Q How do I tell MicroStation® to look in a particular Windows folder for design files?
A MicroStation uses configuration variables (CfgVars) to specify locations for files. Some CfgVars are assigned automatically when MicroStation starts up. Other CfgVars are defined in your configuration files and are processed as MicroStation starts up after the automatic variables are defined. Therefore, your CfgVars may inherit values from the automatic variables.
Questions similar to this pop up regularly on the Bentley Discussion Groups. There's an article at Ask Inga.
There are two automatic variables related to the current folder that are defined from Windows information …
_workdirpoints to where the Windows program shortcut Start In is assigned_dgndirthe location of the file that you currently have open
The Current Work Directory is the value of _workdir,
which is usually the directory containing ustation.exe.
However, if you start MicroStation by double-clicking a design file in Windows Explorer,
it is the directory path for that design file.
_dgndir is reassigned automatically as you open new design files. For the first file opened,
_dgndir is likely to be the same as _workdir. If you open a file in a different
folder, then _dgndir will change to reflect the new folder, whereas _workdir retains
its initial value.
If you start MicroStation from a Windows shortcut, _workdir is where the Start In field points to in the shortcut.
When MicroStation is installed it creates one or more Windows shortcuts,
when the Start In field is set to the folder where ustation.exe is located …
You can change the Start In field to another folder. In the example below, it's pointing
to my L:\RefScan8\dgn folder …
When you start MicroStation, the first form you see is the MicroStation Manager dialog. You can choose Current Work Directory from MicroStation Manager's Directory menu …
Having chosen the Current Work Directory changes MicroStation Manager's current folder
to the value of _workdir specified in your Windows Shortcut …
