Cell Library dialog box

Used to attach cell libraries and activate different types of cells, and to create, delete, and rename cells in the attached cell library, if one is attached. The name and path of the attached cell library, if one is attached, are displayed in the title bar. Opens when Element > Cells is chosen.

Use Shared Cells

If on, cells are placed as shared cells. The list box shows the name of each shared cell in the design as well as the names of cells in the attached cell library.

If off, cells are placed as normal cells. The list box shows only the cells in the attached cell library, if one is attached. Tags attached to component elements of a shared cell do not remain attached when the cell is placed if the cell library was converted from the previous version of MicroStation.

Key-in: SET SHARECELL [OFF | ON | TOGGLE]

Display All Cells In Path

If on and Use Shared Cells is off, cells are displayed in the following order: first, normal cells from cell libraries listed in MS_CELLLIST configuration variables, then normal cells listed in directory specified by the MS_BLOCKLIST configuration variable.

If on and Use Shared Cells is on, cells are displayed in the following order: shared cells in the open file, shared cells in the attached cell library, cells in the cell libraries listed in MS_CELLLIST, and cells in the directory listed in MS_BLOCKLIST.

Display

Controls the display in the box on the right side of the Cell Library dialog box that shows the selected cell. Except for wireframe, the choices correspond to items in the Utilities menu's Render submenu.

Display	Corresponds to item in Utilities menu
Wireframe	none see footnote 167
Wiremesh	Render > Wiremesh
Constant Shading	Render > Constant
Smooth Shading	Render > Smooth
Phong Shading	Render > Phong

Heading

Sets the manner in which the cell listing is sorted. All columns are alphabetical. Clicking a heading toggles the display between ascending/descending order by that column.

Sort	Meaning
Name	Listed alphabetically by Name.
Description	Listed alphabetically by description.
Type	Cells are listed alphabetically by type.
Where	Cell locations are listed alphabetically. Cell locations include AutoCAD DWG block files (BLCK), cells in an attached cell library (Lbry), shared cells in the attached cell library (LbSh), and shared cells in the active design file (Shrd).

List box

Lists the Name, Description, Type, and Where (location) of cells that are available for placement in the order specified by the sort heading selected.

If there are cells with common names in both the design (as shared cells) and in the cell library, the names of the shared cells are shown.

To work with a cell, select its list item. When you select a cell, it is displayed to the right of the list box with its name, type, and size. For a 3D cell, the isometric, top, front, and right views are shown.

If the cell is large, it may take a few moments to display. All the other controls in the Cell Library dialog box operate on the selected cell.

Edit

Opens the Edit Cell Information dialog box, which is used to modify the name or description of the selected cell in the cell library. This button is dimmed if a cell is not selected or the selected cell is a shared cell.

Key-in: RENAME CELL <old_name,> <new_name>

or

Key-in: CR= <old_name,> <new_name>

Delete

If the selected cell is in a cell library, as indicated in the Where column, and the cell library is writable, deletes the selected cell from the cell library.

If the selected cell is a shared cell, as indicated in the Where column, and the shared cell is unused, deletes the shared cell definition from the open DGN file. You cannot delete a shared cell definition until you first delete all of its instances using Delete Element.

In either case, an alert box requires you to confirm the deletion, because it cannot be undone. This button is dimmed if no cell is selected.

Key-in: DELETE CELL <name>

or

Key-in: CD= <name>

The DELETE CELL (CD=) key-in cannot be used to delete an unused shared cell definition; this key-in operates only on library cells.

To delete all unused shared cell definitions from the open DGN file, key in DELETE SCDEFS ALL. (DELETE SCDEFS ANONYMOUS deletes all unused anonymous shared cell definitions. DELETE SCDEFS NAMED deletes all named anonymous shared cell definitions.)

Create

Opens the Create New Cell dialog box, which is used to add a cell to the attached cell library.

This button is dimmed unless the following conditions are met:

1. A cell library is attached (see File > Attach) with write access.

2. The elements to be included in the cell are selected or fenced.

3. A cell origin is defined with the Define Cell Origin tool.

Key-in: CREATE CELL <name> [[,description][,type]]

or

Key-in: CC= <name> [[,description][,type]]

Share

Defines the selected cell as a shared cell in the design file. An instance of the cell is not placed in the design. Defining a shared cell without placing an instance is helpful when customizing a seed file.

This button is dimmed if Use Shared Cells is off, no cells are selected, or the selected cell is not in the cell library.

File menu > New

Opens the Create Cell Library dialog box, which is used to create a cell library and attach it to the active design file.

Key-in: CREATE LIBRARY

File menu > Attach

Opens the Attach Cell Library dialog box, which is used to attach an existing cell library to the active design file.

Key-in: ATTACH LIBRARY <cell_library>

or

Key-in: RC= <cell_library>

Using the ATTACH LIBRARY (RC=) key-in can be faster than using the Attach Cell Library dialog box.

File menu > Detach

Detaches the attached cell library.

Attaching a different cell library automatically detaches the currently attached cell library, if any.

File menu > Compress

Compresses the active cell library. Compression reorganizes the cell DGN file to occupy the minimum disk space.

File menu > Upgrade Files to V8...

Opens the Upgrade Files to V8 Format dialog box used for selecting files to be upgraded from pre-V8 format to V8 format.