Bentley View General FAQ

Index:

1. What is Bentley View V8.1?
2. Can I redistribute Bentley View V8.1?
3. When installing Bentley View I receive the following error " Can not install, systems files are out of Date" What can be done to correct this?
4. I'm the CAD Administrator at an organization that subscribes to Bentley SELECT. Although in Bentley View the MicroStation on the Web registration is optional and can be bypassed, I don't want anyone in my organization to ever see the MicroStation on the Web registration dialog. What can I do to prevent it from appearing?
5. How can I quickly configure Bentley View V8.1 to share my existing MicroStation V8 workspace?
6. I would like to modify some of my user configurations like MS_RFDIR with Bentley View, but there is no Workspace > Configuration menu item. How can I do it?
7. How do I get technical information on Bentley View?
8. What programming options are available?

Question 1: What is Bentley View V8.1?

Answer: Bentley View V8.1 extends the accessibility of engineering data for MicroStation, AutoCAD, or hybrid projects. Bentley View V8.1 is designed for casual users and enables the native viewing of both DGN and DWG drawings and models. It combines easy-to-use viewing, measuring, and printing tools with the ability to review design history for DGN files.

Question 2: Can I redistribute Bentley View V8.1?

Answer: Bentley View V8.1 is free software for purposes of redistribution by Bentley SELECT subscribers to third parties with whom they share project data, as set forth in Paragraph 9 of Exhibit B of the Bentley SELECT Program Agreement. Bentley View V8.1 users who are not active Bentley SELECT subscribers can not redistribute Bentley View.

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Question 3: When installing Bentley View I receive the following error " Can not install, systems files are out of Date" What can be done to correct this?

Answer: It could be a potential permissions problem. What may be happening is that something on the system won't allow MicroStation to write the system files in the system32 directory. Check to make sure the user has administrator permissions to write to the system32 directory.

It is also Recommended to shutdown all anti-virus, spy-blocker and ad blocking software during the install. These could be blocking the installation of the files.

Question 4: I'm the CAD Administrator at an organization that subscribes to Bentley SELECT. Although in Bentley View the MicroStation on the Web registration is optional and can be bypassed, I don't want anyone in my organization to ever see the MicroStation on the Web registration dialog. What can I do to prevent it from appearing?

Answer: Utilizing Bentley View in conjunction with SELECTserver bypasses the appearance of the Bentley View MicroStation on the Web registration dialog. In order to use Bentley View in conjunction with SELECTserver, you need to do the following:

• First, you need to obtain your SELECTserver license complete with Bentley View features. Please contact your local Bentley Sales Support group to request this license. (Please include your server serial number, server name, and the contact name and E-mail address of the person who should receive the updated SELECTserver license in this request.)
• Secondly, in Bentley View's /Program/Licensing/ directory, create a license file called bentleyview.lic. In the client license file (bentleyview.lic), add the following line:

  SERVER="YourServerName"

  SERVER must be written in uppercase letters. DO NOT use a "#" or ";" or "\\" in the server name. More information regarding setting up a client license can be found in SELECTserver's documentation.

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Question 5: How can I quickly configure Bentley View V8.1 to share my existing MicroStation V8 workspace?

Answer: From your existing Bentley View V8.1 installation, copy the /workspace/interfaces/View folder to the same /workspace/interfaces/ folder in your existing MicroStation V8 workspace.

Also, copy the contents of the /workspace/users/ directory (specifically, your existing .UCF files) to the /workspace/users directory of your existing MicroStation V8 workspace.

Right click on your Bentley View V8.1 shortcut, and choose Properties. In the Target field under the Shortcut tab, append " -wr" and the full path to the MicroStation V8 workspace that you would like to share.

(The Target field should look something like "javascript:void(null);".)

When accessing Bentley View V8.1 from this shortcut, you should be able to select the "View-only" user along with your desired project from the workspace.

Question 6: I would like to modify some of my user configurations like MS_RFDIR with Bentley View, but there is no Workspace > Configuration menu item. How can I do it?

Answer: Although Bentley View does not contain a Workspace > Configuration menu item, you can access the same dialog by keying in "mdl load cfgvars" in your key-in browser (Utilities > Key-in). Or alternatively, you can directly edit your user configuration file (/workspace/users/viewonly.ucf) with a text editor like Notepad in order to make your necessary configuration changes. Nevertheless, if you have existing customized resources in a MicroStation V8 workspace that you would like to utilize with Bentley View, it is much better to share that workspace with Bentley View so you can be sure to utilize all of the resources of that workspace.

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Question 7: How do I get technical information on Bentley View?

Answer: There are a variety of ways to obtain the latest technical information on Bentley View:

• Searching the online help delivered with the product (note that some custom installation options are not included in the online help).
• Referencing the ReadMe HTML document that is delivered in the same directory/folder as the executable for this software.
• Checking SELECTservices Online regularly for TechNotes, bulletins, and FAQs.
• Utilizing the Bentley hosted discussion groups.
• Taking advantage of the priority services that are available through Bentley SELECT.

Question 8: What programming options are available?

Answer: The following table shows what options are available in Bentley Platform Products:

1. Although some User Commands (or UCMs) will still work, they are an unsupported feature of MicroStation V8.1. User Commands will be removed in a future release of MicroStation, and should be converted to VBA macros.
   

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