The Standards Checker lets you compare information in your DGN file against standards that you have established. This utility lets you choose the type of information to check, as well as the standard values for that information.

The standards checks are performed by Standards Checker plug-ins, not the Standards Checker utility itself. MicroStation includes plug-ins for checking level, text style, dimension style, element template, and line style properties. Additional plug-ins can be written in either VBA or MDL, and several VBA examples are included in the MicroStation VBA help.

The Standards Checker plug-ins store their setup information in a MicroStation DGN library file (DGNLib). A DGN library file (*.dgnlib) has the same file format as a DGN file, but by convention contains information that is shared throughout files, such as the levels and styles that are used in a WorkSpace / WorkSet.

You can store the Standards Checker plug-in settings in the same DGN library in which you store your other WorkSpace / WorkSet-wide information, or you can use a separate DGN library. Small organizations and small projects can take advantage of the simpler administration that is possible when all standards and standards checking settings are stored in the same file. However, many organizations have multiple DGN libraries that contain discipline- or project-specific levels, styles, and other standards, and thus need the flexibility to separate their Standards Checker settings into a separate file.

Multiple Standards Checker settings can be stored by name in a given DGN library. This provides the flexibility of establishing more lenient standards to use earlier in a project, and stricter standards to use near project completion. You might also store a set of special-purpose checks in a DGN library file.