, or newline characters.
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Using Qualifiers
Depending on the information it specifies, a qualifier is in one of several formats: Format -qualifier -qualifier=value -qualifier[logical_names] -qualifier[logical_names]=value Function Specifies an action Sets a parameter Specifies an action for one or more reference files Sets a parameter for one or more reference files
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Qualifier values can be numbers, filenames, keywords, arbitrary character strings, or comma-separated lists of such items enclosed in square brackets. Unless otherwise specified, IPLOT uses default values for plotting parameters such as the view to be plotted and the plot size. Qualifier Priority You can place command qualifiers in any order on the command line. IPLOT does not process qualifiers in the order they are specified. Instead, it processes qualifiers with many side effects before qualifiers with fewer or no side effects. For example, when you use the -view qualifier, IPLOT recomputes the plot size. Therefore, if -view is specified on the same command line as -xsize or -ysize, IPLOT processes -view first. The following two commands produce the same result: iplot modify -view=2 -xsize=10.0 drawing iplot modify -xsize=10.0 -view=2 drawing Qualifier Interaction If you specify certain combinations of qualifiers on the same command line, IPLOT ignores one or more qualifiers. In general, if you use a particular qualifier more than once, IPLOT processes the last occurrence and ignores the others. Similarly, if several closely related qualifiers, such as -xsize, -ysize, and -scale, are on the same command line, only the last one is used. For example, the -scale qualifier in the following command is ignored: iplot modify -scale=1:1 -xsize=24.0 drawing Several qualifiers are exceptions to this rule: -attach_ref -detach_ref -[no]display -[no]environment -[no]fast -[no]levels -ref_filename -settings If you use one of these qualifiers several times on the same command line, all occurrences are processed in the order that you specified them. The -nolevels and -levels qualifiers provide one useful example. If you want to plot only Levels 1, 3, and 5, you can turn these levels on and turn off all others with a single command line: iplot mod -nolev=[1-63] -lev=[1, 3, 5] drawing
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Note If you do not add an extension to the IPARM filename, as in this example, IPLOT adds a .i extension to the filename by default. (The IPARM file extension is defined in the IPLOT.CFG file.) To view the settings for these and other parameters, use the Show command. iplot show plan IPLOT displays the current settings of all plotting parameters under your control. You can change any of the displayed parameters with the Modify command. For example, you can select a different printer and specify a different plot scale. iplot modify -printer=itp436 -scale=10:1 plan To see the results of your changes, as well as the effects they had on the plot size, you can use the Show command again and specify only the parameters you want to see. iplot show -queue -scale -xsize -ysize plan Note -queue is equivalent to the -printer qualifier. After the IPARM settings are satisfactory, use the Generate command to generate a metafile. iplot generate plan IPLOT creates a metafile that has the same base name as the IPARM file and a .m extension. To submit this metafile to the plot server that is associated with the printer you selected, use the Submit command, specifying the IPARM filename. (The metafile extension is defined in the IPLOT.CFG file.) iplot submit plan IPLOT sends the metafile to the plot server, where it is plotted. The following list contains additional command line examples: To view the plot scale: iplot show -scale drawing To set the plots X size: iplot modify -xsize=16.0 drawing To generate metafiles for all IPARM files in the current directory: iplot generate *.i To view the names of all attached reference files: iplot show -ref_filename[iplot_all] drawing To turn on a set of levels in the master design file: iplot modify -levels=[1, 5-10, 20-34] drawing To turn on all levels in a specific reference file: iplot modify -levels[ref1]=[1-63] drawing To disable the plotting of points and patterns in a set of reference files: iplot modify -nodisplay[ref1,ref2]=[points, pattern] drawing
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IPLOT Commands
This section discusses the IPLOT commands: Create Modify Show Generate Preview Submit
Show
The Show command displays the contents of one or more IPARM files. If you do not specify any qualifiers, the names and values of all changeable parameters are displayed. If qualifiers are specified, only their associated names and values are displayed. Syntax: iplot show -qualifiers IPARM_file(s) Example: iplot show floorplan.i
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Generate
The Generate command creates a metafile from an existing IPARM file and its associated design and reference files. If several IPARM files are specified, IPLOT generates a metafile from each file. Syntax: iplot generate IPARM_file(s) The generated metafile has the same base name as its corresponding IPARM file, but with the extension defined in the configuration file (by default, .m). An IPARM file contains control information about a plot. In contrast, a metafile contains the actual graphic elements extracted from the design file and its reference files. The Generate command does not have any associated qualifiers. Examples: To generate a metafile for a single IPARM file: iplot generate floorplan To generate metafiles for all IPARMs in the current directory: iplot generate *.i
Preview
The Preview command allows you to view plots on the screen, prior to submitting them to a printer. When you run the command, a preview window containing the plot appears. Syntax: iplot preview IPARM_file(s) Example: To preview the file named floorplan.i: iplot preview floorplan.i Note You must generate the metafile prior to using the Preview command.
Submit
The Submit command submits a metafile to a plot server based on the information in the specified IPARM file. If several IPARM files are specified, IPLOT sends the corresponding metafile of each file to the plot server. Note For InterPlot Professional, the Submit command actually plots the job directly to the printer. Syntax: iplot submit -qualifiers IPARM_file(s) Example: iplot submit floorplan
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does not contain a fence, region, or volume specification, the new view completely defines the plot area. If the IPARM contains a fence or region specification, the fence or region is projected onto the front face of the view, and the volume formed by extending its projection from the front face of the view to the back face is the plot area. If the IPARM contains a volume specification, the volume still defines the plot area, but the contents of the volume are plotted based on the rotation of the new view. Note Because of the way MicroStation stores view information in the design file, IPLOT typically plots a slightly larger area for a given view than MicroStation displays. To rectify the difference, you should specify a fenced region or volume to define the plot area instead of just a view. The plot size is recomputed to reflect the new plot area. If the computed plot size exceeds the plotter limits, the scale and size are modified to make the plot fit. The active levels, display on/off settings, and fast/slow settings are also updated to match those of the new view. -fence/-nofence Syntax: -fence=[[x1, y1], [x2, y2], ...] -fence=[[x1, y1, z1], [x2, y2, z2], ...] -nofence The values x, y, and z are working unit values in the design files coordinate space. Examples: To plot a rectangular area of a 2D design file: iplot modify -fence=[[0,0], [100,80]] plan1 To plot a triangular area of a 2D design file: iplot modify -fence=[[0,0],[100,0],[50,80]] plan2 To plot a rectangle in a view in a 3D design file: iplot modify -fence=[[0,0,0],[100,80,0]] plan3 The -fence qualifier defines a set of points (up to 101 vertices) that is used with the active view to define the plot area. If the design file is 2D, you specify 2D points. If the design file is 3D, you specify 3D points. For 2D files, IPLOT connects the points to form a polygon that defines the portion of the design to be plotted. If you specify two points, IPLOT interprets them as the two corners of a rectangle with sides that are parallel to those of the active view. For 3D files, the points are projected to the front face of the active view, and the projected points are connected to form a polygon on the view face. If only two points are specified, IPLOT interprets their projections as the corners of a rectangular polygon on the view face. The volume formed by extending this polygon to the back of the view defines the plot area. The -fence qualifier clears any region or volume previously stored in the IPARM file. The -nofence qualifier deletes a previously stored fence or region, indicating that the active view should define the plot area. The plot size is recomputed to reflect the new plot area. If the computed plot size exceeds the plotter limits, IPLOT modifies the scale and size to make the plot fit. -region/-noregion Syntax: -region=[x1, y1, x2, y2, ...] -noregion The values x and y are working unit values in the design file coordinate space. Examples: To plot a rectangular portion of a 2D design file: iplot modify -region=[0,0, 100,80] drawing To plot a triangular portion of a 2D design file:
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iplot modify -region=[0,0, 100,0, 50,80] drawing The -region qualifier defines a set of points (up to 101 vertices) that define the plot area for a 2D design file. This qualifier does not apply to 3D design files. If you specify more than two points, IPLOT connects the points to form a polygon defining the portion of the design file to be plotted. If you specify two points, IPLOT interprets them as the two corners of a rectangle in the design files coordinate space. In any case, the contents of the resulting polygon or rectangle are plotted according to the rotation defined by the active view. The -region qualifier clears any fence previously stored in the IPARM file. The -noregion qualifier deletes a previously stored region or fence, indicating that the active view should define the plot area. The plot size is recomputed to reflect the new plot area. If the computed size exceeds the plotter limits, IPLOT modifies the scale and size to make the plot fit. Note For 2D design files, the -region and -fence qualifiers are functionally equivalent unless you specify only two points and the active view is a rotated view. -volume/-novolume Syntax: -volume=[x1,y1,z1, x2,y2,z2] -novolume The values x, y, and z are working unit values in the design file coordinate space. Example: To plot the contents of a cube in the design file: iplot modify -volume=[0,0,0, 10,10,10] drawing The -volume qualifier specifies the two corners of a cubic volume that defines the plot area. The contents of this volume are plotted according to the rotation defined by the active view. This qualifier applies only to 3D design files. Also, the -volume qualifier clears any fence previously stored in the IPARM file. The -novolume qualifier clears any volume previously stored in the IPARM file, indicating that the active view should define the plot area. IPLOT recomputes the plot size to reflect the new plot area. If the computed plot size exceeds the plotter limits, the scale and size are modified to make the plot fit. -area Syntax: -area = area_method Valid area_method keywords are shape, all_shapes, fit, and fit_all. Example: iplot modify -area=fit_all drawing The area qualifiers allow you to specify the plot area indirectly by describing elements whose actual coordinates or ranges define the plot area. The area keyword determines which of the automatic methods you should use to determine the plot area. The valid -area values are: all_shapes locates all matching shapes and creates an IPARM for each one. The fences in the IPARMs correspond to the vertices of the shapes. The IPARMs are created in the form iparm#.i. For example, if three matching shapes were found in the plot area during an all_shapes operation, then IPARMs named test.i, test1.i, and test2.i would be created. Generally, this qualifier is accompanied by other qualifiers to select shapes with certain color, weight, style, level, or file attributes. You can find descriptions of these qualifiers at the end of this section. The IPLOT_SHAPE_LIMIT configuration variable limits the number of IPARMs that an all_shapes operation can create. The default value of IPLOT_SHAPE_LIMIT is 50.
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shape
fit
fit_all
Note If you use the all_shapes qualifier in a Modify command, then no additional IPARMs are created. locates the first matching shape and uses its vertices as the plot fence for the IPARM. Generally, this qualifier is accompanied by other qualifiers to select a shape with certain color, weight, style, level, or file attributes. makes the plot area a region or volume that encloses the ranges of all selected elements. This qualifier examines only master file elements unless the area_files qualifier is present. makes the plot area a region or volume that encloses the ranges of all selected elements. This qualifier examines the master file and all of the attached reference files unless the area_files qualifier is present.
Note The following qualifiers define the elements considered in the automatic plot area determination: -area_levels, -area_colors, -area_weights, -area_styles, -area_types, -area_files, and -area_cellnames. The following qualifiers define the elements considered in the automatic plot area determination and should occur only once in a given command line. If they are specified more than once, then only the last occurrence of the qualifier will be used. Also, the qualifiers must be used with one of the automatic plot area methods (area=fit, area=fit_all, area=shape, area=all_shapes). -area_levels -area_colors -area_weights -area_styles -area_types The area_levels values can be any integers between 1 and 64 inclusive. The area_colors values can be any integers between 0 and 255 inclusive. The area_weights values can be any integers between 0 and 31 inclusive. The area_styles values can be any integers between 0 and 7 inclusive. The area_types values can be any integers between 1 and 128 inclusive.
Note -area_types is ignored if -area is set to shape or all_shapes, since the shape modes imply scanning for Type 6 shape elements only. Qualifiers with numerical values will accept either a single integer or a list of integers. The following represents proper syntax for qualifiers with numerical values: -area_levels=42 -area_types=[2, 17] -area_weights=[0-15, 17, 19-31] -area_files The strings given for area_files should be either actual design filenames (without directory names), logical names (IPLOT_ALL, IPLOT_R1, etc.), or reference file logical names. Wild cards are permitted for design filenames. If you give invalid strings, IPLOT silently ignores them. The strings given for area_cellnames should be valid cellnames. Wild cards are permitted. If you give invalid strings, IPLOT ignores them.
-area_cellnames
The area_files and area_cellnames qualifiers define which files and cells are considered in the automatic plot area determination. If area_cellnames is not present, then IPLOT considers all cells. If area_cellnames is present, then only cells with the specified names are considered. To include other types, use -area_types. Note When area_types and area_cellnames are used in the same command line, then area_types automatically includes Type 2 and Type 35 cells. If area_files is not present and -area is fit_all, all_shapes, or shape, then IPLOT scans the master file and all reference files. If area_files is not present and area is fit, then only the master file is considered. If area_files is present, then IPLOT scans the listed files. If area is shape, then scanning will end as soon as a matching shape is found. The following represents proper syntax for the area_files and area_cellnames qualifiers: -area_files="BORDER*.DGN" -area_files=[FILE1.DGN, BORDER, IPLOT_R7] -area_cellnames=DOOR -area_cellnames=[DOOR, CHAIR, SHOWER] Examples: To create an IPARM with either a volume or region (depending on the dimension of the master file) that encompasses all of the graphical elements in all of the files:
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iplot cre -des=a.dgn -area=fit_all -maximize car To create an IPARM with either a volume or region which encompasses all of the line elements found in the reference file with the logical name ref1. iplot cre -des=a.dgn -area=fit -area_types=3 -area_files=[ref1] -maximize car To create an IPARM with a fence whose vertices are the same as the first shape on a specified level in the master file: iplot cre -des=a.dgn -area=shape -area_level=6 -area_files=[iplot_master] -maximize car To create up to 50 (default) IPARMs, each containing a fence that corresponds to a shape element with color 250. iplot cre -des=a.dgn -area=all_shapes -area_colors=250 -maximize car
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To set the active units to millimeters: iplot modify -units=mm drawing The -units qualifier sets the active units of measure for any subsequent -scale, -xsize, -ysize, -xysize, and -origin qualifiers. The active units also control how the size, scale, and origin are displayed by the Show command. -maximize Syntax: -maximize Example: To specify that the drawing be maximized: iplot modify -maximize drawing The -maximize qualifier increases the plot size to the largest size allowed by the device. This command maintains the current aspect ratio so that the plot size does not increase along one axis by a greater amount than the other axis. The plot origin resets to 0,0. -scale Syntax: -scale=design_units:plotter_units Both design_units and plotter_units are numbers greater than zero. Example: To specify that a scale of 1 inch on the plot equals 100 miles in the design when mile is the design unit: iplot modify -scale=100:1 map The -scale qualifier defines the plot scale--the relationship between the design units in the design file and physical units of measure on the plot. For example, if the design units are feet and the active units specified by the -units qualifier are inches, a scale of 1:0.25 specifies that 1/4 inch on the plot represents 1 foot in the design. IPLOT computes the plot size based on the plot area and the new scale. If the computed plot size exceeds plotter limits, IPLOT rejects the scale. -xsize Syntax: -xsize=x_size The value x_size is a number greater than zero. Example: To set the X plot size to 44.5 inches: iplot modify -xsize=44.5 drawing The -xsize qualifier sets the size of the plot along the plotters X axis. The size is interpreted in the active units. IPLOT uses the new X size to compute the Y size while maintaining the current aspect ratio of the plot. If the computed plot size exceeds the plotters limits, IPLOT reduces the plot size to make the plot fit within the limits. Also, IPLOT recomputes the plot scale based on the plot area and the new plot size. -ysize Syntax: -ysize=y_size The value y_size is a number greater than zero. Example: To set the Y plot size to 36 inches: iplot modify -ysize=36 drawing
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The -ysize qualifier sets the size of the plot along the plotters Y axis. The size is interpreted in the active units. IPLOT uses the new Y size to compute the X size while maintaining the current aspect ratio of the plot. If the computed plot size exceeds the plotters limits, IPLOT reduces the plot size to make the plot fit within the limits. IPLOT also recomputes the plot scale based on the plot area and the new plot size (same as X size). -xysize Syntax: -xysize=x_size,y_size The values x_size and y_size are numbers greater than zero. Example: To create an 11.0 x 8.5 plot regardless of the plot areas shape: iplot modify -xysize=11,8.5 drawing The -xysize qualifier sets the size of the plot along both the plotters X and Y axes. The size is interpreted in the active units. Using the -xysize qualifier usually results in a disproportionately scaled (distorted) plot and changes the plot rescale values. Circles in the design file plot as ovals, and squares in the design file plot as rectangles. Note If the -xysize qualifier results in a disproportionate scale, raster data in the design file will not be disproportionately scaled. If the x_size value exceeds the plotters X limit, IPLOT reduces the x_size value to the X limit; if the y_size value exceeds the plotters Y limit, IPLOT reduces the y_size value to the Y limit. The plot rescale updates to reflect the new X and Y sizes. Note Be careful when using the -xysize qualifier to plot to roll feed plotters. In particular, do not use the technique of specifying extremely large values to maximize the plot size. Doing so will extend the X plot size to the full length of the roll, resulting in large amounts of wasted paper. -plot_rescale Syntax: -plot_rescale=x_rescale,y_rescale The values x_rescale and y_rescale are numbers greater than zero. Examples: To stretch a plot slightly along the plotters X axis: iplot modify -plot_rescale=1.1,1 drawing To reset the plot to a proportionately scaled (undistorted) state: iplot modify -plot_rescale=1,1 -data_rescale=1,1 drawing Note The -plot_rescale qualifier has no effect on raster data in the design file. Plot rescaling is typically used to compensate for old or non-standard plotters or to distort the plot slightly to use all of the available plot media. When you use this qualifier, IPLOT recomputes the X and Y plot sizes. If the computed plot size exceeds the plotters limits, IPLOT rejects the plot rescale. Note The plot rescale factors are applied after any plot rotation is performed. If you do not rotate the plot, -plot_rescale behaves identically to -data_rescale. -data_rescale Syntax: -data_rescale=x_rescale,y_rescale The values x_rescale and y_rescale are numbers greater than zero. Examples: To stretch a plot by a factor of two along the active views X axis, even if the plot is rotated: iplot modify -data_rescale=2,1 drawing To reset the plot to a proportionately scaled (undistorted) state:
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iplot modify -data_rescale=1,1 -plot_rescale=1,1 drawing Note The -data_rescale qualifier has no effect on raster data in the design file. Data rescaling is typically used to expand data that is compressed along one axis (in the design file) to its normal size for plotting. IPLOT recomputes the X and Y plot sizes. If the computed plot size exceeds the plotters limits, IPLOT rejects the data rescale. Note The -data_rescale factors are applied before any plot rotation is performed. If you do not rotate the plot, -data_rescale behaves identically to -plot_rescale.
