MicroStation VBA Fundamentals - MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries)

EnvisionCAD – Education

MicroStation® VBA Fundamentals MicroStation® V8i (SELECTseries)

Exercise Workbook

Prepared by: EnvisionCAD Copyright © 2012

EnvisionCAD– About Us EnvisionCAD is a provider of training solutions for MicroStation® and select InRoads® products. We also use our expertise to assist organizations managing data and workflow tasks via consulting and/or outsourced CAD management roles. Additionally, we provide visualization services for design concepts and alternatives. Services include but are not limited to: Illustrations, solar studies, line-of-sight studies, and animations. We offer training at our headquarters in Madison, WI, at satellite locations around the country, on-site at your location or by virtual classrooms. For additional information about our services, prices, or training schedules, visit our website at EnvisionCAD.com or call 1-608-836-3903.

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Any student may retake any class, at any time, and for any reason without additional charge.

Bentley Systems, Inc. Bentley is a technology provider for software solutions used to design, engineer, build, and operate large constructed assets such as roadways, bridges, buildings, industrial facilities, power plants, and utility networks. Bentley's reach spans the globe, serving more than 300,000 professionals and more than 20,000 companies and organizations. To contact Bentley visit www.Bentley.com or call 1-800-BENTLEY.

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Copyright Warning: Copyright 2012 The Envision Group, Inc. dba EnvisionCAD Madison, Wisconsin. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE. All portions of this manual including printed material, electronic data, notes, and supplemental handouts, unless otherwise specified, are the exclusive property of EnvisionCAD and are protected under United States and international copyright laws. No part of this document may be reproduced, adapted, translated, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. We vigorously protect our copyright interests. By possessing this material, you agree that any infringement that you commit shall be considered a willful infringement and agree that the fair and reasonable fee for infringing use of any portion thereof shall be no less than US $5,000 for each infringement. Please note that all copies of this material, whether provided or sold, are documented and logged. Please respect our copyright protections and encourage others to do the same. These materials were generated with a considerable investment of time and effort. Illegally copying this material deprives us of the compensation necessary for us to continue to provide you with a high level of service and the means to produce additional material for your benefit. To discuss reproduction rights or to report a copyright violation or concern, E-mail [email protected], or call 1-608-836-3903.

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Trademarks MicroStation, InRoads, InRoads Site, InRoads Survey, InRoads Bridge, InRoads Storm & Sanitary, InRoads Rail, SelectCAD, GEOPAK and MX Roads are registered trademarks of Bentley Systems, Inc. AutoCAD is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Version 1.0 Dated 11/29/2012

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Introduction Welcome to MicroStation VBA Fundamentals for MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries). This course is for non-programmers to learn how to create their own MicroStation VBA macros to increase productivity for repetitive tasks and add their own commands to the MicroStation environment. The class will cover use of the VBA editor including designing VBA user forms, modules, and classes. EnvisionCAD and Bentley assume no responsibility for errors that may appear in this software or occur as a result of its use.

Document Conventions Several conventions are used throughout this document to indicate actions to be taken or to highlight important information. The conventions are as follows:

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Item

Meaning

Place Text

a command name or a file to select

Tools > Options

a command path to select – usually from a pulldown menus

Key-In

a prompt to enter data with the keyboard

Document name

italics in this style are used when referring to another document

Note:

Text information about a command or process to pay particular attention to

Emphasis

an important word or phrase

1. Numbered Steps

an action to be performed as part of a lab activities

or Data

press the data button on the mouse

or Reset

press the reset button on the mouse

or Tentative

press the tentative button on the mouse

CadInputQueue

programming code

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Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS EnvisionCAD– About Us ............................................................................. ii EnvisionCAD– Guaranteed Training ......................................................... ii Bentley Systems, Inc. .................................................................................... ii Copyright...................................................................................................... iii Limitation of Liability ................................................................................. iii Trademarks .................................................................................................. iii Introduction ................................................................................................. iv Document Conventions ............................................................................... iv

