Background

It can be useful to run a batch process to compress DGN files on a regular basis. The Compress File on Exit preference only executes a small sub-set of the available compress options and is no longer a recommended option (hence is set as off in our default preferences).

See MicroStation help and Compress Options for details of the available options.

To apply compression in a batch process the steps are:

1. Go to the Utilities menu > Batch Process. (See the help topic "Setting Up and Running a Batch Process" for details of the options available in this dialog.)
2. Create a new command file for your compress job (see below)
3. Add the files to be processed.
4. Click the Process icon.
5. Review the list of files to process that then appears, click the process button to execute.

Tips:

The number of files that can be processed in one job will vary with the complexity/size of the files and the power/capacity of the hardware running the job.

Command File

To create a new command file for the job click the 'Create a New Command File' icon on the right of the Batch Process dialog.

You will be prompted to save the file, choose a location in your project or company dataset so all users can access it and give it a meaningful name, e..g. BatchCompressAllOptions.txt. A text document will open containing our standard header. Add two commands, one the set the compression options, the second to execute the compression as follows:

#----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
#  Command file for batchprocess utility
#
#  This command file was originally copied from $(MS_DATA)cmdfiletemplate.txt.
#  Command file information:
#       - Lines that start with the '#' character are treated as comments and ignored.
#
#----------------------------------------------------------------------
compress options on ALL
compress design

the available options for 'compress options on/off/run/toggle' are not displayed in the fourth panel of the key-in browser. The available values are listed in the Alias column of the Compress Option dialog. In addition the 'ALL' value can be used as shown above.

Other key-in examples include:

compress options off ALL

compress options on LEVELS

compress options on ELEMENTTEMPLATES

compress options on SC_ANON

and for AECOsim Building Designer

compress options on EMPTY_FORMS

Each value must be set individually unless using 'off ALL' or 'on ALL' options.

See Also

Compress Options 

External Links

Bentley Technical Support KnowledgeBase

Bentley LEARN Server

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