Bentley Substation V8i

Substation Functionality Enhancements

• You now have the ability in the Project Manager to import legacy CAD drawings into the active project by means of an import command. Once imported, you can add intelligent Substation objects and gain all the benefits of the Substation design software with your legacy drawings.
• You now have the ability to specify that your title block should be placed in sheet mode instead of model when you create your page, which allows you to take advantage of all the benefits of sheets. Title block variables can be edited in the sheet just as before.
• The Project Manager now features a reference file dock panel that will display all reference files associated with the selected drawing file. You can then open a reference file from this panel as read-only.
• You now have the ability to right click and activate/deactivate a reference file for editing purposes.
• The software now supports the creation of dynamic section views. If you choose to create a separate DGN file for your section view, the software will launch the drawing import command mentioned above to make the drawing part of the active project.
• The insert symbol by named command can now be used to insert symbols on the 3D layout page.
• Many of the settings in the Substation object settings dialog are now available from the MicroStation tool settings dialog while the command is active, making it convenient to place multiple instances of a symbol with different placement methods, rotation, and more.
• The copy/move/delete commands were optimized for use on the 3D layout drawings.
• The default grounding grid settings can now be saved as an option profile, making it convenient to quickly switch profiles from one project to another as needed.
• A new symbol text attribute named "Wiring Address" was added to symbol creation, which can be used to specify the location of a device in a panel. The wiring address can then be used in reports and wiring diagrams to refer to the device.

Electrical Platform Enhancements

Drawing/Design Features

• You now have the ability to specify a description for each role in a family in the New/Modify Family dialog. The value you specify can be displayed on the drawing using a new symbol text attribute named "FamilyRoleDesc."
• New mode-specific cross-reference attributes have been added to the symbol creation wizard that enable you to display a cross reference to a symbol in another drawing mode.
• When adding a new device ID in the BOM Explorer, there is a new toggle named "Use as permanent ID" that will ensure that the ID does not get renamed when you insert the symbol in a drawing.
• New Exchange Catalog feature allows you to easily convert a project from one drawing standard to another by replacing all the symbols in the project with the same-named symbols in another catalog of your choosing.
• A new Engineering Design Check was added that lists any orphaned panel layout/wiring diagram symbols in the project.
• You now have the ability to sort terminals by page and line number position in the Terminal Manager.

Interoperability Features

• You can now export device IDs back to data fields in the Plant database using the Plant Exchange feature.

Performance Improvements

• The performance of the preview control has been improved for faster display of pages in the Project Manager and symbols/macros in catalogs.

Output Features

• You now have the ability to set the Project Publisher to produce a monochrome PDF file.

UI Improvements

• New customizable tabbed interface for the Parts Database Manager. The fields are organized into logical tabs, and the user can customize the layout of the dialog by clicking the customize button on the top of the form.
• New customizable Project Manager interface allows you to drag and dock panels according to your personal preference. You can auto hide panels to collapse them out of your way when you don't need them, drag panels in and out of tabs, and more.
• If you append another device to a family by duplicating the ID, as in the case of adding an auxiliary contact that is not part of the original family, the software treats it as a subID. This subID field is now displayed in the device usage chart for reference purposes.
• There is a new project option located in Default Project Properties>Page Layout Options named "Save pages in drawing set subfolder" that will tell the software to create a subfolder under the project for each unique drawing set and store the pages under the appropriate subfolder. Selecting a drawing set subfolder in the Project Manager will show you just the pages in that drawing set.
• The Project Options>Wire Options dialog was redesigned to use a tabbed layout, and some of the settings were renamed to add greater clarity to their meaning.

Wiring Features

• The draw wire commands have been enhanced to allow them to dynamically draw a 90-degree up or down wire, making it quick and easy to make bends in the wires with fewer mouse clicks.
• New trap distance setting in Project Options>Wire Options>Connection Preferences works in conjunction with the draw wire commands to make connections between devices faster and easier than ever before. Just click from one connection point of a device to another connection point and the software will create a 90-degree bend at the midpoint of your wire if needed to complete the connection between two devices. If a wire gets close (within the trap distance) to a connection point of a device, it will automatically snap to the connection point. The trap distance is shown as a red box and will appear when your cursor is close to a connection point so you know when you are within the trap distance. This feature takes into consideration the orientation of the device and will try to connect horizontally to a horizontally defined symbol and vertically to a vertically defined symbol. In addition, a wire segment located within the trap distance is automatically considered connected, which provides some tolerance for connections that may not have been drawn on a grid.