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iplot modify -origin=3,2 drawing The -origin qualifier sets the plot origin. The plot origin is the position of the lower left corner of the plot relative to the lower left corner of the plotters imaging area. The origin is interpreted in the active units. If the specified origin shifts the plot off the media, IPLOT adjusts the origin to keep the plot on the media. For example, if the plotter limits are 11.0 x 8.0 inches and the current plot size is 10.0 x 7.0 inches and you specify an origin of 5.0, 3.0, IPLOT adjusts the origin to 1.0, 1.0. Note Most plotters cannot plot on the entire media. Typically, there are small margins along each side of the media that are unusable. The portion of the media that is usable is known as the imaging area. The plot origin is an offset from the lower left corner of the imaging area, not from the corner of the actual media. -center Syntax: -center Example: iplot modify -center drawing The -center qualifier sets the plot origin to the values that center the plot within the plotters imaging area. If the plotter is a roll-feed device (with paper size set to NONE), the plot is centered along the plotters short axis only. The effect of the -center qualifier is not permanent. Any changes to the IPARM that affect the plot size leave the origin unchanged, and the plot is no longer centered. -mirror Syntax: -mirror=keyword Valid mirror keywords are x, y, both, and off. Examples: To mirror the plot horizontally about the plotters Y axis: iplot modify -mirror=y drawing To mirror the plot vertically about the plotters X axis: iplot modify -mirror=x drawing To disable mirroring: iplot modify -mirror=off drawing The -mirror keyword produces a mirror image of the plot along the plotters X or Y axes or both. Mirroring the plot does not change the size or position of the plot on the media. Note To maintain compatibility with previous versions of IPLOT, the following forms of -mirror are also supported. -mirror=on (identical to mirror=x) -nomirror (identical to mirror=off)
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Examples: To plot all filled elements in the master file as outlines: iplot modify -nodisplay=area_fill drawing To prevent a pair of reference files from plotting: iplot modify -nodisplay[ref1, ref2]=file drawing To enable the plotting of text nodes in the master file and all reference files: iplot modify -display[iplot_all]=text_nodes drawing The -display qualifier allows you to plot classes of elements or element attributes in specified files. The -nodisplay variable disables the plotting of those classes of elements or attributes. The elements or element attributes changed by the qualifier are controlled by a keyword. Refer to the following table for a list of keywords and descriptions of how they work with -display and -nodisplay. Keyword area_fill camera Used with -display Plots filled elements, text, and arcs with width as filled polygons. Plots any perspective information associated with the active view (3D files only). Plots construction elements. Plots dimension elements. Plots data field markers. Plots specified design file or reference file. Plots elements with the symbology in the level symbology table. Plots user-defined line styles. Plots pattern elements. Plots point elements. Plots reference file clip boundaries. Plots element tags. Plots text node crosses and numbers. Plots weighted elements with their defined weight. Plots lines and arcs with width in their defined width. Used with -nodisplay Plots filled elements, text, and lines and arcs with width as outlines. Does not plot perspective information associated with the active view (3D files only). Does not plot construction elements. Does not plot dimension elements. Does not plot data field markers. Does not plot specified file or reference file. Plots elements with their defined symbology. Does not plot user-defined line styles. Does not plot pattern elements. Does not plot point elements. Does not plot reference file clip boundaries. Does not plot element tags. Does not plot text node crosses and numbers. Plots weighted elements at weight 0. Plots lines and arcs as vectors.
construction dimension enter_data file level_symbology line_styles pattern points ref_boundaries tags text_nodes weight width
If you do not specify a logical name, the changes apply only to the master file. If you specify logical names, the changes apply to the specified reference files. If you use iplot_all as the logical name, the changes apply to the master file and all reference files. -fast/-nofast Syntax: -fast=[keyword(s)] -fast[logical_name(s)]=[keyword(s)] -nofast=[keyword(s)] -nofast[logical_name(s)]=[keyword(s)] The value logical_name(s) is a single reference file logical name or a comma-separated list of logical names. Examples: To specify fast curves and fonts for the master file: iplot modify -fast=[curve, font] drawing
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To specify normal representations of cells and curves in all files: iplot modify -nofast[iplot_all]=[cell, curve] drawing The -fast keyword selects the "fast" representation of the designated elements in specified files. The -nofast keyword selects the "slow" (normal) representation. The fast representation of an element is a crude representation that plots faster than the normal representation. For example, a fast cell is plotted as a rectangle. The following table shows how each keyword works with -fast and -nofast: Keyword cell font text curve ref_clipping Used with -fast Cells are represented by rectangles. Text plots with the fast font. Text does not plot. Curves represented by line strings. Reference files are clipped to the minimum bounding rectangles of their boundaries. Used with -nofast Cells plot normally. Text plots with the defined font. Text plots. Actual curves plot. Reference files are clipped to their defined boundaries.
If you do not specify a logical name, the changes apply only to the master file. If you specify logical names, the changes apply to the specified reference files. If you specify iplot_all as the logical name, the changes apply to the master file and all reference files. -levels/-nolevels Syntax: -levels=[levels] -levels[logical_name(s)]=[levels] -nolevels=[levels] -nolevels[logical_name(s)]=[levels] The value logical_name(s) is a single reference file logical name or a comma-separated list of logical names. The value levels is a single level number between 1 and 63, a pair of level numbers separated by a hyphen, or a comma separated list of single level numbers and/or pairs. Examples: To turn on a single level in the master file: iplot modify -level=10 mstr To turn on a set of levels in the master file: iplot modify -levels=[1,5-10,30-63] mstr To turn on a set of levels in a reference file: iplot modify -levels[ref1]=[1,5-10,30-63] ref1 To turn on all levels in all files: iplot modify -levels[iplot_all]=[1-63] house The -levels qualifier turns on a set of levels in specified files. The -nolevels keyword turns off a set of levels. If you specify only a single level number, the brackets enclosing the number can be omitted. If you do not specify a logical name, IPLOT turns the levels on or off in the master file. If you specify logical names, the levels are modified in the specified reference files. If iplot_all is specified as the logical name, the levels are modified in the master file and all reference files.
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-ref_filename[logical_name]=dgn_filename The value logical_name is the logical name of the reference file whose filename is to be changed. Example: To change the filename of the reference file with the logical name border: iplot modify -ref_filename[border]=newname.dgn drawing The -ref_filename qualifier changes the filename of a reference file having a specified logical name. Note Use the -ref_filename qualifier to update IPARM files after you move reference files to different directories or IPARMs to different nodes with different directory structures. Use the Show command to view the logical names and filenames of all reference files that are attached to the IPARM. iplot show -ref_filename[iplot_all] drawing -attach_ref Syntax: -attach_ref[logical_name]= dgn_filename -attach_ref[logical_name]=[ dgn_filename, saved_view_name, scale_ratio, attach_point] Value logical_name dgn_filename saved_view_name scale_ratio Definition The logical name to be assigned to the new reference file. The name of the reference file to be attached. The name of a saved view in the reference file that defines the reference files orientation and attachment point. A pair of floating point numbers separated by a colon that define the scale relationship between the master design file and the reference file. The first number represents the master file; the second represents the reference file. The attachment point in the master file. If the master file is 2D, specify an XY coordinate in working units; if the master file is 3D, specify an XYZ coordinate.
attach_point Examples:
To attach a coincident reference file: iplot mod -attach_ref[hvac]=b100hvac.dgn bldg To attach a reference file to a 2D master file using a saved view: iplot mod -attach_ref[bor]=[bor.dgn,top,1:1,0,0] car To attach a reference file to a 3D master file using a saved view, scaling the reference file up by a factor of 2: iplot mod -attach_ref[bor]=[bor.dgn,top,2:1,0,0,0] car The -attach_ref qualifier attaches a reference file to the IPARM file (not to the design file). The simple form of -attach_ref performs a "coincident" attachment. The reference file is not rotated or scaled with respect to the master file, and their origins are coincident. The complex form of -attach_ref performs a saved view attachment. The saved view defines the reference files rotation, origin (the center of the saved view is mapped to the specified master file attachment point), clipping boundary (the extents of the view), and levels. This form of -attach_ref also requires a scale ratio defining how the reference file should be scaled relative to the master file. -detach_ref Syntax: -detach_ref[logical_name(s)] The value logical_name(s) is a single reference file logical name or a comma-separated list of logical names. Example: To detach the reference file with logical names ref1 and ref2: iplot modify -detach[ref1, ref2] drawing To detach all reference files:
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iplot modify -detach[iplot_all] drawing The -detach_ref qualifier permanently detaches one or more reference files from the IPARM. Note Use the Show command to view the logical names and filenames of all reference files that are attached to the IPARM. iplot show -ref_filename[iplot_all] drawing
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iplot modify -feature_table=fill.ftb *.i To detach a feature table from an IPARM file: iplot modify -nofeature_table drawing iplot modify -feature_table=none drawing The -feature_table qualifier attaches a feature table to the IPARM file. (For more information on feature tables, see the "Using Feature Tables" section of the InterPlot Reference Help.) A compiled version of the feature table is placed in the metafile created by the Generate command. It is used during plot processing to change the appearance of selected elements. If a pen table is attached to the IPARM file, it is detached when you use this qualifier. You can attach a pen table or a feature table, but not both, to an IPARM file. The -nofeature_table qualifier detaches a feature table from the IPARM file. Using -feature_table with none as the filename also detaches the feature table. -rendering_attributes/-norendering_attributes Syntax: -rendering_attributes=rendering_attributes_file -norendering_attributes Example: To attach a rendering attributes file: iplot mod -rendering_attributes=hp.ra house The -rendering_attributes qualifier attaches a rendering attributes file to the IPARM file. The rendering attributes file is sent to the server node along with the metafile by the Submit command. The -norendering_attributes qualifier detaches a rendering attributes file from the IPARM file. Using -rendering_attributes with none as the filename also detaches the file. Note Rendering attributes allow you to control certain plotter-specific settings that affect the appearance of the plot. Be sure the rendering attributes file is compatible with the plotter that is serviced by the printer referenced in the IPARM file. You can view and edit rendering attributes files with the InterPlot Utilities > Graphical Attribute Editor in the InterPlot Utilities group. You can access additional online help inside the utility.
Other Qualifiers
The following qualifiers are also available for the Create and Modify commands. -settings Syntax: -settings=settings_file Example: To execute a project-specific settings file: iplot modify -settings=hvac.set building The settings file qualifier processes the qualifiers in a settings file prior to the remaining command line qualifiers. -environment/-noenvironment Syntax: -environment=[variable_definition(s)] -noenvironment=[name(s)] The value variable_definition(s) is an environment variable definition or a comma-separated list of definitions. A definition can take one of two forms: 1 name=value 2 name The value name(s) is an environment variable name or a comma-separated list of names. The value is an arbitrary string.
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Examples: To store a pair of variable definitions: iplot modify -environment=[dept=civil, account=123] drawing To store a value containing blanks or special characters: iplot modify -environment=[name="John Doe"] drawing To change a previously stored variable definition: iplot modify -environment=[account=12500] drawing To remove a pair of variable definitions: iplot modify -noenvironment=[name, account] drawing The -environment qualifier stores environment variable names or names and values in the IPARM file. The Submit command transfers these names and values to the plot processing stage. If you are using InterPlot Server accounting, these names and values are also stored there. If an environment variable name is stored without a value in the IPARM file, the Submit command obtains the variables value from the operating systems environment when it submits the plot. The -noenvironment qualifier removes one or more environment variable definitions from the IPARM file. Note Environment variable names must start with a letter, may contain only letters, numbers, and underscores, and may not contain blanks. If the value being assigned to a variable contains blanks or characters that have special meaning to the operating systems command interpreter, you should enclose the value in quotation marks. To temporarily define environment variables for a single plot request, use the environment qualifier with the Submit command. Variables defined with the Submit command are not stored in the IPARM file. -workspace Syntax: -workspace=workspace_name Example: To associate an IPARM file with a specific workspace: iplot modify -workspace=civil drawing Specifies a workspace name that IPLOT references to access MicroStation font resource files. The workspace name is stored in the IPARM file. This workspace name determines which font and line style resource files to use when plotting the metafile. -qpr_options/-noqpr_options Syntax: -qpr_options=[qpr_options] -noqpr_options Example: To clear any previously stored options: iplot modify -noqpr_options drawing The -qpr_options qualifier stores a set of qpr options in the IPARM file, replacing (not augmenting) any previously stored options. IPLOT does not validate or interpret the qpr options. The Submit command simply passes the options directly to the queuing system. The following list contains the qpr options you can use with this qualifier. -d name=value -e tag=file -l message This option defines an environment variable name and value to be used by the server. This option allows you to associate a tag with a filename. The tag and the file are placed in the servers environment to be used for producing the plot. This option logs messages in the destination printer accounting file; accounting must be enabled for the destination printer.
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This option prints the specified number of copies. This option deletes the original files after the submission process is complete. This option assigns a priority; priority must be an integer from 1-99, where a value of 99 defines the highest priority and a value of 1 defines the lowest priority.
Note PCs running Windows 98 cannot use the -p priority option. * It is recommended that you use the Copies field in the Submit Options dialog box instead of using the -n qpr option. The -noqpr_options qualifier removes any qpr options stored in the IPARM file. To temporarily specify qpr options for a single plot request, use the -qpr_options qualifier with the Submit command. The qpr options specified with the Submit command are not stored in the IPARM file. IPLOT automatically uses the following qpr options when it submits plot requests. q queue_name t data_type r request_name o options Note Do not specify these qpr options, because doing so will cause the plot request to fail. -update Syntax: -update Example: To update an IPARM with current data from the master file and attached reference files: iplot modify -update drawing The -update qualifier can affect the following values: Master Design File global origin view extents view rotation view scale working units display on/off settings levels on/off level symbology list of attached reference files list of raster reference files display update sequence Attached Reference Files file name logical name file number display and fast flags levels on/off reference file scaling/rotation reference file origin reference file description
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reference file level symbology clip fence if the file is displayed or not displayed IPLOT generated full path name Non-state information like pen table, workspace, printer, paper size, mirroring, and rotation are not changed. Size and scale are changed if the underlying state information requires that they be changed. Settings files are not re-applied as a part of update.
