Overview

When working with Bentley Navigator, it is best to creating an i-model and work on this file rather than opening the model directly into Navigator. This TechNote reviews the workflow for this process as well as reviews the older ways that this was once done in the XM release. 

i-model Composer

Since the first release of Navigator into the V8i series, the publishing aspect that was once found in the XM release has since been moved into a tool call i-model Composer. This is a very basic viewer that allows the creation of i.dgn files to be used in Navigator (be it ProjectWise Navigator V8i or Bentley Navigator). When a file is published, not only will the file that was opened have an i.dgn file created for it, but so will all the files that the model is references. These i.dgn files will be placed in the same location as the file that it was created from. So if a file is opened from a folder called Composite, then the i.dgn file that is created will also be placed into that folder. If that file references files from another folder, say Piping, then the i.dgn files created from those reference files will be located in the Piping folder and not in the Composite folder. There is another feature called Package which will be reviewed later on. Some applications, such as MicroStation, have a plug-in that allows the publishing of these i.dgn files without the need to load the i-model application, but when a user is working with an application that doesn't have this plug-in, such as AutoCAD or AutoPLANT, then there is a need for the i-model Composer application.

Publishing an i.dgn in i-model Composer

The steps in publishing an i-.dgn file are pretty much the same as they were back when publishing was done in ProjectWise Navigator XM. Below one will see the basic steps in doing this-

1. Open i-model Composer
2. At the 'File Open' dialog, select the desired User, Project and Interface. In the example below, an AutoPLANT documents is being used so the AutoPlant project is selected. More is mentioned about the Project option below 
3. Select the document to be published and hit Open
4. Press the 'Publish i-model' button to bring up the 'Publish i-model' dialog
5.  Here, one can tell the application how to publish the i-model(s). The options are as follows
   1. Force republishing of all files - typically, if an i-model has already been created, the program will only publish the i-model again if the original file has had any changes since the last time it was published. This helps save time during the publishing of large files. Checking this option tells the program to republish those files even if they don't need it. This is helpful if the publish doesn't update an i-model when the original model has changed.
   2. Create a package - creates a package which is one file that contains all the models created during the publishing process. This includes all the files that are being references in the current opened file. Think of it like an i-model that has had all the reference models attached to it. Another way of looking at it is like a zip file. When this option is checked a number of other options become available.
      1. Package - this is the name of the package. Also, clicking on the magnify glass will allow the directory that the package will be placed into to be specified.
      2. Protection - allows a password to be placed on the package
      3. Rights - allows the setting of what can and can't be done to the package
      4. Expire - sets a date that the package will no longer work. This is helpful for when it is known that the project will be updated at a later date and to make it so that the older package isn't mistaken for the most resent updates
6. Once the desired options are selected, press the OK button to publish the file(s)
7. The progress will be shown at the bottom right corner of the application and once the process is complete, it will report the results in the Message are at the bottom middle of the application

The Project section in the Open File dialog basically sets up the program to use certain options when loading. It is recommended to use the Project that the document was created in. When opening an AutoPLANT P&ID, use either the AutoPLANT project or the AutoPLANT PIW project. Below is an image that shows all the options that can be selected for the Project.

Notes about AutoPLANT with Navigator/i-model Composer

AutoPLANT models can be saved in either the Project Mode or Briefcase Mode format. In either case, a snapshot of the project data is saved in the drawing file. However, the project data can be modified independently of the drawing. If a project is saved in Project Mode, then the AutoPLANT provider attempts to connect to the project in order to retrieve the project data. If unable to connect to the project, then AutoPLANT reverts to using the snapshot of the project data stored in the drawing file. If this happens, a warning message displays: "Warning: Unable to locate project root. Component data reflects the status of the project at the time the drawing was last saved." This was more of an issue with the XM release.

If the sample data is saved in Briefcase Mode and not in Project Mode, the data is read directly from the drawing and no warning is issued.