1. VBA Basics ......................................................................................1 Workspace Configuration Variables ...........................................................1 General Rules/Tips for MVBA .....................................................................1 VBA Project Manager Dialog.......................................................................2 Creating a New MVBA..................................................................................................... 2 Record a MVBA ................................................................................................................ 2 Edit the MVBA.................................................................................................................. 3 Run a MVBA ..................................................................................................................... 4 Autoload a MVBA ............................................................................................................ 4

Run a MVBA from a Key-in.........................................................................4 The VBA Editor .............................................................................................5 VBA Project Explorer ...................................................................................................... 5 Properties Window ........................................................................................................... 5 Edit Toolbar ...................................................................................................................... 6 Special Characters ............................................................................................................ 9 Using VBA Help .............................................................................................................. 10 Protecting VBA’s ............................................................................................................ 13

Message Boxes ..............................................................................................14 Lab 1 – VBA Basics .....................................................................................15 Objectives ........................................................................................................................ 15 Open the Design File ....................................................................................................... 15 Record a Macro ............................................................................................................... 15 Review the VBA Editor .................................................................................................. 17 Display a Message Box.................................................................................................... 20

2. Variables, Arrays and Collections ............................................. 23 Variables .......................................................................................................23 Declaration ...................................................................................................................... 23 Variable Naming ............................................................................................................. 23 Common VBA Data Types ............................................................................................. 24 Common MicroStation Data Types ............................................................................... 26 Constants ......................................................................................................................... 27 Scope ................................................................................................................................ 28 Enumerations .................................................................................................................. 28 Converting Between Data Types ................................................................................... 29

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Table of Contents User-Defined Types .....................................................................................29 Arrays ...........................................................................................................30 Declaration.......................................................................................................................30 Resizing ............................................................................................................................30 Checking Array Boundaries...........................................................................................30 Multi-Dimensional Arrays..............................................................................................31

Collections ....................................................................................................31 Using the With Statement ...........................................................................32 Declare all your variables ...........................................................................33 Lab 2 – Variables, Arrays and Collections ...............................................34 Objectives.........................................................................................................................34 Open the Design File .......................................................................................................34 Configure VBA to Require Variable Declaration ........................................................34 Work with different variable types................................................................................37

3. Procedures .................................................................................... 43 Subroutines ..................................................................................................43 Functions ......................................................................................................43 Optional Arguments ....................................................................................43 By Reference or By Value ...........................................................................44 Calling Subroutines and Functions ............................................................44 Lab 3- Working with Procedures ...............................................................45 Objectives.........................................................................................................................45 Open the VBA Project ....................................................................................................45 Multiple macros in a project file ....................................................................................46 Work with Public and Private Procedures ...................................................................46

4. Decision Structures and Loops ................................................... 49 Conditional Expressions .............................................................................49 Arithmetic Operators .....................................................................................................49 Comparison Operators ...................................................................................................49 Logical Operators ...........................................................................................................49

Decision Structures ......................................................................................50 If…Then Statements .......................................................................................................50 IIf Statement ....................................................................................................................51 Select Case Statements....................................................................................................52

Loops .............................................................................................................53 For...Next .........................................................................................................................53 Do…Loop .........................................................................................................................54

Lab 4 – Decision Structures and Loops .....................................................55 Objectives.........................................................................................................................55 Open the VBA File ..........................................................................................................55 Iterate through an array using For…Next loop ...........................................................56 Multiple return values from a single function call .......................................................57 Review function library ..................................................................................................59

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Table of Contents 5. User Forms ................................................................................... 61 Creating UserForms ....................................................................................61 Form Properties ...........................................................................................62 UserForm Toolbox.......................................................................................63 Select Objects .................................................................................................................. 64 Label................................................................................................................................. 64 TextBox ............................................................................................................................ 64 ComboBox ....................................................................................................................... 65 ListBox ............................................................................................................................. 65 CheckBox ......................................................................................................................... 65 OptionButton................................................................................................................... 66 Frame ............................................................................................................................... 66 CommandButton ............................................................................................................. 66