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Note The -nodisplay, -nofast, and -nolevels qualifiers show which settings are turned off. You can specify reference file logical names with the -[no]display, -[no]fast, and -[no]levels qualifiers to display the settings for specific reference files. If no logical name is specified, then the master file settings are displayed. The logical name IPLOT_ALL can be used to display the settings for the master file and all of the reference files. For -ref_filename, one or more reference file logical names must be specified. The logical name IPLOT_ALL can be used to display the names of all reference files. You can use wildcards (*, ?) in the logical names. Examples: To show all IPARM information: iplot show mytest.i To show an attached pen table: iplot show -pen_table houseplan.i To show the levels for all files: iplot show -levels[iplot_all] drawing.i
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iplot submit -environment=[name="John Doe"] drawing The -environment qualifier defines one or more environment variables to be transferred to the plot server, which stores them in the accounting record for the plot (if accounting is enabled on the plot server). These definitions are sent to the plot server along with any definitions stored in the IPARM file. Additionally, you can use the -environment qualifier to archivea drawing (with or without printing) and to set plot attributes. To archive and print a drawing, you must define the environment variable ArchiveName=archive, where archive is the name of the digital archive. The target printer must be serviced by a Digital Print Room machine that contains a digital archive. To archive a drawing without printing, you must specify the environment variable definition ArchiveOnly=TRUE on the same command line with ArchiveName. To set plot attributes, you must specify the attribute keyword and value. For multiple attributes, use a comma-separated list. See the table following the examples for a list of attributes. Examples: To archive and print a drawing, type in: iplot submit -environment=[archivename=archiveA] map To archive without printing a drawing, type in: iplot submit -environment=[archivename=archiveA, archiveonly=true] map To set plot attributes, type in: aplot submit -environment=[URL=http://www.interplot.com, Author=ab] This sets the Related Web Page attribute to www.interplot.com and sets the Author attribute to ab. The following table lists the attribute variable keywords, names, and descriptions. Keyword PlotSetID ProjectID Account Revision Author URL Name Plot Set ID Project ID Account Revision Author Related Web Page Description Defines additional design information. Defines additional project information. Defines the account. Defines the revision number. Defines the author. Specifies a place holder for a user specific WWW link.
If an environment variable name is specified without a value, the Submit command obtains the variables value from the operating systems environment. The -noenvironment qualifier causes the Submit command to ignore one or more of the variable definitions stored in the IPARM file. Note Environment variable names must start with a letter, may contain only letters, numbers, and underscores, and may not contain blanks. If the value assigned to a variable contains blanks or characters that have special meaning to the operating systems command interpreter, enclose the value in quotation marks. To permanently store environment variables in the IPARM, use the -environment qualifier with the Modify command. -qpr_options/-noqpr_options Syntax: -qpr_options=[qpr_options] -noqpr_options Example: To clear any previously stored options: iplot modify -noqpr_options drawing The -qpr_options qualifier specifies a set of qpr options to be used with the plot request. These queuing system options override (not augment) any queuing system options stored in the IPARM file. IPLOT does not validate or interpret the qpr options. The Submit command simply passes the options directly
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to the queuing system. The following list contains the qpr options you can use with this qualifier. -d name=value -e tag=file -l message -n num-copies* -R {remove files} -p priority This option defines an environment variable name and value to be used by the server. This option allows you to associate a tag with a filename. The tag and the file are placed in the servers environment to be used for producing the plot. This option logs messages in the destination printer accounting file; accounting must be enabled for the destination printer. This option prints the specified number of copies. This option deletes the original files after the submission process is complete. This option assigns a priority; priority must be an integer from 1-99, where a value of 99 defines the highest priority and a value of 1 defines the lowest priority.
Note PCs running Windows 98 cannot use the -p priority option. * It is recommended that you use the Copies field in the Submit Options dialog box instead of using the -n qpr option. The -noqpr_options qualifier removes any qpr options stored in the IPARM file. To temporarily specify qpr options for a single plot request, use the -qpr_options qualifier with the Submit command. The qpr options specified with the Submit command are not stored in the IPARM file. IPLOT automatically uses the following qpr options when it submits plot requests. q queue_name t data_type r request_name o options Note Do not specify these qpr options, because doing so will cause the plot request to fail. Submit Examples To submit the metafile associated with an IPARM file: iplot submit design To request two copies of the plot: iplot submit -copies=2 design To submit metafiles for all IPARM files in the current directory: iplot submit *.i
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The following table lists examples of various types of printers along with their associated settings file. For this type of printer \\SERVER\HPDJET (Remote Windows NT) HP2500 (Local printer) Use this settings file name HPDJET.SET HP2500.SET
InterPlot searches for printer settings files exactly as it does for default settings files. Once InterPlot finds the first occurrence of PRINTER_NAME.SET, it does not search any of the remaining directories for the file, unless the configuration variable IP_APPLY_ALL_SETTINGS is set to TRUE. When this configuration variable is set to TRUE, all of the printer settings files found in the search path are read and applied. The default value for this configuration variable is FALSE. Note A printer settings file can contain any setting except for printer name.
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Note Only data type support that is installed will display in this dialog box. The Common section enables you to specify common settings. Common settings include printer name, archive name, rendering attributes filename, and plot set attributes. 3 Click the Edit Section button to access the properties sheet. 4 From the Create Settings property sheet, specify the settings you want. To get help on a specific item, click you want help on. at the top of the Create Settings property sheet, and drop it on the item
5 To exit the Create Settings property sheet, click OK. 6 To add additional sections, repeat steps 2-5. (This step is optional.) 7 To remove a section from the settings file, select the section from the Sections created list and click the Delete Section button. (This step is optional.) This removes the section entry from the Sections created list and adds it to the Sections to create list. 8 To save the settings file, click Save As. Specify the name of the settings file, and then click Save. 9 To exit the Create Settings dialog box, click Close. Note Settings files created or edited with this editor are not saved as text files and are not compatible with InterPlot products prior to version 9.0.
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3 To edit an existing section, select the section from the Sections present in file list, and then click the Edit Section button. To add an additional section, select the section from the Sections to add list, click the Add Section button, and then click the Edit Section button. 4 On the Modify Settings property sheets, specify the settings you want to change. To get help on a specific item, click you want help on. at the top of the Create Settings property sheet, and drop it on the item
5 To exit the Modify Settings property sheet, click OK. 6 To remove a section from the settings file, select the section from the Sections present in file list and click the Delete Section button. (This step is optional.) This removes the section entry from the Sections present in file list and adds it to the Sections to add list. 7 To save the settings file, click Save, and then click Close. Note Settings files created or edited with this editor are not saved as text files and are not compatible with InterPlot products prior to version 9.0.
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Upgrade Issues
When you upgrade to InterPlot Client or InterPlot Professional from IPLOT 8 or APLOT Professional, all files that are not configuration files will be overwritten with the new versions. The configuration files will remain, but will be modified. In the case of IPLOT 8, the setup program will open the old IPLOT.CFG file and retrieve the values for the default settings file and the settings file search path. The default values for these configuration variables are: IPLOT_DEFAULT_SETTINGS=iplot.set IPLOT_SETTINGS_PATH=$HOME;$IPLOT_MASTER_DIR;$IPLOT_PRODUCT_DIR\SETTINGS These values will be written to the configuration file IP.CFG, which is located in the CONFIG subdirectory of the InterPlot Client or InterPlot Professional product directory. This means that IP_DEFAULT_SETTINGS will be IPLOT.SET for this computer. For example, suppose IPLOT 8 was installed in C:\Program Files\IPLOT, and the user had edited IPLOT.CFG as follows: IPLOT_SETTINGS_PATH=c:\joe;n:\site;$IPLOT_PRODUCT_DIR\settings IPLOT_DEFAULT_SETTINGS=iplot.set After installing InterPlot Client or InterPlot Professional, the IP.CFG would contain the following settings: IP_SETTINGS_PATH=c:\joe;n:\site;\Program Files\iplot\settings;$HOME;$IPLOT_MASTER_DIR; $APLOT_MASTER_DIR;$IP_PRODUCT_DIR\settings IP_DEFAULT_SETTINGS=iplot.set If APLOT Professional is the only installed component, then similar changes will be done for APLOT. In this case, IP_DEFAULT_SETTINGS will be set to APLOT.SET. If a system has both APLOT and IPLOT installed, IPLOT.SET will be the default settings file. The setup program will then delete obsolete settings file configuration variables and their descriptions from both IPLOT.CFG and APLOT.CFG, and put them into the IP.CFG file.
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Plot Resymbolization
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Highlight all text, the sheet border (Level 1), and furniture (Level 15) by plotting it in pure
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! black on top of all other elements. Screen ! (de-emphasize) all other elements by plotting ! them with a gray dither (halftone) pattern. ! if ((level .in. 1, 15) || (type == text)) then color = (0, 0, 0) ; R=0, G=0, B=0 is pure priority = 100 ; black else color = (200, 200, 200) ; R=200, G=200, B=200 is weight = 4 ; light gray priority = 10 endif
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Data Types
Each pen table keyword requires a value. You can use six types of data to specify a value: working units, integers, real numbers, strings, RGB colors, and line style definitions. Working Units MicroStation working units. Refer to your MicroStation documentation for information on working units. Integers An integer is a series of one or more digits that can be preceded by a minus sign. Examples: 7 144 -32 Real Numbers A real number is a series of one or more digits that can include a decimal point. Real numbers can be preceded by a minus sign. Examples: 3.14 0.5 .75 -12. 180.0 Strings A string constant is a sequence of zero or more characters enclosed in quotes. You can use either single or double quotes, but the opening and closing quote must be the same type. Examples: $DGNFILENAME$ "green, medium forest" RGB Colors An RGB data type represents a color. It is specified as a triplet of integers in the range 0 to 255. The integers represent red, green, and blue intensities, respectively. You can specify white as (255,255,255) and black as (0,0,0). Examples: (255, 0, 0) red
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(0, 255, 0) (0, 0, 255) (255, 255, 0) (255, 0, 255) (0, 255, 255) (200, 200, 200) (100, 100, 100)
Line style definitions Line style definitions are defined by pairs of on/off transitions in the following format: (on_transition, off_transition,...) You can specify any number of on/off transitions as long as, for every on transition, there is a corresponding off transition. The transitions can be integer or real values and specify a distance in user-defined units. For example, if you specify in the pen table that the units are millimeters (mm), the line style definition 3, 1.5, 5, 1.5 indicates a dash 3 mm long, a space of 1.5 mm, a 5 mm dash followed by a 1.5 mm space. Example: (1.5, 1, 1.5, 0.5)
Constants
Several constants are defined for the various data types to make writing and understanding pen tables easier. The classes of constants described in the following section have been defined for use with specific keywords. Boolean Constants Constants have been defined as true and false for use with keywords such as area_fill, ignore, flash, and the properties keywords. The Boolean constants are: true or .true. false or .false.
Note Either form of the constant (for example, true or .true.) can be used. Element Constants The element constants can be used in comparison expressions with the type keyword. The element constants are: arc line assoc_dim line_string bspline_curve multiline bspline_surface shape cell shared_cell complex_shape solid connected_string surface curve text ellipse text_node Units Constants The units constants can be used for setting the units keyword to specify the dimension for distance keywords such as thickness, weight_base, weight_delta, and line style. The constants can be used in their long or abbreviated form. centimeters (cm) millimeters (mm) meters inches feet (ft) Line Joint/Endcap Constants The midline_joint and endcap keywords can be assigned a value using the following constants: butt circle Class Constants The class constants enable you to modify or compare against the class keyword. primary
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pattern_component construction dimension primary_rule linear_pattern construction_rule Properties Constants The properties constants are used with the properties keyword to determine if bits in the properties word of the element are set. attributes hole locked modified new_element nonplanar nonsnappable screen_relative
The result of a relational expression is a value of true if the condition is satisfied and false if the condition is not satisfied. The following list describes the relational operators, as well as some example relational expressions: Operator .EQ. , EQ , or == .NE. , NE , or <> .GE. , GE , or >= .LE. , LE , or <= .GT. , GT , or > .LT. , LT , or < Examples: Result true if operand1 and operand2 are equal true if operand1 and operand2 are not equal true if operand1 is greater than or equal to operand2 true if operand1 is less than or equal to operand2 true only if operand1 is greater than operand2 true only if operand1 is less than operand2
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(color == 5) (level .NE. 7) (cellname == "PLAN*") (thickness > 0.5) Logical Expressions Logical expressions are compound relational expressions formed by combining simple relational expressions with logical operators. The logical_and operator (AND, .AND. or &&) and the logical_or operator (OR, .OR. or ||) are both binary operators. Both operands must be simple relational expressions or logical expressions that evaluate to true or false. The logical_not operator (.NOT.) requires only a single operand. The following list contains descriptions of each of the logical operators and some example logical expressions. Operator .AND. , AND , or && .OR. , OR , or || .NOT. or NOT Result Evaluates to true if and only if both operands are true. Otherwise it evaluates to false. Evaluates to true if either operand is true. Evaluates to false if and only if both operands are false. Evaluates to true if the single operand is false. Evaluates to false if the operand is true.
Examples: ((type == line) || (type == line_string)) ((level .eq. 15) .AND. (type .ne. text)) (.NOT.(color == 5)) Arithmetic Expressions The pen table language also has the standard arithmetic operators that enable you to create arithmetic expressions. All these operators are binary (except minus which is both binary and unary) and take integers and real numbers as operands. If an integer operand and a real number operand are used in the same expression, the integer is first converted to a real number and then the operation is performed. The result of an arithmetic expression is either an integer, if all the operands are integers, or a real number if any one of the operands is a real. The following are the arithmetic operators and some examples of arithmetic expressions. Negative operator + Addition operator Subtraction operator * Multiplication operator / Division operator Examples: -10 thickness * 2 color + 1 (size + 1.0)/2 List Expressions List expressions are used to determine if a string or number is in a specified list. For example, if you wanted to change the color of every element on levels 15, 23, and 45 to red, you could use the .in. (in the list of) operator and the list expression shown below. if (level .IN. 15, 23, 45) then color = "red" endif There is also the .NI. (not in the list of) operator for determining if a value is not in the list. Although integers and real numbers can exist together within a list, you cannot mix numbers and strings. Also, both operands of a list operator must be the same type. A keyword whose value is a string, such as cellname, can also be included in a list of strings. A consecutive range of numbers can be indicated with the following notation.
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number1 - number2 This construct specifies that if number1 and number2 are both integers, all integers in the range of number1 to number2 are part of the list. If either number is a real, any number greater than or equal to number1 and less than or equal to number2 is included in the list. The expressions below are examples of valid list expressions. Examples: type .IN. cell, text_node, connected_string, complex_shape level .NI. 5-10, 16, 48-53 color .IN. 1, 8, 12, 30-39 String Concatenation Operator The string concatenation operator (+) enables strings to be added together to form a single string. The operator is the same as the arithmetic addition operator, but strings and numbers cannot be used together within a single expression using the + operator. Examples: Expression A + B + C + D "A" + "Z" + "1" Con + "cat" Operator Precedence You can combine all of the operators described above to form complex expressions. In some cases, different results can be obtained depending on the order of evaluation of the expression. For example, the expression color + 3 * 5 is ambiguous. It could be interpreted as (color + 3) * 5 OR color + (3 * 5) To resolve this ambiguity, each operator has a relative precedence. When there are no parentheses to directly indicate the order of evaluation, operators with a higher precedence are evaluated before an operator of lower precedence. Operators of the same precedence are evaluated from left to right. The following list contains operators in order of precedence from highest to lowest. Operators of the same precedence are listed on the same line. .NOT. NOT /* +.IN. IN .NI. NI .EQ. EQ == .NE. NE <> .GE. GE > = .LE. LE< = .GT. GT> .LT. LT< .OR. OR || .AND. AND && It is generally a good practice to use parentheses with expressions that can be ambiguous instead of depending on precedence rules. Parentheses also make the pen table program easier to understand. Result ABCD AZ1 Concat
Statements
A pen table program is made up of a series of statements. The different types of statements provided by the pen table language use the supported keywords, expressions, and operators which enable you to resymbolize your design file. There is also a Stop statement that enables you to terminate the processing of an element in the pen table. Comments The most basic statement of the pen table language is the comment. This comment begins with the #, !, or ; character and continues to the end of the current line. Comments are used to improve a pen tables readability and to document its operation. They do not impact the operation of the pen table. Below are examples of valid
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comments within a pen table. # This is a sample comment color = "red" ; This is also a comment Assignment Statements Assignment statements in the pen table are used to modify an elements attributes. The assignment statement has the form keyword = expression where keyword is any of the keywords listed in Assignment Keywords. The data type of the expression must be compatible with the data type of the keyword. For example, assigning a string constant to an integer keyword is illegal. The following examples are legal assignment statements: Examples: ignore = .true. area_fill = false midline_joint = miter style = "dotted" thickness = weight * 0.05 If-Then-Else-Endif Statements If-then-else-endif statements are used in pen tables to determine if an element has certain attributes and to control program flow based on the results. The following are example syntaxes: if (expression) then 1 or more statements endif OR if (expression) then 1 or more statements else 1 or more statements endif OR if(expression) then 1 or more statements else if (expression) then 1 or more statements else if ... else 1 or more statements endif The expression portion of an if statement must evaluate to an integer and is typically true or false. Any nonzero value is considered true. If the expression evaluates to false, or zero, the else portion of the statement, if present, is executed. The following pen table segment makes use of the if-then-else-endif construct. Example: if (level == 23) then style = (1, 0.5) color = "green" else if (level == 45) then style = (1.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.25) area_fill = true color = "blue, sky" else style = 0 color = (0, 0, 0) endif
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Switch Statements The switch statement is similar to the if-then-else-endif statement in that it enables you to control the flow of the pen table program based on an elements attributes. The syntax for the switch statement is as follows: switch (expression) case value1 ? 1 or more statements case value2 ? 1 or more statements ... default ? 1 or more statements endswitch The switch expression is evaluated and successively compared against the values associated with the case keyword. The values (for example, value1, value2, and so forth) must be constants, constant expressions, or a numeric range. If the expression and a value are equivalent or if the expression is in the range of the value, the statements following the case statement up to the next case are executed. The optional default case is executed if the expression does not match any of the case values. The following are two examples of the switch statement: Example 1: switch (level) case 20 ? color = "blue" thickness = 0.25 case 30-40 ? color = "red" thickness = 0.3 endswitch Example 2: switch (weight) case 0-5 ? thickness = 0.25 case 6-10 ? thickness = 0.5 default ? thickness = 0.75 endswitch Stop The stop statement is used to improve the speed of pen table execution by enabling the system to avoid unnecessary comparisons. When the stop statement is executed, the pen table stops processing the current element as if IPLOT reached the end of the pen table. Any modifications to the element before the stop statement are performed. Example: if (type == ellipse) then color = 4 stop endif
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If there are any syntax errors, penck will output an error message identifying each error and the line number where the error occurred.
