Custom Line Styles

The custom line styles are stored as linkages of the element.

In v7, the custom line style name is stored in igds_custom_linestyle attribute. In v8, the custom line style name is stored in igds_style_name attributes. There is also an igds_style attribute that stores custom line style name ID (negative integer).

It is the user’s responsibility to provide the correct seed file containing the definitions of the custom line styles and to copy the .rsc file into the folder containing other Microstation resource files.

Here are the steps to configure Microstation for Custom Line Styles:

1. Open the seed file or destination file.
2. Select Workspace > Configuration > Symbology.
3. Click Select.
4. Select the .rsc file that you want to use.
5. Click Add to add the .rsc file to the list.
6. Click OK and then Done.
7. Close the file and then reopen it. (It is important to close the file; otherwise, the recent changes in the configuration are not reflected.)
8. From the Active Line Style pull-down menu, select Custom. Then select the name of line style that you want to use, and double-click to activate it.
9. Select File > SaveSettings.
10. Repeat with every line style you are going to use.

In v7, to write a custom line style, the user needs to set the igds_custom_linestyle attribute. In v8, a custom line style cannot be set by its name – instead, the user needs to set igds_style attribute, which is then used to match an existing line style definition in the seed-file.

V7 Required and Optional Values
Required	igds_custom_linestyle
Optional	igds_custom_linestyle_rbit igds_custom_linestyle_mbit igds_custom_linestyle_ibit igds_custom_linestyle_class

V8 Required and Optional Values
Required	igds_style
Optional	igds_style_name igds_custom_linestyle_flags igds_custom_linestyle_scale igds_custom_linestyle_start_width igds_custom_linestyle_end_width igds_custom_linestyle_distance_shift igds_custom_linestyle_fraction_shift igds_custom_linestyle_center_shift igds_custom_linestyle_rotation

If you do not provide the optional attributes for either version, the writer will use the default values. Note that these attributes will only be used by the writer to create a custom line style linkage if the older representation, since user linkage attributes such as igds_linkage{n}.uid do not exist on features to be written.

Note: When translating from DGN to DGN where a complex chain in the source data set has custom line styles, then you have to set the keyword PROPAGATE_CHAIN_ELEMENT_LINKAGES to true to translate the custom line styles properly to the destination format.

If a complex chain has different line styles, in order to retain those line styles, set “Drop Complex Chain” to yes.