Programming Control Events ....................................................................67 Click Event ...................................................................................................................... 67 Other Control Events ..................................................................................................... 68 Verifying UserForm Text Inputs ................................................................................... 68 Interface Related Code Only .......................................................................................... 69

UserForm Management ..............................................................................70 Show ................................................................................................................................. 70 Hide .................................................................................................................................. 70 Unload .............................................................................................................................. 71 UserForms Collection ..................................................................................................... 71 Modal vs. NonModal....................................................................................................... 72

More on Message Boxes ..............................................................................73 InputBox .......................................................................................................74 Lab 5 – User Forms .....................................................................................75 Objectives ........................................................................................................................ 75 Open the VBA File .......................................................................................................... 75 Design a UserForm ......................................................................................................... 76 Program Control Events ................................................................................................ 84

6. String Manipulations .................................................................. 88 String Comparisons .....................................................................................88 Len .................................................................................................................................... 88 StrComp........................................................................................................................... 88

Conversions ..................................................................................................89 LCase$ ............................................................................................................................. 89 UCase$ ............................................................................................................................. 89 StrConv ............................................................................................................................ 89 StrReverse........................................................................................................................ 89

Search and Replace .....................................................................................90 InStr ................................................................................................................................. 90 InStrRev ........................................................................................................................... 90 Replace ............................................................................................................................. 90

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Table of Contents Split and Join ...............................................................................................91 Split ..................................................................................................................................91 Join ...................................................................................................................................91 & .......................................................................................................................................91

Trimming......................................................................................................92 Trim$................................................................................................................................92 LTrim$ .............................................................................................................................92 RTrim$ .............................................................................................................................92

Extracting Parts of a String ........................................................................93 Left$ .................................................................................................................................93 Right$ ...............................................................................................................................93 Mid$ .................................................................................................................................93

Formatting....................................................................................................93 Format$ ............................................................................................................................93

Lab 6 – String Manipulations .....................................................................94 Objectives.........................................................................................................................94 Open the VBA File ..........................................................................................................94 Update the UserForm .....................................................................................................95 Perform additional string parsing .................................................................................95

7. Interacting With MicroStation................................................... 97 CadInputQueue ...........................................................................................97 GetInput ...........................................................................................................................97 SendCommand ................................................................................................................98 SendDataPoint .................................................................................................................98 SendKeyin ........................................................................................................................98 SendLastInput .................................................................................................................99 SendReset .........................................................................................................................99 SendTentativePoint .........................................................................................................99

CommandState ............................................................................................99 LastDataPoint ..................................................................................................................99 LastView ..........................................................................................................................99 StartDefaultCommand ...................................................................................................99

Messages .....................................................................................................100 ShowCommand .............................................................................................................100 ShowError .....................................................................................................................100 ShowPrompt ..................................................................................................................100 ShowStatus.....................................................................................................................100 ShowMessage .................................................................................................................100

Tool Settings Keyins ..................................................................................101 Passing Arguments to a Macro ................................................................102 Lab 7A – Changing Elements to Bylevel Symbology .............................103 Objectives.......................................................................................................................103 Open the VBA File ........................................................................................................103 Update the Macro..........................................................................................................104

Lab 7B – Create a Print Macro ................................................................105 Page viii

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Table of Contents Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 105 Open the VBA File ........................................................................................................ 105 Review the Macros ........................................................................................................ 106 Create a UserForm ....................................................................................................... 106 Program the CommandButtons ................................................................................... 108

8. MicroStation Properties ........................................................... 109 DesignFile ...................................................................................................109 ActiveDesignFile............................................................................................................ 109