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angle
The angle keyword specifies the angle for element types cell, text node, ellipse, arc, and text. For other element types, the angle value is 0.0. Data Type: real number in the range of 0.0 to 360.0 Example: ! ! Change the color of text elements rotated 90 ! degrees. ! if ((type == text) and (angle == 90.0)) then color = 2 endif
area_fill
The area_fill keyword checks to see if the current element is filled. Data Type: constant (true or false) Example: ! ! Change the fill color of all filled elements. ! Do not alter elements that are not filled. ! if (area_fill == true) then fill_color = 10 endif
cellname
The cellname keyword specifies the name of the cell if the current element is a cell header or a component of a cell. For components nested within one or more cells, the cellname keyword specifies the name of the outermost cell unless the component is a nested cell header. In this case, the cellname keyword is the name of the nested cell. If the current element is not a cell header or is not a component of a cell, the value for cellname is "NO_CELL". Wildcards can be used in string comparisons of equality or inequality. Note To find the name of the innermost cell name, use the nested_cellname keyword. Data Type: string containing up to 6 characters Example: !
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! Change the color of all components of the cell ! named "border." ! if (cellname == "border") then color = (200,200,200) endif
characters
The characters keyword specifies the string contained in the element if the current element is a text element. Wildcards can be used in string comparisons of equality or inequality. Data Type: string Example 1: ! !Highlight any text strings that contain the string !School or Hospital. ! if ((type == text) and (characters ==*School*)) then color = (0,0,255) else if ((type == text) and (characters ==*Hospital*)) then color = (255,0,0) endif Example 2: ! !Removes the text "preliminary" if it appears in !"border" file. ! if ((lname=="border") and (characters=="preliminary")) then ignore_element=true endif
class
The class keyword specifies the class type of the current element. For example, the class of the current element might be used in a pen table to determine if the current element is part of a dimension or pattern. Data Type: integer in the range from 0 to 6, or one of the following constants: 0 primary 1 pattern_component 2 construction 3 dimension 4 primary_rule 5 linear_pattern 6 construction_rule Example: ! !Do not plot pattern and dimension class elements. ! if ((class == pattern_component) or (class == dimension)) then ignore_element = true endif
cls_end_width
The cls_end_width keyword tests the ending width, in master design file units, of the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. If the current element does not have an associated custom line style, the cls_end_width is 0.0. Data Type: real number
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Example: ! ! ! ! ! if Change the color of all elements using a MicroStation custom line style whose ending width is greater than 2 master design units.
cls_name
The cls_name keyword tests the name of the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. For elements without an associated custom line style, the cls_name is "NONE." Data Type: string Example: ! ! Change the color of all elements using the style. ! Assign the "origin" custom line style to all ! other elements. ! if (cls_name == { Diamond }) then color = 2 else cls_name = "origin" endif
cls_origin_width
The cls_origin_width keyword tests the starting width, in master design file units, of the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. If the current element does not have an associated custom line style, the cls_origin_width is 0.0. Data Type: real number Example: ! ! ! ! ! ! if Change the color of all elements using a MicroStation custom line style whose starting width is greater than 2 master design units.
cls_scale
The cls_scale keyword tests the scale factor applied to the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. If the current element does not have an associated custom line style, the cls_scale is 1.0. Data Type: real number Example: ! ! ! ! ! if Change the color of all elements using a MicroStation custom line style whose scale is 2.
cls_shift_distance
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The cls_shift_distance keyword tests the shift distance, in master design file units, applied to the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. If the current element does not have an associated custom line style, the cls_shift_distance is 0.0. Data Type: real number Example: ! ! ! ! ! if Change the color of all elements using a MicroStation custom line style whose shift distance is 0.5 master design units.
cls_shift_fraction
The cls_shift_fraction keyword tests the shift fraction applied to the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. If the current element does not have an associated custom line style, the cls_shift_fraction is 0.0. Data Type: real number Example: ! ! ! ! ! ! if Change the color of all elements using a MicroStation custom line style whose shift fraction is 0.25 as shown by MicroStations Line Style dialog.
color
The color keyword indicates the color index of the current element. Data Type: integer in the range from 0 to 255 Example: ! ! Area fill shapes with a color index of 1. ! if ((color == 1) and (type == shape)) then area_fill = true endif
envr_value
The envr_value keyword is used to compare the value of an IPARM environment variable which is chosen by setting the envr_variable assignment keyword. If the variable has not been set or is not a valid variable, envr_value is set to a zero-length string. Data Type: string Example: ! !Get the value of the IPARM environment variable !ARCHITECT. Find text element with characters !equal to "$Architect$" and change the text value !to "Designed by <name>" if ARCHITECT is equal to !"Owner1" or "Owner2." Otherwise, change the text !value to a blank string. ! envr_variable = "ARCHITECT"
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if((type ==text)and(characters == "$ARCHITECT$")) then if (envr_value .IN. "Owner1", "Owner2") then characters = "Designed by " + envr_value else characters = "" endif endif
file
The file keyword specifies the file attachment number for the file being processed. Typically, the master file is attachment number 0. Generating a metafile from the command line prints the filename and its attachment number for each reference file. Data Type: integer in the range from 0 to 255 Example: ! ! If the current element is in the master file ! (index of 0), change its color to 2. ! if (file == 0) then color = 2 endif
font
For text and text nodes, the font keyword contains the font number for the current element. For elements other than text and text nodes, the font number is zero. Data Type: integer in the range from 0 to 255 Example: ! ! Do not plot text elements that use font 10. ! if ((type == text) and (font == 10)) then ignore_element = true endif
font_name
For text and text nodes, the font_name contains the font name for the current element. For elements other than text and text nodes, the font name is "NO_FONT_NAME." Data Type: String Example: ! ! Change the color of all text elements ! using the "architectural" font. if ((type == text) and (font_name == architectural)) then color = gray endif
header_type
The header_type keyword determines the outermost complex header type for elements that are components of a complex element. It also determines the type of elements such as multilines and associative dimensions that are logically composed of simpler elements. If the current element is not part of a complex element, the value of the header_type keyword is the same as the elements type. Data Type: integers that correspond to valid element types or one of the following constants: assoc_dim (type 33) cell (type 2) complex_shape (type 14) connected_string (type 12)
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! ! If the current element is a component of a cell, ! change its weight to 2. ! if (header_type == cell) then weight = 2 endif Example 2: ! Change the weight of the ! lines in a dimension element, ! leaving the text unchanged. if (header_type == assoc_dim) then if (type == line) then weight = 3 endif endif
ip_scale_num
The ip_scale_num keyword gets the IPARM scale as a number. Data Type: real number Example: ! ! Plot line thickness based on the IPARM scale. ! if (ip_scale_num > 250) then !large drawing use thick lines thickness = (weight +1) * .02 else !small drawing use thinner lines thickness = (weight +1) * .01 endif
ip_xsize_num
The ip_xsize_num keyword gets the IPARM xsize as a number. Data Type: real number Example: ! ! Plot line thickness based on the IPARM xsize. ! if (ip_xsize_num > 17) then !large drawing use thick lines thickness = (weight +1) * .02 else !small drawing use thinner lines thickness = (weight +1) * .01 endif
ip_ysize_num
The ip_ysize_num keyword gets the IPARM ysize as a number. Data Type: real number
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Example: ! ! Plot line thickness based on the IPARM ysize. ! if (ip_ysize_num > 17) then !large drawing use thick lines thickness = (weight +1) * .02 else !small drawing use thinner lines thickness = (weight +1) * .01 endif
level
The level keyword contains the level number of the current element. Data Type: integer in the range from 1 - 63 Example: ! ! Set the color of the element based on its level. ! if (level == 1) then color = 1 else if (level == 2) then color = 2 endif
lname
If the current element is in a reference file, the lname keyword contains the logical name of the reference file. If the current element is in the master file, the lname keyword evaluates to an empty string (""). Wildcards can be used in string comparisons of equality or inequality. Data Type: string Example: ! ! ! ! ! ! ! if Change the weight of all elements in the reference file with the logical name of "border" to be a weight of 2. Elements in the master file and other reference files will not be changed.
nested_cellname
If the current element is a cell header or a component of a cell, the nested_cellname keyword specifies the name of the cell. For components nested within one or more cells, the nested_cellname keyword specifies the name of the innermost cell. If the current element is not a cell header or is not a component of a cell, the value for the nested_cellname keyword is "NO_CELL". Wildcards can be used in string comparisons of equality or inequality. Note To find the name of the outermost cell name, use the cellname keyword. Data Type: string that contains up to 6 characters Example: ! ! Change the weight of all components of the nested ! cell named "FRAME." ! if (nested_cellname == FRAME) then weight = 3
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endif
properties
The properties keyword provides two methods for determining if bits in the properties word of the element are set. For example, the following two relational expressions are equivalent: if(hole == true) then . . . endif if(properties == hole) then . . . endif
Data Type: one of the following constants: attributes hole locked modified new_element nonplanar nonsnappable screen_relative Example: ! ! Do not plot any element with the screen_relative ! bit set in the properties word. ! if (properties == screen_relative) then ignore_element=true endif
size
For text elements, the size keyword is the height of the text string. For all other elements, the size is the largest of the X, Y, or Z range of the element. Data Type: working units Example: ! ! ! Change the color of text elements whose height is ! greater than 4 subunits. ! if ((type == text) and (size > 0:4:0)) then color = 3 endif
style
The style keyword contains the value of the current elements line style. If the style has been set earlier in the pen table by the style keyword, then style will evaluate to the new style instead of the original style of the element. Also, if a named style or transitions have been used to set the style of an element, the style comparison keyword will not reflect this. It will evaluate to the current style index. Data Type: integer in the range from 0 to 7 Example: ! ! ! Change the color of any element not on level 1
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! that has a line style of 7. ! if ((level<>1) and (style == 7)) then color = 2 endif
tag keywords
The tag keywords check the tag data attached to the current element. If tag data is not attached to the current element, the TAG_CHARACTER keyword evaluates to "NO_TAG_CHARACTER", while TAG_INTEGER and TAG_REAL evaluate to NO_TAG_NUM. The following are brief descriptions, data types, and examples of the tag keywords. Tag_display checks to see if a particular type of tag is displayed. Tag_character tests the actual tags value. Tag_integer tests the actual tags value. Tag_real tests the actual tags value. Note Note The tag_character, tag_integer, and tag_real comparison keywords must be used with the tag_set and tag_name assignment keywords.
! ! Assuming the design file uses two tag sets, ! "Home address" and "Work address," each ! containing a character tag named "City," ! change the color of all elements whose tags ! specify a home address of "Huntsville" or a ! work address of "Madison." ! ! Start by looking for "City" tags belonging to ! the "Home address" tag set. ! tag_set = Home address tag_name = City if (tag_char == Huntsville) then color = 4 endif ! Now look for tags in the "Work address" ! tag set. Note that the tag name is still "City". tag_set = Work address if (tag_char == Madison) then color = 4 endif
text_node_number
The text_node_number comparison keyword can be used to test against the text node number of a text node complex element. Data Type: integer Example 1: ! ! ! Change the color of text associated with a specific ! text node number.
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! ! if (text_node_number eq 46) then color = 3 endif Example 2: ! !This pen table sets a plot sheet attribute !based on the characters stored in a text node element !in the design file. This sheet attribute can be used !as Digital Print Room attribute date. if (text_node_number eq 10) then envr_variable = "Author" envr_value = envr_value + " " + characters else if (text_node_number eq 11) then envr_variable = "Title" envr_value = envr_value + " " + characters endif
type
The type keyword determines the element type of the current element. Data Type: integers that correspond to valid element types, or one of the following constants: arc (type 16) line (type 3) assoc_dim(type 33) line_string (type 4) bspline_curve (type 27) multiline(type 36) bspline_surface(type 24) shape (type 6) cell (type 2) shared_cell (type 35) complex_shape (type 14) solid (type 19) connected_string (type 12) surface (type 18) curve (type 11) text (type 17) ellipse (type 15) text_node (type 7) Example: ! ! ! Change the color of lines, linestrings, and curves ! on level 1 ! ! if ((type in 3,4,11) and (level == 1)) then color = 1 endif Note To test for multiline and associative dimensioning elements, use header_type instead of type.
weight
The weight keyword contains the value of the current elements line weight. Data Type: integer in the range from 0 to 31 Example: ! ! ! Set color of element based upon its weight ! ! units = inches if (weight == 0) then color = 1
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else if (weight == color = 2 else if (weight == color = 3 else if (weight == color = 4 else if (weight == color = 5 else if (weight == color = 6 endif
width
The width keyword is valid only for 2D lines, linestrings, ellipses, arcs, and connected strings. All other elements and 3D elements have a width value of 0. The width value is extracted from the elements Z low range field and specifies the elements line width in working units as opposed to a weight value. Data Type: working units Example: ! ! Change the color of lines, linestrings, connected ! strings, arcs, and ellipses based on their width. ! units = inches if (type .in. 3,4,12,15,16) then if (width == 0:0:050) then color = 1 else if (width == 0:0:100) then color = 2 else if (width == 0:0:150) then color = (30,50,100) else if (width == 0:0:200) then color = (100,0,0) else if (width > 0:0:300) then color = (0,0,0) endif endif
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area_fill
For plotters that support polygon fill, the area_fill keyword plots closed elements as filled when set to true. Setting the assignment keywords fill_color or pattern implies setting area_fill to true. The area_fill keyword can be used to plot elements that would otherwise plot filled as outlines. Any closed element (except text) can be controlled with this keyword including closed b-spline curves, complex shapes, ellipses, and shapes. Syntax: area_fill = true area_fill = false Example: ! ! Area fill all shapes. ! if (type == shape) then area_fill = true endif
boundary_color
The boundary_color keyword is used to specify the boundary color of an area or pattern-filled polygon. Boundary_color only affects filled elements with boundary_display set to true. Syntax: boundary_color = integer (where integer is a color index in the range from 0 to 255) boundary_color = "string" (where string is a name from a color library) boundary_color = (R,G,B) (where RGB is in the range of 0 to 255) Example: ! ! Set boundary_color and boundary_display for ! shapes on level 7. !
