RE: Open Roads Styles - Best Practices

Bump!

From another thread, you might noticed that configuring Open Roads for production is proving to be a process without good documentation. I am trying to resurrect this thread to tackle  the topic of Components.

My initial post was based upon my efforts with InRoads Ss2 and earlier.  For the remainder of this thread, lets focus on Open Roads. So here are my Open Roads Questions on Components. First, lets decide on terminology: In Ss2 and earlier, Feature Styles, defined as Surface Features and with Component display enabled for Cross Sections made good component styles. To export a component element template XML file from an XIN, the feature style must be enabled for Surfaces, Enabled for Cross Section Component Display, and have a Default or 3d/Plan Display enabled and defined. (Point of note, I have an XIN with surface features where the options for 3/D Plan are enabled and are set as cross section components, but in their Named Symbology, only have display enabled for Profile and Cross Section. These do not export as Components.)

1. Exactly what should Element Template Components be used for?
   1. In Earlier releases, components could be assigned any style, even if it was not enabled for Surface Display.
   2. When a component was created, it could have one display symbology for 3D/Plan (including not enabled, resulting in no display) and a different display when cut into cross sections.
   3. Exactly where does the software pull the styles in this list from?
2. What is the best practice for Point Style definitions.
   1. We defined different styles for Points and Components. Some of our clients mixed the two but it is my opinion that this is a bad practice.
   2. Does the Point List in the ITL file still drive this?
   3. If Yes, where does the actual Style list come from? I believe it has always been possible to have a point list create points with style names that do not reside in the current XIN file. Even if this was actually not possible, you could use a template to make a corridor while a different XIN file was used, or change XIN files after the fact and in either case, end up with features in your corridor that were assigned what for all intents orphaned styles.

I'll stop here but this is only a small example of the questions that CADD Managers need definitive answers to.