| Product(s): | Bentley View |
| Version(s): | V8i |
| Area: | N/A |
| Original Author: | Darius Rimasauskas, Bentley Technical Support Group |
What is Bentley View?
Bentley View extends the accessibility of engineering data for MicroStation, AutoCAD, or hybrid projects. Bentley View 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.
Sign In Error: "This Account Is Not Associated With An Organization"
This means that your Account Administrator needs to approve your access to the Organization, as of now the system doesn’t know you are part of the Organization.
You will need to contact your site administrator to have you added to the account. This is done through the User Management tool.
If you're not a member of an organization that is known to Bentley Systems, Inc. you can still use Bentley View. You'll need to install the latest version of the CONNECTION Client, which you can download from the iWare store located here
Can I redistribute Bentley View?
Bentley SELECT subscribers may redistribute Bentley View internally throughout their organization as well as externally to those with whom they share project data. Refer to your Bentley SELECT agreement for more details. All Bentley View users are required to agree to the terms of the End User License Agreement prior to the installation of Bentley View.
How do I get technical information on Bentley View?
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 Forums on Bentley Communities.
- Taking advantage of the priority services that are available through Bentley SELECT.
Which operating systems are supported by Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3)?
See the Installation Requirements section of the Bentley View Requirements for information on supported operating systems. Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) does not run on older versions of Windows, including Windows 2000, Windows 98, or Windows NT.
Will Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3)'s performance be enhanced when running on a 64-bit operating system like Windows XP x64 Edition?
Yes. While Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) is a 32-bit application, it will use all of your system's available physical memory (above the 32-bit Windows limit of 4 GB) for storing model data when running under 64-bit operating systems. This enhances Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3)'s performance particularly when working on large models if you have more than 4 GB of physical memory on your 64-bit workstation.
I have a dual-core workstation. Will Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) take advantage of multi-core or multi-processor systems?
Yes, Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) takes advantage of multi-core or multi-processor systems and performs graphics processing in a separate thread.
Where can I review the Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) End User Licensing Agreement?
The End User License Agreement is named "EULA.pdf." See the ReadMe for the default location.
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?
Although Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) 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 (Tools > Key-in). Or you can directly edit your user configuration file (/workspace/users/viewonly.ucf) with a text editor like Notepad in order to make the necessary configuration changes. If you have existing customized resources in an existing MicroStation workspace that you would like to utilize with Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3), it is much better to share that workspace with Bentley View so you can be sure to leverage all of the resources of that workspace.
How can I quickly configure Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) to share my MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) workspace?
From your existing Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) installation, copy the ...\Workspace\interfaces\View\ folder to the same ...\WorkSpace\interfaces\ folder in your MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) workspace.
Also, copy the contents of the ...\Workspace\Users\ folder (specifically, your existing .UCF files) to the ...\Workspace\Users\ folder of your existing MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) workspace.
Then, right-click on the Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) shortcut and choose Properties. In the Target field under the Shortcut tab, append " -wr" and the full path to the MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) workspace that you would like to share.
When accessing Bentley View from this shortcut, you should be able to select the appropriate User along with your desired project from the workspace.
When running Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3), while sharing a MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) workspace, I get a message window telling me it is unable to load and create various dialog items, and I have missing icons in my tasks. What is happening?
You are likely leveraging a DGN library (.dgnlib) in your shared workspace that has a task with tools that are unsupported in Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3).
You can avoid this situation by configuring your workspace so certain products use certain DGN libraries while others do not. Here are several examples of such configurations (additional information on configuration variables and configuration variable file syntax can be found in the MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries 3) Help):
# Pick up a different dgnlib per product %if defined (_MSDRAFT) MS_DGNLIBLIST > $(SOMEDIR)someFile1.dgnlib %elif defined (_BENTLEYVIEW) MS_DGNLIBLIST > $(SOMEDIR)someFile2.dgnlib %else MS_DGNLIBLIST > $(SOMEDIR)someFile3.dgnlib %endif
Or...
# Allow a dgnlib to be "overridden" by a derivative-specific dgnlib if it exists %if exists $(SOMEDIR)ACME.$(_ENGINENAME).dgnlib MS_DGNLIBLIST > $(SOMEDIR)ACME.$(_ENGINENAME).dgnlib %elif exists $(SOMEDIR)ACME.dgnlib MS_DGNLIBLIST > $(SOMEDIR)ACME.dgnlib %endif
Or...
# Only use for MicroStation %if defined (_MICROSTATION) MS_DGNLIBLIST > $(SOMEDIR)someFile1.dgnlib %endif
Where can I find my .UPF (User Preference) file?
Data that is intended to be user specific, such as user preference files and other data, is created upon Bentley View start-up in a folder in CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA\Bentley\View\8.11\. In Windows XP, this is C:\Documents and Settings\*user name*\Local Settings\Application Data\Bentley\View\8.11\. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, this is C:\Users\*user name*\AppData\Local\Bentley\View\8.11\. You can identify the corresponding folder for a particular Bentley View installation by consulting the DirectoryExplanation.txt file that is included in each folder. These files will not be removed with the Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) uninstall process. Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) also has a command line switch that tells it to delete the user preferences file and all other "state" files. To do so, start Bentley View with the command line switch -RestoreDefaults.
Does Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) support i-models?
Yes, Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) can display the graphics and properties stored in an i-model.
Does Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) support point clouds?
Yes, Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) can display point clouds.
What programming options are available?
The following table shows what options are available in Bentley Platform Products:
| Product | MDL | External DLL/EXE | VBA | MicroStation BASIC | JMDL | UCM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MicroStation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No 1 |
| MicroStation PowerDraft | Yes (runtime) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (runtime) | No |
| Bentley Redline | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Bentley View | No | No | No | No | No | No |
1. Although some User Commands (or UCMs) will still work, they are an unsupported feature of MicroStation V8. User Commands will be removed in a future release of MicroStation, and should be converted to VBA macros.
Why am I not able to open/view AutoCAD DWG 2010 files in Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 2)?
In order to view AutoCAD DWG 2010 files in Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 2), the "Bentley V8i (SELECTseries 1) - Autodesk® RealDWG™ 2010" component needs to be installed into your system. This component can be obtained by Bentley Select users from SELECTservices Online.
Why am I not able to open/view AutoCAD DWG 2013 files in Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3)?
In order to view AutoCAD DWG 2013 files in Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3), the "Bentley V8i (SELECTseries 3) - Autodesk® RealDWG™ 2013" or "Bentley V8i (SELECTseries 3) - Autodesk® RealDWG™ 2014"component needs to be installed into your system. This RealDWG component is part of Bentley View V8i (SELECTseries 3) installation, but making manual installion this component may be missing from your system. Review under Control Panel -> Programs and Features (Add/Remove Programs) if RealDWG component is installed.
As well this component can be obtained by Bentley SELECT users from SELECTservices Online.
See Also
External Links
To view AutoCAD DWG 2010 files in Bentley View V8i SELECTseries 2, the "Bentley V8i (SELECTseries 1) - Autodesk® RealDWG™ 2010" plug in needs to be installed into Bentley View V8i SELECTseries 2. This plug in can be obtained from SELECTservices Online.