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if ((type == shape) and (level == 7)) then area_fill = true color = blue boundary_display = true boundary_color = red endif
boundary_display
For elements that are filled in MicroStation or with the area_fill keyword in the pen table, the boundary_display keyword specifies whether the boundary of a filled polygon is plotted. The boundary_display keyword has no effect on elements that are not filled. Note Setting boundary_display to true for filled text may produce undesirable results. Syntax: boundary_display = true boundary_display = false Example: ! ! Set boundary_color and boundary_display for ! shapes on level 7. ! if ((type == shape) and (level == 7)) then area_fill = true color = blue boundary_display = true boundary_color = red endif
case_sensitive
The case_sensitive keyword determines whether the case of letters is important in string comparisons made using the characters comparison keyword. The default value is false. Syntax: case_sensitive = true case_sensitive = false Example: ! !Replace text, attrib, or mtext entity having !characters "TITLE" with all-caps title, and !replace "Title" with first letter caps title. ! case_sensitive = true if (characters == "TITLE") then characters = "FIRST FLOOR DESIGN" else if (characters == "Title") then characters = "First Floor Design" endif
characters
The characters keyword enables you to replace the string in a text element with a new string. By putting text elements in your design file to act as place holders, you can later substitute these strings with useful information such as the date the file was plotted or the design file name. If the new string is shorter than the original string, it is padded with blanks. If the new string is longer, the original string expands to accommodate the extra characters. In addition to any arbitrary string, the envr_value keyword or any of the following keywords can be used to substitute a string in the current text element. Most of these keywords represent values from the IPARM file and you can use them to label a plot. Some keywords require the ip_logical_index keyword to be set before being used.
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Keyword am_pm date day_abbreviation day_name day_number dgnspec hour hour_12 hour_24 ip_color_table ip_data_rescale ip_data_rescale_x ip_data_rescale_y ip_design ip_display
ip_environment
ip_fast
ip_feature_table
ip_fence
ip_levels
ip_mirror
ip_nodisplay
Value Time of day: am or pm. (Example: AM) Date the metafile was generated. (Example: 05-APR-1996) Three-character abbreviation of day. (Example: Fri) Full name of day. (Example: Friday) Day in numeric format. (Example: 05) File specification of the master design file. (Example: C:\MYPROJ\E1.DGN) Hour number the metafile was generated. (Example: 11) Hour number based on a 12 hour cycle. (Example: 05) Hour number based on a 24 hour cycle. (Example: 17) Color table. (Example: C:\IPLOT\MISC\COLOR.CTB) Data rescale value. (Example: 1.00000,3.00000) X value of the data rescale. (Example: 1.00000) Y value of data rescale. (Example: 3.00000) Design filename. (Example: C:\MYPROJ\PLAN.DGN) Display flags for the file attachment indicated by the keyword ip_logical_index. (Example: [CONSTRUCTION, DIMENSION, ENTER_DATA]) Environment variables stored in the IPARM file. (Example: [PROJECT=civil,REV_NUM=3.45,USER_ID]) The fast display attributes for the file specified by the ip_logical_index keyword. (Example: [CELL,FONT,REF_CLIPPING,TEXT]) The name of the attached feature table. If no feature table is associated with the job, the keyword value is NONE. (Example: C:\PROJ\SECTION.FTB) List of fence points in the IPARM file. If you have not defined a fence, the value of this keyword is NONE. (Example: [[10,10,5],[15,20,6],[20,10,5]]) List of levels that are set "on" in the file specified by the ip_logical_index keyword. (Example: [1-5,7,9,54-64]) Mirror settings stored in the IPARM file. Valid values are X, Y, BOTH, or OFF. (Example: BOTH) List of the view display attributes that
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ip_nofast
ip_origin
ip_plot_rescale
ip_queue ip_ref_filename
ip_region ip_rendering_attributes
ip_rotation
ip_scale
are disabled for the file specified by the ip_logical_index keyword. (Example: [CAMERA,POINTS,WIDTH]) List of fast view display attributes that are disabled for the file specified by the ip_logical_index keyword. (Example: [CELL,FONT,TEXT]) X and Y origin in the units specified by the ip_units keyword. (Example: 1.500000,2.000000) X origin in the units specified by ip_units. (Example: 1.500000) Y origin in the units specified by ip_units. (Example: 5.000000) Name of the pen table associated with the plot job. If no pen table is attached, the value for this keyword is NONE. (Example: C:\PROJ\E5.PEN) X and Y plot rescale values from the IPARM file. (Example: 3.000000,2.000000) X plot rescale value from the IPARM file. (Example: 3.000000) Y plot rescale value from the IPARM file. (Example: 2.000000) List of qpr options stored in the IPARM file. qpr options specified as submit qualifiers but not stored in the IPARM file are not listed. (Example: [-me]) Queue name stored in the IPARM file. (Example: hp4mv) Full file specification for the file specified by the ip_logical_index. (Example: C:\PROJ\FLOOR.DGN) The region specified in the IPARM file. (Example: [100,100,150,200]) The name of the rendering attributes file associated with the plot job. If no rendering attributes are specified, the value for this keyword is NONE. (Example: C:\REND\HPSI.RA) The rotation of the plot specified as an angle in degrees in the range from 0 to 360. (Example: 45.000000) The plot scale specified as a ratio of design units to plotter units. (Example: 4.000000:1.000000) Master file name without the directory name. (Example: FLOOR27.DGN) Color table name without directory. (Example: COLORS.TBL) Pen table name without directory. (Example: STANDARD.PEN) Feature table name without directory. (Example: DECATUR.FTB)
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ip_short_rendering_attributes ip_short_ref_filename
ip_workspace
ip_xsize ip_xysize
Rendering attributes filename without directory. (Example: DITHER.RA) Filename without directory for the file specified by the ip_logical_index. (Example: FLOOR.DGN) The plot scale specified without trailing zeroes. (Example: 1:8) Units specified for values such as size and origin. (Example: inches) Either the view name or number. (Example: 2) X, Y, and Z coordinates of the plot volume diagonal. (Example: [1000,1000,0,2000,2000,0]) The workspace name or "NONE" if there is no workspace. (Example: siteplan) X size of the plot in units specified by ip_units. (Example: 34.000000) X and Y size of the plot in the units specified by ip_units. (Example: 34.000000, 44.000000) Y size of the plot in the units specified by ip_units. (Example: 75.000000) Date in long character format. (Example: Friday, April 05, 1996) Time the metafile was generated in long time format. (Example: 11:59:17 PM) Minute the metafile was generated. (Example: 59) Three-character abbreviation of month. (Example: Apr) Full name of month. (Example: April) Number of month. (Example: 04) Sequence number of the plot in the document set while in Organizer. (Example: 1) The name of the plot name inside Organizer. (Example: border) Second number. (Example: 17) Date in numeric format. (Example: 04/05/96) Time in short time format. (Example: 11:59) Year in two digit format. (Example: 96) System date and time metafile was generated. (Example: 5-APR-1996 09:47) Time of metafile generation. (Example: 09:47) Total number of plots in the document set while in Organizer. (Example: 5) Username of user who generated the
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metafile. (Example: jdoe) Year the metafile was generated in four digit format. (Example: 1996)
(where string is any valid string or a keyword described in the previous table) Example 1: ! ! Change "preliminary" to "final" for text on ! level 10. ! if (characters == "preliminary" and type==text and level==10) then characters = "final" endif Example 2: if (characters == "PAGE") then characters = PAGE_NUMBER + "of" + TOTAL_PAGES endif Example 3: ! ! Replace the string "Project Number" with ! the actual project number stored in ! the PROJECT_NUM environment variable. ! if (characters == "Project Number") then envr_variable = "PROJECT_NUM" characters = envr_value endif Example 4: ! Substitute the queue name from the iparm file for ! the text string "$$queue$$." ! if ((type == text) and (characters == $$queue$$)) then characters = ip_queue endif ! if (characters == 4th reference filename) then ip_logical_index = ref4 characters = ip_ref_filename endif
class
The class keyword changes the class of an element. The element will not plot if the new class has been disabled in the IPARM file or by the equivalent MicroStation display flag. Syntax: class = integer (where integer is in the range from 0 to 6) class = constant (where constant is one of the following: 0 construction 1 construction_rule 2 dimension
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3 4 5 6
Example: ! ! Change construction class elements on level 5 ! to primary class elements. ! ! if ((class == construction) and (level == 5)) then class = primary endif
cls_end_width
The cls_end_width keyword sets the ending width, in master design file units, of the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. When the same value is specified for both cls_origin_width and cls_end_width, the width of the line styles "dash strokes" narrow or widen uniformly. When different values are specified for these two keywords, the dash strokes taper from the start to the end of the element. Width is an optional property of each dash stroke in a MicroStation custom line style. This keyword has no effect on line style dash strokes that do not have width as a property. Syntax: cls_end_width = real number Example: ! ! Change the width of the wide strokes in ! the "{ Wide Dash }" line style to 2 master ! design units. ! ! if (cls_name == { Wide Dash }) then cls_origin_width = 2.0 cls_end_width = 2.0 endif
cls_name
The cls_name keyword assigns a MicroStation custom line style to the current element. The line style resource file used on the plot server must contain the line style. Syntax: cls_name = string Example: ! ! Assign the "{ Diamond }" custom line ! style to all elements using line code 3. ! if (style == 3) then cls_name = { Diamond } endif
cls_origin_width
The cls_origin_width keyword sets the starting width, in master design file units, of the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. When the same value is specified for both cls_origin_width and cls_end_width, the width of the line styles "dash strokes" narrow or widen uniformly. When different values are specified for these two keywords, the dash strokes taper from the start to the end of the element. Width is an optional property of each dash stroke in a MicroStation custom line style. This keyword has no
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effect on line style dash strokes that do not have width as a property. Syntax: cls_origin_width = real number Example: ! ! Change the width of the wide strokes ! in the "{ Wide Dash }" line style to 2 master ! design units. ! if (cls_name == { Wide Dash }) then cls_origin_width = 2.0 cls_end_width = 2.0 endif
cls_scale
The cls_scale keyword scales the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. Syntax: cls_scale = real number Example: ! ! Scale all linestyles by 1/2. ! if (cls_name .ne. none) then cls_scale = 0.5 endif
cls_shift_distance
The cls_shift_distance keyword shifts the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. The shift distance is specified in master design file units. Syntax: cls_shift_distance = real number Example: ! ! Shift the linestyle origin by 1 master ! design unit. ! if (cls_name == {Batten}) then cls_shift_distance = 1.0 endif
cls_shift_fraction
The cls_shift_fraction keyword shifts the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. Syntax: cls_shift_fraction = real number Example: ! ! Shift the custom linestyle by 1/2 of the ! pattern length. ! if (cls_name .ne. none) then cls_shift_fraction = 0.5 endif
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color
The color keyword changes the current elements color for nonfilled elements. Assigning a value to color also changes the boundary color, fill color, and pattern foreground color for closed polygons if these values have not been specifically set with the boundary_color, fill_color, and pattern_color keywords. Note If a named color or RGB color is used, the color that is used for the color comparison keyword will not be changed. Specifying named colors in a pen table sets the Rendering mode for InterPlot drivers to Full color all. For information on Rendering Attributes, select Help > Attributes in the Graphical Attribute Editor. Syntax: color = integer (where integer is a color index in the range from 0 to 255) color = "string" (where string is a color name from a color library) color = (R,G,B) (where RGB is in the range of 0 to 255) Example: ! ! Change color of lines, strings, and curves using ! the various methods for defining color. ! if (type == line) then color = 1 ! Set the color to be index ! value 1. else if (type == line_string) then color = blue ! Set the color to be ! library color blue. else if (type == curve) then color = (0,0,255) ! Set the color to be RGB ! value 0,0,255. endif
endcap
The endcap keyword controls the display of end points of nonclosed elements. Endcap has the following display options: butta rectangle with no extension (the default). extendalso rectangular, but extended one-half the line width past the end of the line or curve. circlea semicircle with a radius one-half the line width. Syntax: endcap = endcap_type (where endcap_type is butt, extend, circle) Example: ! ! Specify the endcap type based on the element ! type. ! if (type == line) then endcap = butt else if (type == line_string) then endcap = extend else if (type == arc) then endcap = circle endif
envr_value
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The envr_value assignment keyword sets the current envr_variable to the specified string. This envr_variable = value pair is then written to the accounting file and can also be used as Digital Print Room attribute data. Syntax: envr_value=string Example 1: ! !This pen table sets a plot sheet attribute !based on the characters stored in text elements !in the design file. The criteria to determine which !text contains the appropriate characters is !based on MicroSation tags. tag_set=dpr tag_name=sheet if ((type eq text) and (tag_character eq drawingno)) then envr_variable = "Drawingno" envr_value = characters else if ((type eq text) and (tag_character eq title)) then envr_variable = "Title" envr_value = characters else if ((type eq text) and (tag_character eq sheetno)) then envr_variable = "Sheetno" envr_value = characters endif Example 2: ! !This pen table sets a plot sheet attribute !based on the characters stored in text elements !in the design file. The criteria to determine which !text contains the appropriate characters is !based on level. if ((type eq text) and (level eq 2)) then envr_variable = "Account" envr_value = characters else if ((type eq text) and (level eq 4)) then envr_variable = "Project" envr_value = characters else if ((type eq text) and (level eq 6)) then envr_variable = "Revision" envr_value = characters endif
envr_variable
The envr_variable assignment keyword selects the IPARM environment variable you want to use in the pen table. The Comparison keyword envr_value can be used to check the value of the variable. Syntax: envr_variable = string Example: ! !If SKIP_TEXT is defined (as anything, e.g. !"iplot mod MY_IPARM -environment = [SKIP_TEXT=1]") !in the IPARM environment, ignore text and !text_node elements. ! envr_variable = "SKIP_TEXT" if (envr_value <> "") then if (type .IN. text, text_node) then
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fill_color
The fill_color keyword sets the fill color for area filled polygons. It also specifies the background color for patterned elements. Using this keyword automatically enables area_fill. The default fill color for an element is its element color. The pattern background is transparent by default. Syntax: fill_color = integer (where integer is a color index in the range from 0 to 255) fill_color = "string" (where string is a color name from a color library) fill_color = (R,G,B) (where RGB is in the range of 0 to 255) Example: ! ! Define fill color for shapes, complex shapes, ! and ellipses. ! if (type == shape) then fill_color = 5 else if (type == complex_shape) then fill_color = blue else if (type == ellipse) then fill_color = (0,0,255) endif
font
The font keyword sets the font number for text elements. Syntax: font = integer (where integer is in the range from 0 to 255) Example: ! ! Change font for certain text strings. ! if ((type == text) and (font == 1)) then font = 2 else if ((type == text) and (font == 3)) then font = 7 endif
font_name
The font_name keyword sets the font name for text elements. Syntax: font_name = string (where string is the font name in the symbology resource file.) Example: ! ! Change font name for certain text strings. ! if ((type == text) and (font == 1)) then
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font_name = "Architectural" else if ((type == text) and (font == 3)) then font_name = "FONT060" endif
ignore_element
The ignore_element keyword determines if the element is plotted. If this keyword is set to true, the current element is not plotted. Syntax: ignore_element = true ignore_element = false Example: ! ! Do not plot text elements on level 63. ! if ((type == text) and (level == 63)) then ignore_element = true endif
ip_logical_index
The ip_logical_index keyword must be set before using the keywords ip_display, ip_nodisplay, ip_fast, ip_nofast, ip_levels, or ip_ref_filename to access reference file information. These keywords indicate display attributes and file specification for the reference file specified by the ip_logical_index keyword. Syntax: ip_logical_index = "string" (where string is a logical name for a reference file or the master file) Example: ! ! Set logical index and retrieve appropriate ! reference filename. ! if ((type == text) and (characters == $$$REFFILENAME1$$$)) then ip_logical_index = "border" characters = ip_ref_filename endif
level
The level keyword changes the level for the current element. If the new level has been disabled with the NOLEVELS qualifier or is disabled in MicroStation, the element is not plotted. Syntax: level = integer (where integer is in the range from 1 to 63) Example: ! ! Move all text to level 63. ! if (type == text) then level = 63 endif
midline_joint
The midline_joint keyword controls the display of joints for both unfilled and filled elements. If the boundary_display is disabled for a filled element, setting the midline_joint keyword has no effect. The following
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list describes the options for this keyword: miterthe corresponding edges of two segments extend to their point of intersection (the default). bevelsimilar to miter except the segments are finished with butt end caps. buttthe end of each segment displays with a rectangular joint. extendsimilar to butt except that each segment is extended by one-half its width. circledisplays a semicircle at the end of each segment. Syntax: midline_joint = midline_joint_type (where midline_joint_type is butt, bevel, extend, circle, or miter) Example: ! ! Set the midline_joint based on the reference ! file attachment number. ! if (file == 0) then ! Test for elements in the midline_joint = butt ! master file. else if (file == 1) then ! Test for elements in the midline_joint = extend ! first reference file. else if(file == 2)then ! Test for elements in the midline_joint = circle ! second reference file. else if(file == 3)then ! Test for elements in the midline_joint = miter ! third reference file. endif
pattern
The pattern keyword specifies a name of a pattern from the pattern library for pattern-filling a closed polygon. Setting the pattern keyword also sets the area_fill keyword to true. By default, the pattern will be plotted with the element color as its foreground color and a transparent background. You can use the pattern_color and fill_color keywords to modify these defaults. Note The pattern keyword is not valid for vector devices. Syntax: pattern = "string" (where string is the name of a pattern from the pattern library) Example: ! ! Area fill ellipses with the pattern stars. ! The star pattern plots white with the ! background plotting navy blue. if (type == ellipse) then pattern = stars pattern_color = white fill_color = blue, navy endif
pattern_color
The pattern_color keyword specifies the foreground color of pattern filled elements. To have any effect, a pattern must be defined. The pattern background color is set with the fill_color keyword. By default, the elements color is the pattern color and the pattern background is transparent. Syntax: pattern_color = integer (where integer is a color index in the range from 0 to 255) pattern_color = "string" (where string is a color name from a color library)
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pattern_color = (R,G,B) (where RGB is in the range of 0 to 255) Example: ! ! Area fill ellipses with the pattern stars. ! The star pattern plots white with the ! background plotting navy blue. if (type == ellipse) then pattern = stars pattern_color = white fill_color = blue, navy endif Note The pattern_color keyword is not valid for vector devices.