ModelReference .........................................................................................112 ActiveModelReference .................................................................................................. 112

Graphics Settings .......................................................................................115 ActiveSettings ................................................................................................................ 115

Workspace ..................................................................................................118 ActiveWorkspace .......................................................................................................... 118

Windows Settings.......................................................................................119 Lab 8A – MicroStation Settings ...............................................................120 Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 120 Open the VBA File ........................................................................................................ 120 Review the Macro ......................................................................................................... 121 Modify the Macro ......................................................................................................... 121

Lab 8B – Updated Print Macro ................................................................124 Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 124 Open the VBA File ........................................................................................................ 124 Review the Code ............................................................................................................ 125 Update the Macro ......................................................................................................... 127

9. Element Processing.................................................................... 128 Element Enumerator .................................................................................128 Build From Element Scan Criteria.............................................................................. 128 Build From Selection Set .............................................................................................. 129 Build From Fence.......................................................................................................... 129 Build From Complex Element ..................................................................................... 129 Process Element Enumerator ...................................................................................... 129

Recursion ....................................................................................................131 General Element Properties and Methods ..............................................132 IsGraphical .................................................................................................................... 132 Type ................................................................................................................................ 132 Level ............................................................................................................................... 132 Color............................................................................................................................... 132 Line Style ....................................................................................................................... 132 Line Weight ................................................................................................................... 132 DisplayPriority .............................................................................................................. 133 Transparency ................................................................................................................ 133 GraphicGroup ............................................................................................................... 133 Range ............................................................................................................................. 133

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Table of Contents ConstructVertexList .....................................................................................................133 Mirror ............................................................................................................................133 Mirror3D .......................................................................................................................133 Move ...............................................................................................................................134 Rotate .............................................................................................................................134 RotateAboutZ ................................................................................................................134 ScaleAll ..........................................................................................................................134 ScaleUniform .................................................................................................................134 Rewrite ...........................................................................................................................134 Redraw ...........................................................................................................................134

Lab 9 – Element Processing ......................................................................135 Objectives.......................................................................................................................135 Open the Design File .....................................................................................................135 Run a Macro to Select and Modify Elements .............................................................135 Modify a Macro to Select and Modify a different set of Elements............................136

10.Creating New Elements............................................................. 141 Line Elements.............................................................................................141 Arc Elements ..............................................................................................141 Ellipse Elements .........................................................................................142 Shape Elements ..........................................................................................142 Text Elements.............................................................................................142 TextNode Elements ....................................................................................142 Cell Elements .............................................................................................143 ComplexString Elements ..........................................................................143 ComplexShape Elements...........................................................................143 Lab 10 – Creating Elements .....................................................................144 Objectives.......................................................................................................................144 Open the VBA File ........................................................................................................144 Review the Macro..........................................................................................................145 Modify the Macro..........................................................................................................145

11.Autorun a VBA .......................................................................... 147 Module Containing OnProjectLoad ............................................................................147 Class Module Containing Event Handler ...................................................................148

Lab 11 – Autorun a VBA ..........................................................................149 Objectives.......................................................................................................................149 Open the Design File .....................................................................................................149 AutoLoad a Macro to run when MicroStation starts.................................................149 Configure a macro to update all dgn libraries every time a design file is opened ..152

12.Error Handling and Debugging ............................................... 155 Error Handling ..........................................................................................155 The Error Object ..........................................................................................................155 Basic Error Handling....................................................................................................156 Advanced Error Handling ............................................................................................157

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Table of Contents Other uses for On Error GoTo .................................................................................... 159

Debugging ...................................................................................................160 Debug Toolbar............................................................................................................... 160 Debug Function ............................................................................................................. 164

Lab 12 – Error Handling and Debugging ...............................................165 Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 165 Open the VBA File ........................................................................................................ 165 Trap Errors ................................................................................................................... 166 Use the Debug tools ....................................................................................................... 167

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