The Attach-Ref option also activates the Project Navigator to allow you to select a file for attaching as a reference. Before selecting this file, you may switch to a different project or sub-project.
If you double-click on a file that has not yet been checked out or copied out to your workstation, the file will be first copied out. You will then be switched back into MicroStation and have the standard reference file attach dialog box to enter a logical name, view, etc. Note that you should not select the option to save the full path in the reference attachment.
If you switch to a different project or sub-project and select a file from that other project, the resulting reference attachment in MicroStation will prefix a "project logical" to the file name. This project logical consists of the combination of the internal record identifier in the TIMS3 database, with the last sub-project name. you can also force the "project logical" to be part of the attachment name, even though the file is in the same project, by enabling the ‘Force Ref Logical Attachment’ mode in the TIMS3 Preferences dialog.
When you list the reference files in MicroStation, it will appear as shown above. However, the recommended approach would be to list references through the TIMS3 Project Navigator. Point to the file or document, right click on the mouse, and select the Reference option. This will display attached reference files showing the complete hierarchy of projects and sub-projects for reference files that are not in the same project or sub-project as the master file.
If you are already in MicroStation, the File pull-down menu has available the Attach Refs option. This allows you to attach a reference file from another project with the Project Name included in the attachment record as a logical name along with the file name. Through additional TIMS3 functions loaded into MicroStation, MicroStation will always locate the files in other directories, even if these directories are changed by the TIMS3 administrator.
Although TIMS3 will support the automatic copy out of reference files that have a full path (if it appears to be a local TIMS3 project path), we recommend that the "project logical" be used in the event that a project directory is moved to a different server directory location.