pen
The pen keyword selects the pen on a pen plotter. Setting this keyword is equivalent to setting the color of the current element, except that the pen number equals the color number plus 1. Syntax: pen = integer (where integer is in the range from 1 to 256) Example: ! ! Set pen number based on elements level. if (level == 1 ) then pen = 1 else if (level == 2 ) then pen = 2 else if (level == 3 ) then pen = 3 endif
priority
The priority keyword modifies the order in which elements are plotted. By default, elements are plotted in the order they appear in the design file. Using the priority keyword, low priority elements are plotted before higher priority elements so that higher priority elements are plotted on top of lower priority elements. This can be useful when plotting area-filled elements. For example, if you want a text string to plot inside a filled polygon, the text must have a higher priority than the polygon so that the text is not covered. The default priority for an element is 0. Notes The priority keyword is not valid for filled elements plotting to a vector device. The priority keyword overrides the order implied by MicroStation display update sequences. Syntax: priority = integer (where integer is in the range from -1,000,000 to 1,000,000) Example: ! ! Set priority of elements based on their color. ! if (type == shape) then area_fill = true if (color == 1) then priority = 10 else if (type == text) then !Plot text on top of the shapes. priority = 20 endif
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endif
scale
The scale keyword specifies a scale factor that is applied to elements that have a local origin, such as cells (normal and shared), arcs, ellipses, text, and text nodes. Text and text nodes are scaled about their justification point. The default scale is 1.0. Syntax: scale = real (where real is any positive real number) Example: ! ! Scale text by a factor of 1.5. ! if (type == text) then scale = 1.5 endif
screen_relative
The screen_relative keyword is used to modify the screen_relative bit in the current elements properties word. MicroStation refers to screen relative as "view independent." Syntax: screen_relative = true screen_relative = false Example: ! ! If element is a cell named LOGO, set the screen ! relative bit in the properties word. ! if ((type == cell) and (cellname == LOGO)) then screen_relative = true endif
size
The size keyword is used to modify the size of text and text node elements. Syntax: size = working units Example: ! ! Set text size for text elements on level 1. ! if ((type == text) and (level == 1)) then size = 0:0:250 endif
style
The style keyword modifies the line style of the current element. Specify a new style by assigning the element an index in the range from 0 to 7, which corresponds to one of the predefined MicroStation style types. A user-defined line style can be used by specifying the name of a line style from a line style library or by specifying a series of on and off transitions. Setting the style has no effect on area-filled or pattern-filled elements if the boundary display is not enabled. By default, the boundary display is disabled. Note If you use a named style or style definition, the line style used with the style comparison keyword does not change. Syntax:
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style = integer (where integer is a line style index in the range of 0 to 7) style = "string" (where string is a line style name in a line style library) style = line style definition (on, off, on, off...) Example: ! ! Set the elements style based on its color using ! the various methods for defining a line style. ! units = mm switch (color) case 1 ? style = 3 case 2 ? style = dashed case 3 ? style = (0.5, 0.3, 0.75, 0.3) endswitch
tags
The TAG_SET and TAG_NAME assignment keywords are used to specify tag set and tag name for later use by one of the comparison keywords. Data Types: tag_set tag_name Example: ! ! Assuming the design file uses two tag sets, ! "Home address" and "Work address," each ! containing a character tag named "City," ! change the color of all elements whose tags ! specify a home address of "Huntsville" or a ! work address of "Madison." ! ! Start by looking for "City" tags belonging to ! the "Home address" tag set. ! tag_set = Home address tag_name = City if (tag_char == Huntsville) then color = 4 endif ! Now look for tags in the "Work address" ! tag set. Note that the tag name is still "City". tag_set = Work address if (tag_char == Madison) then color = 4 endif string string
thickness
The thickness keyword specifies the line width for elements in physical units that are defined by the user instead of as a line weight. The units value stored in the IPARM file is the default for the thickness keyword, but can be modified within the pen table with the units keyword. Specifying a thickness does not change the weight used by the weight comparison keyword.
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Note You must specify the value for the thickness keyword exactly. There is no implied scaling by 1/1000 for integer values as in previous versions of IPLOT. Syntax: thickness = positive real number Example: ! ! Set line thickness based on the elements color. ! units = inches switch (color) case 1 - 5 ? thickness = 0.125 case 6 - 10 ? thickness = 0.075 default ? thickness = 0.05 endswitch
translucent
If the translucent keyword is set to true, the current element is plotted such that any elements beneath it are not completely hidden. The default value for this keyword is false. The translucent keyword only affects non-filled elements and boundaries of filled elements if the boundaries are on. Note The translucent keyword is not valid for vector devices or devices driven with Microsoft printer drivers. Syntax: translucent = true translucent = false Example: ! ! Plot elements on level 10 with heavily weighted ! red lines and allow elements underneath to ! show through. ! if (level == 10) then color = "red" weight = 10 translucent = true endif
translucent_fill
If set to true, the translucent_fill keyword specifies that the fill color for area-filled and pattern-filled elements is translucent. Both the foreground and background colors for pattern_filled elements are translucent. Elements beneath a translucent_filled element are still visible. The default value for this keyword is false. The translucent_fill keyword is not valid with vector devices or devices driven with Microsoft printer drivers. Syntax: translucent_fill = true translucent_fill = false Example: ! ! Set fill color to be translucent. ! area_fill = true translucent_fill = true fill_color = (255,0,0)
units
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The units keyword is used to specify the dimension for keywords such as thickness and line styles. Always set the units keyword at the beginning of the pen table and only set it once within a pen table. The default value for the keyword is the units value from the IPARM file. Syntax: units = units_constant (where units_constant is one of the following: centimeters (cm) millimeters (mm) meters inches feet (ft)) Example: ! ! Set line thickness to 0.5 millimeters. ! units = mm thickness = 0.5
weight
The weight keyword modifies the line weight of the current element. For filled elements, boundary_display must be enabled for this keyword to affect the element boundary. Syntax: weight = integer (where integer is in the range from 0 to 31) Example: ! ! Set line weight based on elements color. ! switch (color) case 1-10 ? weight = 2 case 11-20 ? weight = 1 default ? weight = 0 endswitch
weight_base/weight_delta
The weight_base and weight_delta keywords map line weights to physical thicknesses on the plot. Using these keywords, you can get consistent line thicknesses across various plotters. The weight_base keyword specifies the line thickness for an element of weight 0. The weight_delta keyword specifies an additional line thickness increment to add for each line weight above 0. Use the following formula to calculate line thickness using the weight_base and weight_delta keywords: plot thickness = weight_base + (element weight * weight_delta) For example, if the weight_base is 0.1 cm and weight_delta is 0.05 cm, the following values are used. Weight 0 1 2 . . . Plot Thickness 0.10 cm 0.15 cm 0.20 cm . . .
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31
1.65 cm
Note You must define the weight_base and weight_delta keywords at the beginning of the pen table. Syntax: weight_base = positive_real weight_delta = positive_real Example: ! ! Map elements line weight to a thickness on ! the plot. ! weight 0 = 0.10 mm ! weight 1 = 0.15 mm ! weight 2 = 0.20 mm ! weight 3 = 0.25 mm ! . ! . ! . ! weight 31 = 1.65 mm units = mm weight_base = 0.1 weight_delta = 0.05
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pattern = waves pattern_color = blue, light name: road def: level .eq. 3 weight .eq. 0 sym: ignore_element = .false. priority = 4 color = black thickness = 0.1 name: railroad def: level .eq. 3 weight .eq. 1 sym: ignore_element = .false. priority = 3 color = red style = dashed thickness = 0.05 Note Although feature tables are ASCII files and displayed as such in the examples in this document, you should create and modify feature tables with the feature table editor. The map plotted with this feature table has the following appearance: The base map is area-filled in green (assuming that closed elements such as shapes or complex shapes represent the base map). All bodies of water are area-filled in blue with a light blue wave pattern. All roads would be black and 0.1 inches thick. All railroads would be red and 0.05 inches thick with a dashed line style. The base map appears at the bottom of the plot. Bodies of water overlay the base map, and railroads would overlay both the base map and the bodies of water. Roads would be plotted on top of the other plotted data. Each feature defined in a feature table typically corresponds to some physical component of the object represented by the design file. In the previous example, the body of water feature corresponds to lakes and rivers in the map. Parent Features and Subfeatures The physical components of an object are often related. Several components may be specialized versions of a common component, or a component may be comprised of several subcomponents. For example, nuts and bolts are specialized types of fasteners and chairs are comprised of cushions, armrests, and legs. Feature tables enable you to describe such relationships by defining subfeatures. A subfeature is a variation or component of another feature known as the parent feature. A subfeature must possess all characteristics that define its parent, but it must also have some additional characteristics that differentiate it from its parent. For example, reconsider the previous map example. The design file contained roads and railroads on level 3 with roads having a weight of 0 and railroads having a weight of 1. You can consider roads and railroads to be two specialized versions of transportation mechanisms. Because roads and railroads share a common characteristic (both being on level 3) in the design file, you can define a transportation feature, and road and railroad subfeatures in a feature table as follows: name: transportation def: level .eq. 3 sym: ... name: transportation.road def: weight .eq. 0 sym: ... name: transportation.railroad def: weight .eq. 1 sym: ... These feature descriptions define transportation, road and railroad features as follows: Transportation mechanisms reside on level 3 in the design file. Roads, special types of transportation mechanisms, reside on level 3 and have a weight of 0.
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Railroads, another type of transportation mechanism, reside on level 3 and have a weight of 1. When defining a subfeature, you need to list only characteristics that differentiate the subfeature from its parent feature. Defining a features subfeatures enables you to control the subfeatures either individually or collectively. Using the previous feature table descriptions, you can independently symbolize roads and railroads just as if you had defined them as totally independent features. However, you can also symbolize roads and railroads together by modifying the transportation feature. If you turn off the transportation feature using the feature table editor, both roads and railroads are also turned off. If you specify that roads and railroads inherit the symbology of their parent feature, roads and railroads are modified the same way.
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Font For text and text nodes, the font keyword contains the font number for the current element. Valid values are integers between 0 and 255. Header type The Header type keyword determines the outermost complex header type for elements that are components of a complex element. You can select the value through the scrolling list. Level The level keyword contains the level number of the current element. Valid values are integers between 1 and 63. Nested cell name Specifies the name of the innermost cell. Valid values are strings. Properties Identifies miscellaneous properties of an element. You can select the value through the scrolling list. Ref attach no. Specifies the file attachment number for the file being processed. Typically, the master file is attachment number 0. Valid values are integers between 0 and 255. Ref log name Identifies the logical name of the reference file. Valid values are strings. Wildcards can be used in string comparisons of equality or inequality. An "*" matches zero or more occurrences of any character, and a "?" matches exactly one occurrence of any character. The "\" indicates that the next character is to be treated as an actual character and not as a special character. In other words, it disables the special meaning of the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) characters. Size For text elements, the size keyword is the height of the text string. For all other elements, the size is the largest of the X, Y, or Z range of the element. Type in the size in working units format, mu:su:pu (master units, subunits, positional units). Style The style keyword contains the value of the current elements line style. You can select the value through the scrolling list. Tag keywords The tag keywords check the tag data attached to the current element. Type in a string value for Tag character, an integer value for Tag integer, and a real number for Tag real. For Tag display, you can select the value through the scrolling list. Text node number Identifies the text node number of a text node complex element. Valid values are 0 and positive integers. Type The type keyword determines the element type of the current element. You can select the value through the scrolling list. Weight Identifies an elements line weight. Valid values are integers between 0 and 31. Width Identifies an elements width. Only 2D lines, linestrings, ellipses, arcs, and connected strings have an associated width. Type in the size in working units format, mu:su:pu (master units, subunits, positional units). Assigning Line Symbology The items on the Line symbology page modify the active features symbology. Feature symbology defines how elements look when they are printed.
