Q MicroStation, like many applications, has options that you can apply as you start up. Those options are set by command-line switches. As some people have found, those options or switches are hard to find in MicroStation's documentation …

• What options are available when starting MicroStation?
• I would like to know if anyone has a complete list of the command line switches?

A This question is occasionally posted on the Bentley Discussion Groups. In general, you can apply startup options, also known as command-line switches, to a Windows application by appending the switch with a forward-slash (/) or hyphen (-) prefix.

For example, suppose you use the latest Windows Gizmo implemented by an executable gizmo.exe and you want to start gizmo with the Magic switch m. You would start Gizmo like this …

gizmo.exe /m

or

gizmo.exe -m

A user-friendly application lets you use either prefix, so you shouldn't have to worry. But not all applications are that user-friendly. A really user-friendly application lets you find out the options by having a help or query option. Usually this is either a help switch (i.e. -h or /h) or, succinctly, a question mark (i.e. -? or /?)

For example, suppose you want to find Gizmo's command options. You would ask Gizmo like this …

gizmo.exe /?

Gizmo responds with a list of its options …

Gizmo options ...
-m                   Magic
-b                   Bizarre
-h or -?             Help - list options

MicroStation Startup Options

MicroStation is no different to other Windows applications: it has a number of startup options. Just like Gizmo, you specify the options using a forward-slash (/) or hyphen (-) prefix. And, just like Gizmo, it has a help switch. Now you don't need the documentation: it's right there waiting for you. Simply open a Windows command prompt, change to the MicroStation folder and type …

MicroStation Version	CONNECT	V8 and earlier
Windows Key-In	microstation /?	ustation /?

There's a Bentley TechNote that may provide more help.