Selection by attributes, AutoCAD - Microstation

The selection by attributes is a way of filtering objects according to special criteria, both Microstation and AutoCAD do it in a similar way, although one of the two programs has some extra functionality, in the case of this tool. I am using for this example AutoCAD 2009 y Microstation V8i.

With AutoCAD

This is activated with the command qselect, or with the icon to the right of the properties side panel.

In AutoCAD 2009 you have to look for it, it is just right in utilities, having the home tab selected.

Once chosen a panel is deployed that allows:

-Apply the selection to the entire drawing or only to a partial selection

- Select the type of object (line, circle, text etc)

-Define the matching condition using operators

-File color, indicated as value

And then you can add the selection to a new set or an existing collection.

In addition, it also sounds quite practical to select objects from the table of properties that while not having as much functionality for this purpose is usually practical for the selection of objects of the same type previously selected.

There are also other forms of selection, which happens that now with the Ribbon I do not find them so easily. But it can be done from the command bar, we enter the command "select", then enter, and then the? Symbol, and then enter. This will give us the other forms of selection that AutoCAD has that although they are not filters, they are useful. Although to compare it, we should also consider what Microstation does with the element selection.

With Microstation

  The command is activated with "edit / select by attributes".

Although the panel is quite similar to AutoCAD there are more alternatives for selection such as:

- Layer filtering, this works with a simple drag or using ctrl o shift.

-The types are almost the same as AutoCAD, although it allows 22 types against 12 that it allows. Likewise, the selection can be with simple drag, and there can be several types at the same time while with AutoCAD it is only one at a time. Hence, AutoCAD uses the functionality of adding objects to the collection.

-It is possible to filter symbology data, in the case AutoCAD only allows the color, Microstation allows the style and thickness of the line.

-In the inclusion or exclusion properties are equal both programs

-It is interesting an option in which you can select the objects, or locate, with this the zoom goes to where the objects are or show.

-Then there is an option to choose whether they are off or on (off)

- The "excecute" button performs the action, while there are two more buttons that allow you to see other filtering properties

- The operation criteria are as in AutoCAD (equal to, higher, lower etc) and run on the bottom button "Tags"But with the caveat that multiple criteria can be added at once using"and or"

And the one of clicking, that is very good, in "tools / select from elementYou can choose just the properties of an object in the drawing. This is very practical because it is used in case you want to choose all the objects that have the property of a specific one; It is easy because instead of guessing properties, select one and then it can be extended to more types of objects or add other requirements.

You can also save the criteria as a .rsc file and call it at a later time.

Then in Settings you can specify other finer criteria, such as font properties or cell names,

Conclusion

The same in both programs, a matter of getting used to taking advantage of it or suffering. It would not be bad if AutoCAD improved this functionality a bit.