The AutoPLANT project that is delivered with Bentley Navigator, ProjectWise Navigator V8i and ProjectWise Navigator XM supports AutoPLANT versions 2.01, 3.0, 8.5, 8.6, XM and V8i.

Opening a published file

After the i.dgn file is created, it can be opened up in Navigator. When an i-model is opened in Navigator, Navigator will actually create a new file called an Overlay file. Think of the Overlay file like a composite file that has the i-models as references in it. The creation of the Overlay file allows things to be done, such as Markups, generating views , clash detection, animations, etc… then saved to the Overlay and not the i-model itself. This makes it so that those things are lost when the i-model is republished due to changes to the original model. The Overlay file will need to be saved by the user when it is first worked on to be placed into the folder. It is typically placed into the same folder as the i.dgn file that it points to. After the Overlay is saved, one can load up the Overlay from Navigator whenever they need to work on it.

When opening the i.dgn file, it will load up an Overlay file of the same name. It will not save this file until the program is told to, but if one already created an Overlay, it will report that the file already exists when it is being saved and allow the name to be changed. It is a good idea to make sure that those who are working in Navigator are aware if there is an Overlay file already made for an i-model. If a user isn't aware of this and opens the i-model instead any changes they make to that new Overlay will either need to be saved to a new file or override the old one. If all the work needs to be done in one file, then that work will need to be redone in the original Overlay file. Be sure to take care when working with Overlays.

ProjectWise with Navigator

The newer releases of both ProjectWise and Bentley Navigator make it a bit easier to work with Navigator files in ProjectWise. Usually, the user will just need to right click on the original file, select Open With… and then select i-model Composer. From there, they can publish the file, which will be placed in the same folder/project in ProjectWise as the original file. The i.dgn file can then be opened up using Navigator, which will load up the Overlay. When saving the Overlay, the ProjectWise dialog 'Select a Wizard' will appear. It will then allow you to save the file to ProjectWise. If cancel is hit, it will switch to the normal Save dialog which will allow the file to be saved locally, but the local copy will not be able to find the i-models since they are in ProjectWise. They will need to be copied out to work.

When opening an existing Overlay, it will load like normal in Navigator. The main difference that will be seen is that when the file is saved, the wizard will not appear. Also, when the program is closed, it will prompt ProjectWise Check in dialog. 

Note about ProjectWise Navigator XM

In ProjectWise Navigator XM, the publishing was done within the application itself instead of in a second application like i-model Composer. The process for publishing a file is the same but it is all done in one application. There are some tricks in getting the publish to work in the XM release that are a bit different. Below are some steps on getting the component data to appear in XM for AutoPLANT XM documents. The first half goes over how to do it with a ProjectWise integrated Project while the second have shows how to do it in a normal project. 

For ProjectWise Integrated Projects

1. Load model in Navigator 8.9.5.70 from within PW Explorer making sure that the AutoPLANT PIW or AutoPLANT workspace was used depending on model source.
2. Once Navigator is loaded go to File->Navigate->Components. This loads the component tab and gets it ready.
3. Go to components tab hit VIEW COMPONENTS button.
4. Select the PROJECT ROOT folder for AutoPLANT Project in question. Note: This is not the project folder, or the folder where the model is kept. This must be the project root folder, such as C:\Bentley Plant XM Projects\Note: The Bentley Navigator icon in PW must be set to use the correct workspace and Project for the data to come through correctly. If no Workspace is set in PW, Navigator will use the last used workspace which may or may not be the correct one for AutoPLANT.
5. When the project selection dialog comes up, Select AutoPLANT project in question. 
6. Data is culled from project and viewable in component data tree.

If this is a non-ProjectWise Project or traditional AutoPLANT project:

1. Load Drawing into Navigator 8.9.5.70 making sure that the AutoPLANT PIW AutoPLANT PIW or AutoPLANT workspace was used depending on model source.
2. Once Navigator is loaded go to File->Navigate->Components. This loads the component tab and gets it ready.
3. Go to components tab hit VIEW COMPONENTS button.
4. Data is culled from project and viewable in component data tree.

See also

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