Getting Started With Named Groups

Mark AndersonTechnical Mgr

Bentley Developer Network

Named Groups Came in to the product in V8.1

Used to relate elements

Similar to Graphic Groups

Flexible change propagation Programatic features

Named Groups Flexible way to group elements

Multiple Change Propagation settings Elements can be in multiple groups Groups can be in other groups Elements can be in different Models

Elements are not changed when added to a group

Named Groups Various Options for propagating change Each member can specify how:

Forward changes are propagated to other members Backward changes are propagated from other members Group changes are propagated to other groups

Options are: GroupLock only when the Group Lock is on Always regardless of the Group Lock Never do not propagate

Named Groups Standard Change Propagation

Active

Forw ard ,backward (G roupLock), G roup (never) Passive

Forw ard (never),backw ard (G roupLock), G roup (never) Custom

U ser de fined

Named Groups

1,2,3 are NamedGroup Column 4,2,5 are NamedGroup RowMove element 1:2,3 move if 1 has forward propagate and 2,3 have Backward

propagate4,5 move if 2 has group propagate and 4,5 have backward

propagate

14 2 5

3

Named GroupsExamples In Action

Demonstration in MicroStation

Named Groups API

The user view is built from the same API

MDL mdlNamedGroup_XXX functions

VBA NamedGroupElement Object NamedGroupMember Object

Named GroupsNamed Groups are stored in the design file as a Table Element

(type 110)Named Group Components are stored as Table Entry Element

(type 111)

Named GroupsThe MDL API is encapsulated in the mdlNamedGroup function

group.In this family of functions you can: Create/Modify Groups or Members Search/Query based on the Group or Member

Named GroupsTo Create a NamedGroup

mdlNamedGroup_create ( ); mdlNamedGroup_addMember ( ); mdlNamedGroup_writeToFile ( );

Named GroupsTo process through all the named groups in a file use :

mdlNamedGroup_traverseGroups ( );To process through all the Elements in a NamedGroup use:

mdlNamedGroup_traverseMembers ( );The information on the Group is accessed through:

mdlNamedGroup_getXXX functions

Named GroupsThe VBA API is encapsulated in two Objects.The NamedGroupElement is the Collection of Named Groups

Encapsultes all the housekeeping required for creating/processing NamedGroups

NamedGroupElement is the entry in the NamedGroup It contains the information on how and element behaves within

that NamedGroup

Named Groups Can be used with DisplaySets

mdlNamedGroup_addToDisplaySet mdlNamedGroup_removeDisplaySet

Named GroupsExample Applications

Circuit-VBA uses named groups to collect the components.

NamedGroupExplr creates NamedGroups and displays list of NamedGroups in the File.

Named GroupsQ & A