For a long time we have been able to edit MicroStation cells by right-clicking and picking 'Open for Editing'. Editing other resources can involve repetitive navigation to locations in the Project/WorkSet or Workspace/Configuration. We have a couple of key-in structures that can help to avoid these repetitive steps.
1. Open a location in Windows Explorer
key-in: $ %explorer $(<variableName>)
- '$' instructs that any subsequent configuration variables should be expanded
- '$explorer' instructs open in Windows Explorer
- '$(<variableName>)' specifies the path to the folder that should be opened. This could be a hard-coded path when used as a one-off key-in but must be a variable if used to drive a custom tool to avid errors when the hard-coded path is not present.
e..g.: $ %explorer $(_USTN_OUT)
2. Open a text file for editing in Notepad++
This is identical to the previous example except that '%notepad++' specifies Notepad++ as the target application to open the file.
e.g: $ %notepad++ $(_USTN_PROJECTCFG)
This example for V8i will open the Project Configuration File
The CONNECT Edition equivalent would be:
$ %notepad++ $(_USTN_WORKSETCFG)
3. Open a file in MicroStation
The syntax is similar but here the 'newfile' command is used to open the specified file in MicroStation (or the current MicroStation based application)
e.g.: $ newfile $(BB_GRID_TEMPLATE_DGNLIB)
Apply to Custom Tools
These key-ins can be appied to custom tools that can then be added to V8i Menus or Toolboxes or to the CONNECT Edition Ribbon:
Note that this example has a custom Named expression applied that hides the tool unless AECOsim Building Designer is the current application.