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The parameters you can set on the Line symbology page include: Color Assigns a new color to the current entity. It also specifies the background color for patterned entities. Using this keyword automatically enables area fill. The default fill color for an entity is its entity color. The pattern background is transparent by default. You can type in a color name, a color index integer between 0 and 255, or RGB values in the format (R,G,B) where R, G, and B are integers between 0 and 255. Custom line style Assigns a MicroStation custom line style to the current element. The line style resource file used on the plot server must contain the line style. Valid values are strings. Custom line style scale Scales the MicroStation custom line style associated with the current element. Real numbers are valid values. Endcap Controls the display of end points of nonclosed elements. Endcap has the following display options: butta rectangle with no extension (the default). extendalso rectangular, but extended one-half the line width past the end of the line or curve. circlea semicircle with a radius one-half the line width. Midline joint Controls the display of joints for both unfilled and filled elements. If the boundary display is disabled for a filled element, setting the midline joint keyword has no effect. The following list describes the options for this keyword: bevelsimilar to miter except the segments are finished with butt end caps. buttthe end of each segment displays with a rectangular joint. extendsimilar to butt except that each segment is extended by one-half its width. circledisplays a semicircle at the end of each segment. miterthe corresponding edges of two segments extend to their point of intersection (the default). Style Specifies the line style for the feature. Specify a new style by assigning the element an index in the range from 0 to 7, which corresponds to one of the predefined MicroStation style types. A user-defined line style can be used by specifying the name of a line style from a line style library or by specifying a series of on and off transitions (on, off, on, off, ). Thickness The thickness keyword specifies the line width for elements in physical units that are defined by the user instead of as a line weight. The units value stored in the IPARM file is the default for the thickness keyword, but can be modified within the feature table with the units keyword. Valid values are positive real numbers. Translucency Sets the opaque or translucent attribute for the linear element. If the translucent radio button is set, the current element is plotted such that any elements beneath it are not completely hidden. The translucent keyword only affects non-filled elements and boundaries of filled elements if the boundaries are on. Weight Assigns a valid weight to the specified elements. When the line width is set to Weight, type in an integer between 0 and 31. Assigning Fill Symbology The items on the Fill symbology page modify the active feature's symbology. Feature symbology defines how elements look when they are printed. The parameters you can set on the Fill symbology page include:
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Area fill Plots closed elements as filled when set to true. Setting the assignment keywords Solid fill color or Pattern implies setting Area fill to true. The Area fill keyword can be used to plot elements that would otherwise plot filled as outlines. Any closed element can be controlled with this keyword including closed b-spline curves, complex shapes, ellipses, and shapes. Boundary color Specifies the boundary color of an area or pattern-filled polygon. Boundary color only affects filled elements with Boundary display set to true. You can type in a color name, a color index integer between 0 and 255, or RGB values in the format (R,G,B) where R, G, and B are integers between 0 and 255. Boundary display Specifies whether the boundary of a filled polygon is plotted. The Boundary display keyword has no effect on elements that are not filled. Setting Boundary display to true for filled text may produce undesirable results. You can select the value through the scrolling list. Pattern Specifies a name of a pattern from the pattern library for pattern-filling a closed polygon. Setting the Pattern keyword also sets the Area fill keyword to True. By default, the pattern will be plotted with the element color as its foreground color and a transparent background. Valid values are strings. Pattern background color Specifies the background color of pattern filled elements. The pattern background color is also set with the Solid fill color field. By default, the elements color is the pattern color and the pattern background is transparent. You can type in a color name, a color index integer between 0 and 255, or RGB values in the format (R,G,B) where R, G, and B are integers between 0 and 255. Pattern foreground color Specifies the foreground color of pattern filled elements. The pattern background color is set with the Solid fill color keyword. By default, the elements color is the pattern color and the pattern background is transparent. You can type in a color name, a color index integer between 0 and 255, or RGB values in the format (R,G,B) where R, G, and B are integers between 0 and 255. Solid fill color The Solid fill color keyword sets the fill color for area filled polygons. It also specifies the background color for patterned elements. Using this keyword automatically enables Area fill. The default fill color for an element is its element color. The pattern background is transparent by default. You can type in a color name, a color index integer between 0 and 255, or RGB values in the format (R,G,B) where R, G, and B are integers between 0 and 255. Translucency Specifies that the Solid fill color for area-filled and pattern-filled elements is translucent. Both the foreground and background colors for pattern-filled elements are translucent. Elements beneath a translucent element are still visible. Assigning Environment Variables The Environment page enables you to use environment variables in feature tables to perform text substitution and to extract data from the design file. InterPlot clients can define environment variables that can be transferred to the plot server during plot submission. These environment variable definitions are sent to the plot server along with any definitions stored in the IPARM file. The values from these environment variables can be used to replace the string in a text element with a new string. Although you can use the "Set characters to" field to replace a text entity with a new string, you should use the Edit Character Substitutions command to replace multiple text strings. The Character Substitutions command does not require a separate feature to replace each text string. You can also use environment variables in a feature table to extract data from a design file. This information is then written to the accounting file and can also be used as Digital Print Room attribute data. The parameters you can set on the Environment symbology page for text substitution include:
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Environment variable Specifies the environment variable for the current feature. If you want to replace a text string with the value of this environment variable, type envr_value in the "Set characters to" field. Set characters to Replaces the string in a text element with a new string. By putting text elements in your design file to act as place holders, you can later substitute these strings with useful information such as the date the file was plotted or the design file name. Type in envr_value to set characters to the value of the environment variable specified in the "Environment variable" field. Variable Specifies the environment variable you want to create. The text data that is extracted from the design file is associated with this variable. This information is then written to the accounting file and can also be used as Digital Print Room attribute data. Value Specifies the environment variable value. Select "characters" to set the environment variable value to the specified text string. Select "envr_value + " " + characters" to allow for string concatenation. Use the string concatenation value when extracting data from multi-line text elements, such as text nodes. Assigning Other Symbology The items on the Other symbology page modify the active features symbology. Feature symbology defines how elements look when they are printed. The parameters you can set on the Other symbology page include: Font index Sets the font number for text elements. Valid values are integers between 0 and 255. Font name Sets the font name for text elements. Valid values are strings. Inherit from parent The Inherit from parent checkbox enables the subfeature to inherit attributes from the parent feature. Priority Controls the order in which elements are plotted. By default, elements are plotted in the order they appear in the design file. Using the priority keyword, low priority elements are plotted before higher priority elements so that higher priority elements are plotted on top of lower priority elements. The default priority for an element is 0. Valid values are integers between 1,000,000 and 1,000,000. Scale Specifies a scale factor that is applied to elements that have a local origin, such as cells (normal and shared), arcs, ellipses, text, and text nodes. Text and text nodes are scaled about their justification point. The default scale is 1.0. Valid values are positive real numbers. Size Changes the size of text and text node elements. Type in the size in working units format, mu:su:pu (master units, subunits, positional units). View independent The View independent checkbox controls the rotation of view-independent elements, such as text. Global Symbology The Edit Global Symbology command enables you to set the Weight base, Weight delta, and Units for the feature table. Units The Units keyword is used to specify the dimension for keywords such as thickness and line styles. The default
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value for the keyword is the units value from the IPARM file. Weight base/Weight delta Weight base and Weight delta keywords map line weight to a physical thickness on the plot. Using these keywords, you can get consistent line thickness across various printers. The Weight base keyword specifies the line thickness for a element of weight 0. The Weight delta keyword specifies an additional line thickness increment to add for each line weight above 0. For example, if the Weight base is 0.1 cm and Weight delta is 0.05, the following values are used. Weight 0 1 2 . . 31 Priorities The Edit Priorities command enables you to set the priority for a feature. By default, elements are plotted in the order they appear in the design file. Priority determines the order in which the selected feature is plotted. Low priority features are plotted before higher priority features, so that higher priority features are plotted on top. Valid priority values range from 1,000,000 to 1,000,000. If you click the Priority column heading, the feature list will be sorted (alternating between ascending and descending order). If you click the Feature Hierarchy column heading once, the feature list will revert back to its original state, a second click inverts the feature list. Plot Thickness 0.10 cm 0.15 cm 0.20 cm . . 1.65 cm
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Special Features
The Default Feature The Default feature enables you to change the symbology of all elements not defined in the other features. The Default feature will always display in the tree, but will not be written to the file if it is empty. The Default feature cannot be deleted, moved, or renamed. Value Mapping Value Mapping enables you to map a comparison keyword to a specific assignment keyword. For example, since weight zero lines print as single pixel lines and the thickness varies depending upon the printer resolution, you may want to map line weights to a specific line thickness. Mapping weight to thickness ensures consistent line thickness across a wide range of printer resolutions. Example: Weight Thickness 0 .08 1 .16 2 .24 3 .32 4 .40 5 .48 Use the Edit New Value Mapping command to create a Value Mapping feature. Value Mapping features are added to the top of the feature list. Once a Value Mapping feature is added, you can use the Edit Modify Value Mapping command to make changes. Character Substitutions The Character substitutions command enables you to replace the string in a text element with a new string. By putting text elements in your design file to act as place holders, you can later substitute these strings with useful information such as the date the file was plotted or the design file name. Use the Edit Character Substitutions command to add a Character Substitutions feature. A Character Substitutions feature will be added to the top of the feature list. Once a Character Substitutions feature is added, you can double-click it to make changes.
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dialog boxes. Use the InterPlot Client Configure utility to set search path variables. Toggle Plotting Command The Edit - Toggle Plotting command enables you to plot or not plot a given feature. Each normal feature in the feature list has a checkbox; a check in this box specifies that the feature will plot.
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3 Select the Other symbology tab, and then type 100 in the Priority field. This will give the text a high priority so it will plot on top of the other features. Changing feature symbology for the Default Feature 1 From the Features list, select Default Feature. The Default Feature enables you to change the symbology of all elements not defined in the other features. 2 Select the Line symbology tab, and then type (200,200,200) in the Color field. A color of (200,200,200) will plot elements gray. 3 In the Line width frame, type in 4 for the Weight. 4 Select the Other symbology tab, and then type 10 in the Priority field. This will give the Default Feature a low priority so it will plot below the other features. Creating the Character Substitutions feature 1 Select Edit Character Substitutions to create a special feature. 2 In the Search String field, type in "substitute the filename here." Be sure to enclose the string in quotes. 3 In the Replace String field, select dgnspec, and then click Set. 4 In the Search String field, type in "substitute the printer name here." Be sure to enclose the string in quotes. 5 In the Replace String field, select ip_queue, and then click Set. 6 In the Search String field, type in "substitute the date here." Be sure to enclose the string in quotes. 7 In the Replace String field, select date, and then click Set. 8 Click OK to dismiss the Character Substitutions dialog. Saving the Feature Table 1 From the File menu, select Save As. Save the feature table to your favorite folder and name it LEARNDGN.FTB. 2 Select File Exit, to exit the IPLOT Feature Table Editor. Lesson 2: Changing the Appearance of a Plot In this lesson, you will learn how to attach the feature table to the design file, and preview and print the plot using InterPlot Organizer. Starting InterPlot Organizer 1 From the desktop, select Start -> Programs -> InterPlot Utilities -> InterPlot Organizer. If Organizer cannot find a printer that is capable of printing the job, an error message displays. For InterPlot Client, you must create at least one printer to a machine that has InterPlot Server installed. For InterPlot Professional, configure at least one printer or connect to a printer on an InterPlot Server node. 2 When the Welcome to InterPlot Organizer dialog box displays, click OK. Creating Plots 1 From the Create Plots dialog box, click Add. 2 Navigate to the C:\Program Files\InterPlot Client\learn or C:\Program Files\InterPlot Professional\learn folder. 3 Select the file LEARN.DGN, and then click Open. 4 To dismiss the Create Plots dialog box and add the selected file to the current plot set, click OK. Organizer loads the plot into the main window. Selecting the Feature Table 1 From Organizers main window, double-click learn. 2 From the Learn Properties dialog box, click the General tab. 3 From the General property page, click the Feature table radio button. 4 To locate the feature table named LEARNDGN.FTB, click the Browse button next to the File name edit box. Navigate to the folder you saved the feature table (LEARNDGN.FTB) into. 5 Select LEARNDGN.FTB and click Open. Maximizing the Plot Size
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1 From the Learn Properties dialog box, click the Area tab. 2 Click Fit to Element Range, and then click OK to dismiss the Fit to Element Range dialog box. 3 From the Learn Properties dialog box, click the Layout tab. 4 To maximize the plot, click Maximize. 5 To dismiss the Learn Properties dialog box, click OK. Previewing the Plot 1 To preview the plot, select File -> Print Preview. Notice that the furniture, border, and text is pure black, and the remaining elements are gray. Right-click inside the preview window to access the context menu. Use the Zoom In command to see the text in the title block. Notice that the text strings display the current design file, the current printer, and the current date. 2 In the Preview window, use the Printing the Plot 1 Select File -> Print. 2 From the Print dialog box, select the printer, and then click OK. button to close the Preview window.
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5-1
Color Libraries
You can use color libraries to change element color. Color libraries are a collection of color descriptions associated with a printer on the plot server. Each description includes a name and an RGB definition. For example: IP_CLRLB type=RGB aquamarine aquamarine, medium black blue = 0.733333, = 0.666667, = 0.000000, = 0.000000, 0.866667, 0.933333, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.666670 0.866667 0.000000 1.000000
The first line, IP_CLRLB, indicates it is a color library. The second line indicates that the colors in the library are defined by red, green, and blue intensities. Each remaining line defines a single color description consisting of a name and an RGB definition. The syntax for the color definition section is: color_name = red_value, green_value, blue_value A color name is a string of characters (31 or fewer) that may contain blanks. The first character in a color name must be alphabetic but can be followed by any displayable ASCII characters except single or double quotation marks. The numbers following the equal sign (=) are red, green, and blue intensities that define the color. Each intensity value is a real number between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 is the lowest intensity, and 1.0 is full or highest intensity. A color value denotes the intensity of the component in the color model specified in the header. To use these named colors, you must create a pen table that assigns the color names to the appropriate elements. For example, the following IPLOT pen table assigns colors to elements on levels 1 through 5: if (level .eq. 1) then color = aquamarine else if (level .eq. 2) then color = black else if (level .eq. 3) then color = blue else if (level .eq. 4) then color = blue, cadet else if (level .eq. 5) then color = blue, cornflower endif Matching Colors The colors on a plot rarely match the colors on the workstation screen. Likewise, the colors produced by one plotter rarely match those produced by another. The usual solution to this problem involves using several MicroStation color tables, one for screen display and one for each type of color plotter. Before a plot is submitted to a particular plotter, the metafile should be regenerated to ensure that it contains that plotters color table. IPLOT uses color libraries, pen tables, and feature tables to simplify the task of obtaining consistent colors across different plotters. Each InterPlot device driver includes a color library tailored to its specific plotter. All drivers color libraries contain the same color names, but the colors are defined differently for each driver to compensate for how the different plotters produce the same color. You must use a pen table or feature table to use the colors defined in color libraries. Instead of assigning a color index to an element, you assign a color name to an element. When the element is plotted, that color names RGB definition is extracted from the appropriate drivers color library and used for the plot. A metafile produced using color names instead of color indices does not need to be regenerated before it is plotted on a different device. Each time the metafile is plotted to a different device, the correct RGB intensities for that device are used automatically. Customizing a Color Library
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The color libraries delivered with each device driver contain 67 standard colors. You may want to add, modify, or delete colors from these libraries. Use the clib utility to edit color libraries. When you add or delete colors from one plotters color library, you should also add or delete those colors from all other plotters color libraries. Otherwise, a metafile with colors that look fine on one plotter may not plot correctly on another; if an element is assigned a color with a name not defined in the current plotters color library, the element is plotted in black. The Clib Utility You can edit color libraries with the clib utility. The clib utility invokes Notepad to enable you to edit the color library associated with the printer.
C:\win32app\ingr\ipshare\ipserver\bin\clib printer_name
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5-4
PLIB Utility
The plib utility is delivered with IPLOT component of InterPlot. It has a command line interface that enables you to add, copy, modify, and delete patterns from a pattern library. Syntax: plib command -qualifier=value pattern_library You can use plib in an interactive mode by typing plib pattern_library at the system prompt. At the plib prompt, key in the command and qualifier(s). The following table includes the commands used with the plib utility. You do not need to key in the entire command. The mandatory letters are underscored. Command create delete modify show add copy extract quit Description Creates a pattern library. Deletes a pattern. Modifies a pattern qualifier. Shows pattern library global information, such as number of patterns in the pattern library, or individual pattern entries. Adds a pattern. Copies a pattern. Extracts a pattern from a pattern library, and places it in a raster file. Quits the interactive mode.
The following list describes the qualifiers available with the plib utility: Qualifier -entry Description Specifies a pattern name. If you use the -name qualifier to change the name of a pattern, you must use the new pattern name with the -entry qualifier in subsequent commands. Syntax: plib command -entry=pattern_name pattern_library
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-name
Specifies the new name when the name of a pattern is being modified. Must be a string of less than 32 characters. Syntax: plib command -entry=pattern_name -name=new_name pattern_library
-size
Specifies the size of the pattern. The size is measured along the length of the pattern and must be less than four inches. (The default units are centimeters.) Syntax: plib command -entry=pattern_name -size =nnnn pattern_lib
-rotation
Specifies the pattern rotation in degrees where nnn is between 0 and 360.Syntax: plib command -entry=pattern_name -rotation=nnn pattern_lib
-origin
Specifies the pattern origin in the current units of measure. Syntax: plib command -entry=pattern_name -origin=[n,n] pattern_library
-description
Describes the pattern. Use a string of fewer than 256 characters. Syntax: plib command -entry=pattern_name -description="description" pattern_lib
-filename
Specifies a raster filename. Use this qualifier when adding a pattern to the library and when extracting a pattern from the library. Syntax: plib command -entry=pattern_name -filename=tile.tif pattern_lib
-units
Specifies the units of measure. Use any of the following values: millimeters (or mm), centimeters (or cm), inches (or in), meters (or m). The default is centimeters. Syntax: plib command -entry=pattern_name -size =nnnn -units=in pattern_lib
Note Strings must begin with an alphanumeric character and cannot contain spaces, tabs, new lines, or double quotation marks. However, if the string is surrounded by double quotation marks, the string can begin with and contain any character except new lines and double quotation marks. The following list shows the available qualifiers for each command. Command create delete modify Qualifier entry entry name size rotation origin description filename units origin entry units entry name Optional/Required required required optional optional optional optional optional optional optional optional optional optional required optional
show add
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copy extract
size rotation origin description filename units origin entry name entry filename
optional optional optional optional optional optional optional required required required required
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= (1.0) = (0.030, 0.03) = (0.062, 0.062) = (0.125, 0.062) = (0.125, 0.062, 0.03, 0.062) = (0.045, 0.045) = (0.125, 0.062, 0.03, 0.062, 0.03, 0.062) = (0.0125, 0.045, 0.062, 0.045)
IP_STYLB identifies the file as an IPLOT line style library. The first line of every line style library must contain this identifier. The second line indicates that the dash/gap transitions in the file are defined in inches. Other valid units include millimeters (mm), centimeters (cm), and meters (m). Each remaining line defines a line style. The numbers in parentheses define the lengths of the dashes and gaps that represent the style. For example, a line drawn with the long dashed line style would start with a 0.125 inch dash followed by a 0.062 inch gap, and the dash/gap pattern would repeat through the end of the line. You must use a pen table or feature table to plot design file elements with the styles defined in line style libraries. For example, the following pen table example plots all elements on Level 1 with the dash-dot line style. if (level == 1) then style = dash-dot endif MicroStations custom line styles are much more flexible and powerful than IPLOT line styles. However, the dashes and gaps in MicroStations line styles are defined in working units and will plot at varying lengths depending on the plot scale. In contrast, IPLOT line styles plot the same regardless of the plot scale because they are defined in actual units.
