| Product: | MicroStation PowerDraft | ||
| Version: | V8 2004 Edition | ||
| Environment: | N\A | ||
| Area: | FAQ | ||
| Subarea: | N/A |
Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition can be operated on various commercial versions of Microsoft Windows® running on Intel Pentium-based and AMD Athlon-based computers and workstations.
Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition supports node-locked licensing as well as license pooling using SELECTserver.
The license file name is draftv8.lic and it is saved to the Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition licensing folder which by default is C:\Program Files\Bentley\Program\Licensing.
Yes, if you are using SELECTserver licensing and have it appropriately configured, you can check out a license in Bentley PowerDraft via Utilities > License Check Out/In or via the key-in MDL SILENTLOAD LICNSAPP.
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.
In Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition, the user preference "Enter into Untitled Design" is on by default. To turn off the user preference, go to Workspace > Preferences > Operation and turn off the "Enter into Untitled Design." Turning off this preference causes MicroStation Manager to open when you initially go into Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition.
Changes were indeed made to the Default interface of Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition. A Common Tools tool box was added that includes the most popular tools. The display of the less popular tools was hidden in other tool boxes. In order to re-display any of those tools, right click on the particular tool box, and turn on the tool that you wish to display in that tool box. If you want to revert to the older Bentley PowerDraft interface, select Classic from the MicroStation Manager dialog's Interface drop-down list.
Please note that the Bentley PowerDraft Help documents Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition in its entirety.
From your existing Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition installation, copy the ...\Workspace\interfaces\PowerDraft\ folder to the same ...\Workspace\interfaces\ folder in your existing MicroStation V8 workspace.
Then, right click on the Bentley PowerDraft 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 PowerDraft from this shortcut, you should be able to select the appropriate User along with your desired project from the workspace.
Due to the fact that significant new functionality is often added to the user preferences, the format of user preference files typically changes from edition to edition. Using an older file may produce unexpected results, so you cannot reuse your user preference files from a previous version. If Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition detects a user preference from a previous edition, it generates a new file.
Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition's HPGL drivers and plotter configuration files can be found in the ..\PlotDrv\Unsupported\ folder. No further updates or enhancements will be made to them. At some point in the future, they will no longer be delivered with Bentley PowerDraft.
Although the necessity for keyed-in input is being de-emphasized given the graphical nature of Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition's user interface, access to key-ins has not been completely removed from the product. The key-in browser can be activated from the Utilities > Key-In pull down menu. The dialog can be docked to the top or bottom of the screen. It can also be expanded to show Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition's command table and keyed-in command history for easy access to less frequently used tools.
The following table shows what options are available in Bentley Platform Products:
Product MDLExternal DLL/EXE|VBA|MicroStation|BASIC|JMDL|UCM
| MicroStation V8 2004 Edition | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No 1 |
| Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition | Yes (runtime) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (runtime) | No |
| Bentley Redline 2004 Edition | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Bentley View 2004 Edition | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Yes. Dual screen graphics are supported with vendor-supplied drivers for Windows NT 4. Multi-monitor configurations are supported with Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 98.
Some of the abilities of MicroStation BASIC are not accessible from Bentley PowerDraft 2004 Edition, since Bentley PowerDraft does not have the same functionality as other Bentley engineering products. Some of the object functions, properties, etc., that are not supported in this product will not work in MicroStation BASIC when used in Bentley PowerDraft. Please refer to the MicroStation BASIC documentation for additional information.
As a Select customer, you can download the Bentley PowerDraft Database Server from the Web Downloads section of SELECTservices site. This enables Bentley PowerDraft to connect to the supported databases for MicroStation listed in .
Yes. Bentley PowerDraft and the Bentley PowerDraft Database Server must be installed. You must download the Bentley Oracle 9i Client from the Web Downloads section of the SELECTservices site. This assumes that the client machine has Oracle 9i client files (obtained from Oracle) installed and configured correctly.
We are always open to new ideas that are considered beneficial to the Bentley PowerDraft community. The most efficient mechanisms to contribute changes are either by email (change.request@bentley.com) or by submitting a change request using the online form for SELECT subscribers located at http://selectservices.bentley.com/interactivesupport/index.htm. You can also contact our worldwide support group with your ideas and suggestions. (Note: Sometimes a fax is the best way to illustrate an idea.)
We cannot guarantee that every change request or idea we receive will be implemented. However, a great deal of consideration is given to each request. We investigate every possible option to find a way to implement requests that will benefit the entire user community.
There are a variety of ways to get the latest technical information on Bentley PowerDraft and other Bentley products. They include:
MicroStation Desktop TechNotes and FAQs
Bentley Technical Support KnowledgeBase
Bentley's Technical Support Group requests that you please confine any comments you have on this Wiki entry to this "Comments or Corrections?" section. THANK YOU!