Documentation

MicroStation Plugin

Install the LocusBIM panel in Bentley MicroStation CONNECT Edition for live issue tracking on your DGN files.

MicroStation Plugin

The LocusBIM MicroStation plugin mirrors the AutoCAD experience inside Bentley MicroStation CONNECT Edition. A dockable Issues panel lists the LocusBIM issues linked to the active DGN file; double-clicking focuses LocusBIM and scrolls to the issue.

Supported MicroStation versions

Key / Control	Action
MicroStation CONNECT Edition (Update 16+)	.NET Framework 4.8 build via the AddIn + KeyinTree subsystem
MicroStation 2026+	Planned — picks up a second .NET 8 target once Bentley's API ships .NET 8 support

Installing

Close MicroStation if it's open.
From LocusBIM Desktop, open Help ▸ Install CAD Plugins….
The dialog probes HKLM\SOFTWARE\Bentley\MicroStation for installed editions and pre-selects the MicroStation row. Click Install.
LocusBIM deploys the plugin DLLs to %APPDATA%\Bentley\LocusBIM\ and drops the registration .cfg into %APPDATA%\Bentley\MicroStation CONNECT Edition\WorkSpace\Standards\AddIns\ so MicroStation discovers it on next launch.

Tip: The .cfg path is user-scoped (not all-users). If you share a Windows machine with other CAD users, each user must run the installer separately — the plugin's destination is your own %APPDATA%.

Using the Issues panel

MicroStation's key-in command line uses space-separated tokens rather than the underscore convention AutoCAD uses. The plugin registers these three key-ins:

Key / Control	Action
`LOCUSBIM PANEL`	Show / focus the LocusBIM Issues panel
`LOCUSBIM REFRESH`	Re-query LocusBIM for issues linked to the active DGN
`LOCUSBIM HEALTH`	Check that LocusBIM Desktop is reachable and the API token is valid

Tip: Like every key-in, you can bind these to a custom toolbar button or a ribbon entry in MicroStation\'s WorkSpace customisation if your team prefers point-and-click access.

What the panel shows

Identical to the AutoCAD plugin: a four-column list (ID / Title / Status / Priority) with status-tinted rows and a Refresh button. Issues are filtered to the active DGN's filename basename. The underlying control is shared across all three CAD plugins (CAD2-C refactor) so behaviour stays in lock-step.

Create a LocusBIM issue from inside MicroStation

Click the green + New issue button at the bottom of the Issues panel. The modal collects Title / Description / Priority / Category. If you have an element selected in the active DGN, the issue auto-links to it by ElementId (stable across save/reopen) and labels it by element type + level name.

The Capture screenshot button grabs the MicroStation main window as a PNG. The captured size is shown next to the button so you can confirm a usable image before submitting. Submit posts everything to LocusBIM and the new issue appears in the panel on the next refresh.

Tip: The dialog never sends DGN file content — only the element id, the file's basename, your typed fields, and (if captured) the viewport screenshot. Everything pre-filled by the dialog is editable.

How it talks to LocusBIM

Same loopback HTTP API as the AutoCAD plugin. Token + port come from %APPDATA%\com.locusbim.app\cad-api.json. The plugin never authenticates with anything outside 127.0.0.1 and never sends DGN geometry over the wire.

Troubleshooting

Key / Control	Action
Key-ins not recognised	The .cfg file didn't register. Open AddIns folder via the in-app installer ("Open folder"); confirm LocusBIM.MicroStation.cfg is present; restart MicroStation
No issues shown	Filename basename must match what's linked in LocusBIM. Bentley's working units / dgn references don't affect the filter — only the open file's basename does
Plugin not loading at startup	Check %TEMP%\MicroStation_CONNECT.log for AddIn load errors. The most common cause is a missing dependency — the in-app installer copies the full payload including Newtonsoft.Json.dll, so re-running it usually fixes this