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Variable Definitions
Variable definitions have the following form: name=value Name is the name of an InterPlot configuration variable. Depending on the variable, value is a keyword such as true or false, a filename, a directory name, or a list of directory names delimited by semicolons (;). Spaces around the equal sign (=) are optional. Any time a value contains a space, the entire value must be quoted. In most cases, the name of the variable indicates the type of value it contains or identifies, or the user interface to which it applies. The following list includes several examples: Variables with names ending in DIR must contain a single directory name. Variables with names ending in PATH contain a directory name or a list of directory names separated by semicolons (;). Variable names with IPLOT_DLOG apply only to the IPLOT dialog box. Variable names with APLOT_DLOG apply only to the APLOT dialog box. You can use configuration variables to define other configuration variables. If a variables value contains the name of a previously-defined variable preceded by a dollar sign ($), InterPlot replaces the variable name and the $ sign with the variables value. Defining groups of related variables this way makes it easier to modify the configuration file if your system changes. Example: IP_WORK_DIR = $IP_PRODUCT_DIR\wrk You can also use percent (%) include = filename to reference another configuration file from within a configuration file. For example, for ease of administration, you could use % include to centralize the configuration file on a file server. Examples: %include = "c:\users\plotfiles\common.cfg" %include = \\serv2\plot\site.cfg
Comments
Comments are explanatory text in the configuration file. InterPlot ignores comments when it reads the file. All text to the right of a pound sign (#) is treated as a comment. Example: # This is a comment line.
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Accounting Enhancements
The InterPlot pen table language has been enhanced to enable the automatic extraction of data from MicroStation and AutoCAD files. This data is written to the accounting file. For more information, see the "How To" section of the InterPlot Reference Help version 10.0. The Accounting utility now displays the accounting data in a spreadsheet-like display. You can limit the display of the accounting file to particular fields of interest and export the data to a file suitable for importing into applications like Microsoft Excel. The Accounting file contains the following additional variables that can be used for billing purposes to more accurately determine the amount of media used: PAPER_LENGTH, PAPER_WIDTH, and PRINTED_AREA.
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Variable Definitions
Variable definitions have the following form: name=value Name is the name of an InterPlot configuration variable. Depending on the variable, value is a keyword such as true or false, a filename, a directory name, or a list of directory names delimited by semicolons (;). Spaces around the equal sign (=) are optional. Any time a value contains a space, the entire value must be quoted. In most cases, the name of the variable indicates the type of value it contains or identifies. The following list includes several examples: Variables with names ending in DIR must contain a single directory name. Variables with names ending in PATH contain a directory name or a list of directory names separated by semicolons (;). You can use configuration variables to define other configuration variables. If a variables value contains the name of a previously-defined variable preceded by a dollar sign ($), InterPlot replaces the variable name and the $ sign with the variables value. Defining groups of related variables this way makes it easier to modify the configuration file if your system changes. Example: IPLOTSRV_LINESTYLE_LIB = $IPLOTSRV_PRODUCT_DIR\resrc\system\style.plb You can also use percent (%) include = filename to reference another configuration file from within a configuration file. For example, for ease of administration, you could use % include to centralize the configuration file on a file server. Examples: %include = "c:\users\plotfiles\common.cfg" %include = \\serv2\plot\site.cfg Note InterPlot Server configuration files support UNC file names. If you use UNC file names, you may encounter security problems when processing plot jobs from client machines. To correct the problem, you must edit the registry on the machine(s) pointed to by the UNC file names in the InterPlot Server configuration files.
Comments
Comments are explanatory text in the configuration file. InterPlot ignores comments when it reads the file. All text to the right of a pound sign (#) is treated as a comment. Example: # This is a comment line.
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InterPlot Drivers
Whats New?
The following is a summary of new features: Windows 2000 Compatibility. Support for the Xerox 8825 printer. Support for the Oc 9300 and Oc 9400 II printers. Support for the following DesignJet printers, the HP DesignJet 500, HP DesignJet 800, HP DesignJet 1050, HP DesignJet 1055CM, HP DesignJet 2000CP, HP DesignJet 2500CP, HP DesignJet 3000CP, and the HP DesignJet 3500CP printers. Updated PCL/5 monochrome and PCL/5 color drivers with a user configurable resolution field. The Accounting utility now displays the accounting data in a spreadsheet-like display. You can limit the display of the accounting file to particular fields of interest and export the data to a file suitable for importing into applications like Microsoft Excel. The Accounting file also contains the following additional variables that can be used for billing purposes to more accurately determine the amount of media used: PAPER_LENGTH, PAPER_WIDTH, and PRINTED_AREA.
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System Requirements
The InterPlot Driver Pack requires certain hardware and software components to be able to run properly. Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0, Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, or Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional An Intel Pentium II processor or later 64 MB of RAM (minimum) 15 MB of available disk space for installation CD-ROM drive
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Device Attributes
After you install the InterPlot Driver Pack and add a printer, you can access the InterPlot Device Attributes dialog box and identify what media types and sizes you have installed in the various media source locations. You can also establish a default plot label for each printer, and you can set various other attributes depending upon the specific type of printer. You can also identify what action the InterPlot software should take if a media handling error occurs. For example, a media handling error occurs if a print job requests film media, but film media is not installed in the printer, or if an E-size (34x44 in.) plot is requested but only 22 inch media is installed in the printer. Device Attributes are always applied before Rendering Attributes, and Form Attributes are applied last. If you specify a plot label in the Device Attributes dialog box, and a different plot label in a Rendering Attributes file, the plot label in the Rendering Attributes file will take precedence.
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Rendering Attributes
When you create a printer, the InterPlot software associates a default set of Rendering Attributes with that printer. The default Rendering Attributes affect each plot request submitted to that printer. You can modify the default Rendering Attributes for a printer, or you can choose to override the printers default Rendering Attributes during plot submission. InterPlot applications use a Rendering Attributes file to override the printers default Rendering Attributes, while Windows applications use the Rendering Attributes button on the Advanced Document Properties dialog (Windows NT 4.0/Windows 2000), or the Graphics Property dialog (Windows 98). Rendering Attributes include Rendering options, Media source, Cutting options, Folding options, Media deposit, and other driver specific options. Rendering Attributes are applied after Device Attributes, but before Forms Attributes. If you specify an attribute (Fold: Off) in a Rendering Attributes file, and the same attribute (Fold: On) in a form, the Forms Attribute will take precedence, causing the plot to be folded.
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Forms Attributes
You can use the Forms option within the InterPlot Device Attributes dialog box to assign options to existing or custom forms. Those options defined as "Default", on the Forms Attributes dialog, will use the settings specified in the Rendering Attributes file (if submitted), or the default Rendering Attributes for the printer. Options specified with values other than "Default", will override the settings specified in the Rendering Attributes file (if submitted), or the default Rendering Attributes for the printer. For InterPlot applications, you can use the paper_size qualifier when the IPARM/APARM file is created, to specify an existing or custom form. InterPlot s Organizer interface supports the use of the paper_size option within the layout property page. Windows applications that submit print requests using the Windows printing workflow of File -> Print can select a form with the desired options defined. Forms Attributes are applied after Device and Rendering Attributes. If you specify an attribute (Fold: Off) in a Rendering Attributes file, and the same attribute (Fold: On) in a form, the forms attribute will take precedence, causing the plot to be folded. See your Windows NT documentation for creating custom forms.
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1 On the server node, access the Printers folder. Double-click the Add Printer icon to create a printer. 2 Using the appropriate InterPlot Driver Pack driver for your device, add a new printer to your system. When prompted to "Keep existing driver" or "Replace existing driver", choose "Keep existing driver." 3 Once the printer is created, you can change the default characteristics of your printing device by modifying the Device Attributes. This modification is accomplished by using the InterPlot Device Attributes dialog box. The options on this dialog box vary depending on the type of device you are using.
See Setting Device Attributes for more information about specific Device Attributes. For details on creating printers, refer to the Windows NT 4.0/Window 2000 on-line help, or visit http://support/microsoft.com/directory.
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To connect to a printer from a Windows 2000 client 1 2 3 4 5 From the Printers folder, double-click the Add Printer icon. Select the Network printer option, and then click Next. Type the printer name, or click Next to browse for a printer. Select Yes if you want this to be your default printer, then click Next. Click Finish.
Note: If the printer name that you are looking for is not in this list, verify (on the server node) that the printer is shared. For more details about connecting to printers, refer to the Windows NT 4.0/Windows 2000 on-line help, or visit http://support.microsoft.com/directory.
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8 Click Pattern Setup to change the file-naming pattern for the DPR files. 9 Click Command Setup to enter any command or utility that is to be run after the printer driver generates the DPR file. 10 Click OK to dismiss the Job Storage Definition dialog box, then click Close to dismiss the Printer Ports dialog box. 11 Click Next. 12 Select Bentley from the Manufacturers list box, and the InterPlot Organizer Printer Driver from the Printers list box, and then click Next. 13 Select Keep Existing Driver and then click Next. 14 Enter the printer name, and then click Next. 15 Click Shared, if this printer is to be shared over the network, and then click Next. 16 Click Finish.
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To execute this command, check the Execute Command check box. Then, when you print from your Windows application using the InterPlot Organizer printer, you can specify further options in the InterPlot Organizer Plot Set Options dialog. Note When using Windows 2000, you must run dcomcnfg for the orgutil command to work properly. Run dcomcnfg and click the "Default Properties" tab. In the "Default Authentication Level" list box, select Default and then click OK.
There are several ways to configure the plot set options. If you check the Invoke InterPlot Organizer check box and enter an existing plot set (*.ips) file, InterPlot Organizer is invoked and the DPR file is added to the existing plot set. If you enter a plot set file without checking the Invoke InterPlot Organizer box, the DPR file is added to the existing plot set without invoking InterPlot Organizer.
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If you check the Invoke InterPlot Organizer check box without entering a plot set file, InterPlot Organizer is invoked and the DPR file is added to a new plot set.
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* Requires Raster Manager 7.11.36.38 or later. Plotting MicroStation Raster Products with InterPlot Some setup is required for you to plot MicroStation raster products inside the InterPlot client submit interfaces. The following steps are recommended for the IPLOT Dialog Interface: Integrate InterPlot with your MicroStation raster product Configure IPLOT.CFG for the IPLOT Dialog Interface Set the resolution in the IPLOTDRV.PLT file (Optional) The following steps are recommended for InterPlot Organizer and the IPLOT Command Line interfaces: Integrate InterPlot with your MicroStation raster product Configure IPLOT.CFG for the IPLOT Command Line and Organizer interfaces Set the resolution in the IPLOTDRV.PLT file (Optional) The following sections describe in detail how to complete the above steps. Integrating InterPlot with your MicroStation Raster Product The InterPlot Client Configure utility enables you to integrate MicroStation raster products such as Descartes, Raster Manager, or Image Manager with you InterPlot product. You will need to properly integrate InterPlot with the raster product that you are using in order for MicroStation plotting to work properly. To integrate InterPlot with your raster product 1. Select Start Programs InterPlot Utilities InterPlot Client Configure. 2. Click Integrate. 3. In the MicroStation Raster Support field, select the raster product you are using. 4. Click OK twice, and then click Exit. Configuring IPLOT.CFG for the IPLOT Dialog Interface There is an IPLOT configuration variable (IPLOT_DLOG_USE_DIRECT_MODE) that has been added for the IPLOT Dialog interface when plotting raster images from Descartes, Raster Manager, and Image Manager. By default, this variable is set to AUTO. Auto mode senses if raster images are present and uses the direct mode for plots containing raster. Direct mode or "direct plotting" uses the active MicroStation process to stroke the plot to output a graphics metafile (.dpr). Direct plotting is much faster than the traditional workflow of starting up a separate background process to stroke the plot. If no raster is present, the traditional workflow is followed, creating an IPARM file, generating a metafile, and plotting it in a separate background process. In most cases, setting this variable to AUTO is appropriate. However, if you are using MicroStation Modeler you may want to set this variable to TRUE, to allow plotting of part assemblies.
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When this variable is set to FALSE, IPLOT works in its traditional mode. Configuring IPLOT.CFG for the IPLOT Command Line and Organizer Interfaces The IPLOT Command Line and InterPlot Organizer interfaces can plot raster data associated with MicroStation/J and Raster Manager (version 7.11.36.38 or later). In order to plot raster data from the command line and Organizer interfaces, you can use the InterPlot Client Configure utility to edit the IPLOT.CFG file and set the variable value for IPLOT_LOCAL_STROKE_RASTER to TRUE. IPLOT_LOCAL_STROKE_RASTER determines how IPLOT processes raster image files. When set to TRUE, IPLOT uses a newer method which relies on the MicroStation graphics engine on the client to read and manipulate image files present in the design file . When set to FALSE, IPLOT uses its older traditional method, which transfers image files to the server for processing by InterPlot Server. The default value is TRUE, meaning that IPLOT works as it does in previous releases. Use FALSE if you want Type 90 Raster Reference files to plot as they did in previous versions. FALSE is the best setting for I/RAS B and I/RAS C compatibility. Many Raster Manager files will not plot accurately with this setting. Note Be sure to use the correct workspace name. When you attach a raster file with Raster Manager, Raster Manager updates the MS_RFDIR search path to include the directory where the raster file resides. This is done so that the raster file can be found when you open the master design file. This modified MS_REFDIR is stored inside the user.ucf (user workspace configuration) file. Specifying the correct workspace enables InterPlot to locate the raster files during the plotting process. Setting the Resolution with the IPLOTDRV.PLT File By default, all image data is subsampled during the plotting to 150 dots per inch (dpi). This is adequate for color and gray scale images, but not for color line work and scanned monochrome (binary) image data. To adjust the plotting resolution, it is necessary to modify the IPLOTDRV.PLT file. This file resides in the c:\Program Files\Common Files\InterPlot\IPLOT\bin folder. The "pixel_resolution" field gives the raster resolution in dpi. For line art or monochrome data, the resolution should be increased to be equal to the printer resolution.
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Introducing ProjectWise
ProjectWise is a Bentley product that provides Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) functionality. ProjectWise provides document storage, document attribution, workflow management, controlled access, and the ability to associate applications with documents and run those applications from ProjectWise. InterPlot Organizer can access files in a ProjectWise Datasource. Users can store all of their plotting files in a ProjectWise Datasource and then access them using InterPlot Organizer as if they were on the local drive. One of the benefits for using ProjectWise is to put all of your plotting files in a central location, so that everyone has access to the same data without having to duplicate files and shares on every client machine.
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integrated with ProjectWise. Once the Associations have been made, the Program Associations dialog should look similar to the one shown below.
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By default, InterPlot Plot Set files are checked out from the ProjectWise Datasource, but the user can change this behavior inside ProjectWise Explorer using the Tools User Settings Document List Double Click Action menu item. All of the files that are referenced in an InterPlot Plot Set file are automatically copied out from the ProjectWise Datasource when the InterPlot Plot set file is invoked from ProjectWise . The files that get checked out or copied out go to an application-defined directory (dmsnnnnn) under the users ProjectWise Datasource working directory on the client machine.
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InterPlot Plot Set files that are checked out for editing in InterPlot Organizer will be updated when saved and freed for other users upon exiting. In general, all of the copied out files (design files, pen/feature tables, color tables) will track the InterPlot Plot Set file when the user performs a File Open, File New, or exits InterPlot Organizer. By default, ProjectWise Explorer does not leave a local copy when the plot set file is freed, therefore the plot set file is deleted from the working directory along with all of the files that were copied out. If the user settings are set to "Leave local copy on free," a copy of the plot set file will remain in the working directory along with all of the files that were copied out. Another useful user setting in ProjectWise Explorer is "Use up-to-date copy on copy out," provided you are leaving a local copy of all copied out files in the working directory on the client machine. For example, if you double-click a plot set file from ProjectWise to invoke InterPlot Organizer, files that were previously copied out to the working directory on the client machine will not be copied out again if they are up-to-date. Notes Two users should not use the same physical working directory (shared drive) for the same ProjectWise Datasource. There could be conflicts of files being removed while they are in use by another user. The same working directory should not be used for multiple ProjectWise Datasources. ProjectWise uses the same naming convention for all of the directories it creates under the working directory for all Datasources. Using the same working directory for multiple Datasources could result in files being overwritten. Files from multiple ProjectWise Datasources cannot be referenced in a single plot set file. The following graphic shows the relationship to files in a ProjectWise Datasource to the files checked out or copied out to the client.
The dms00054 folder on the local drive maps to the "Dave" vault in the Datasource, the dms00068 folder maps to the "dgn" vault, and the dms00069 folder maps to the "pentbls" vault.
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