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MMLC UPDATE -- May 11, 2000 Minnesota MicroStation Local Community
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__________CONTENTS_________________________________________________

o   Current News
o   Next meeting date, time & location
o   Minutes of the last meeting
o   MicroStation Tip of the Month
o   Unsubscribe information
o   MMLC Officers contact information

_________CURRENT NEWS______________________________________________

The MS/J 7.1.1 Service Pack or Upgrade is available on the Select
Stream. Here's what's new:

    New
  o A2K support is included in the DWG import and export
applications.
  o Officially certified for use on Windows 2000.
  o Ready to use with Version 7.1 editions of MicroStation
GeoGraphics
    and MicroStation Schematics.

    Changed
  o An update to the Raster Reference file application (Affine and
    Helmert image modification functions are included).
  o A GUI update to 3D Modify Tool Settings (with accompanying
    documentation).
  o Update solid/surface modeling engine to Parasolid v11.1
  o Please refer to the Resolved Issues Search Tool for more
    information on resolved issues

-------------------

Bentley Takes a Bite of Intergraph [upFront.eZine NEWS #199]

   Announced late last week, Bentley will acquire three of
Intergraph's
   product lines:
   MicroStation-based civil engineering:
     InRoads, InRail, and site, survey, bridge, storm and sanitary
     applications.
   Networked plotserver software: InterPlot and Digital Print Room.
   Raster conversion product lines: I/RAS B and I/RAS Engineer.

   In turn, Intergraph:
   o Becomes a Bentley OEM.
   o Sells and supports MicroStation/J and ProjectBank as the
platform
     for certain Intergraph vertical products.
   o Sells and supports other Bentley products as parts of its
vertical
     solutions.
   o Transfers Intergraph technical and sales staff to Bentley.

   The purpose of the software swap is to let both companies
   concentrate what each does best. The deal is said to be worth
US$42
   million, but isn't expected to be completed until 3Q00.

-------------------

Bentley enters ASP fray with Viecon.com [upFront.eZine NEWS #200]

   This week at the Forbes "E-Business in the Construction Industry"
   conference, Bentley announced Viecon.Com. The Viecon press release
   explains the new acronym: E/C/O is short for Engineering/
   Construction/ Operations. E/C/O is defined as "a network of
   companies and individuals pulling their economic and intellectual
   resources to maximize profit throughout an asset's life cycle."

   Viecon consists of three parts:

   o www.viecon.com is the project extranet hosting service.
   o Licensing of Bentley software over the Internet on a by-person,
     by-project, and by-month basis.
   o A local version, called Viecon Platforms, for creating your own
     private network.

   Viecon uses a combination of Bentley-developed technology,
including
   ProjectBank (queries project data at the component level), aecXML
   (direct machine-to-machine queries), and ProjectWise (engineering
   information management).

   Bentley says that its "Viecon strategy is light years ahead of
other
   Internet approaches in the functions it allows users to perform."

   The http://www.viecon.com site won't be operating until this
summer
   In the meantime, the site gives you a tour (in HTML or Flash) of
   what Bentley proposes to place there. Once the site is up and
   running, registration is limited to members of Bentley's Select
   software subscription service.

_________NEXT MONTH'S MEETING DATE/TIME/LOCATION____________________

DATE:       May 16th, 2000
TIME:       5:00 to 7:00 PM

LOCATION:   MTS Systems, Eden Prairie

DIRECTIONS: Take 494 to State Highway 5 West (Chanhassen). At
             traffic lights, turn left onto Mitchell Road. Turn
             left onto Technology Drive at traffic lights. The
             MTS visitor entrance is the second MTS driveway
             on the left with the large MTS sign.

             The address is 14000 Technology Drive and the phone
             number for directions is 952-937-4000.

             You may want to check w/ Mike Yoho because there is
             still a lot of construction going on there.

May's meeting will be hosted by Mike Yoho at MTS. Mike Yoho will be
giving us a presentation on Workspaces, and what's new with 7.1.

We hope to see all of you there! Please feel free to contact any of
us
for further directions (if needed), to RSVP, or just show up.
Everyone's welcome!!!

Note: We are generally alternating the times between a 4 pm and a 5
pm
start to give you more flexibility in attending. If the 4 pm time is
too early (in other words, your boss won't let you off early), then
the 5 pm start time may be more convenient for you.

_________MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING_______________________________

DATE:      April 18, 2000
TIME:      4:00 to 6:00 PM

HOST:      SEH Inc.
LOCATION:  SEH Conferance Room

ATTENDEES: Dave Dickson, Cindi Olichwier, Dean Sturgis, Pam Jones,
            Kim Midthun, Leslie Van Drasek, Mike Yoho, Gary French,
            Steve Stewart, Tom Ferry.

TOPIC:     Discoveries w/ linking Excel and MicroStation; Project
Bank

Meeting opened at 4:00.

There were some discoveries since the previous meeting about linking
Excel to MicroStation.  Linking in MicroStation 7.1 has become
easier;
however, there are still some problems with batch plotting in
MicroStation 7.0.

You are also unable to edit tab names in Excel or the link will be
lost.

There was a short discussion on Project Bank.

After deciding on next month's meeting locaton, we adjourned the
meeting at @ 6:00 pm.

_________MICROSTATION TIP OF THE MONTH_____________________________

[From the comp.cad.microstation newsgroup]

Q. I recall reading how to have a keyin script wait for mouse input.
    Does anyone recall how this is done?

A. ;/d will pause for a data point

The following example will access a tree cell (providing the right
cell library is attached), select the place cell command, wait for
you
to place a data point where you want the cell to be placed, then
place
you in the multi-line note command with the leader pointing to the
origin of the cell:

ac=tree;place cell;/d;place note multi;dx=0

;/k will pause for a key-in

% instead of / will disable MicroStation's message field and allow
you
to insert your on message prompts.

For more information on tricks like "/d" see MicroStation help.  In
SE, just use Search>Find, and key in "action" in field #1.  In field
#3, click on "Action Strings" and then click the "Display" button at
the bottom of the dialog.

---

If you have any tips to share with us here, please send them in and
we
will publish the best one next month.

_________UNSUBSCRIBE INFORMATION___________________________________

If for any reason you don't wish to continue to receive future
newsletters or e-mails from us, please send an email (or just reply
to
this email) to:

     mmlc_mail@yahoo.com

You don't have to write anything except 'unsubscribe' in the Subject
or Body. If you want to explain why, please feel free, otherwise it's
no problem, we understand.

If you know of anyone who has moved away or is not using MicroStation
professionally anymore, please contact us.

_________MMLC OFFICERS CONTACT INFORMATION_________________________

If you want to contact one of MMLC's current Officers:

   Chair:      Dave Dickson      ddickson@sehinc.com
   Vice Chair: Dean Sturgis      dean.sturgis@dot.state.mn.us
   Secretary:  Scott Ornat       sornat@ci.minnetonka.mn.us
   Treasurer:  Cindi Olichwier   colichwier@srfconsulting.com
   Web Design: Pam Jones         PJones@HNTB.com

For general questions regarding MMLC, please send email to our
Official Web-Mail address at:

     mmlc_mail@yahoo.com

Remember to check the MMLC Website: