Well I'll be. I could swear I tried that and it didn't work, but I tried it this morning and it worked fine. I guess until I find that it doesn't work in whatever scenario, I'll consider that the answer.
Edit:
I'm using Geopak SS4 .872.
I find that works when you're dealing with simple curves and lines, or even interval elements.
Here's a couple contrary observations, all using Line Between Points, and using AccuSnap, having done a tangent or parallel snap to a complex element:
- Moving the cursor over a simple line shows the perpendicular icon where the snap would be, and the yellow X icon indicating a valid snap point, but instead of constructing a parallel line, it behaves as a near-point snap, not the parallel snap we would expect using a Microstation tool.
- Trying a perpendicular snap does not show the yellow X, it shows near-point snap icon with a bold circle and crossbar indicating that it is invalid, and a tooltip states "Element not valid for tool". To be clear, this is an simple (non-complex) civil ruled line that is longer than it need to be in order to find a valid solution.
- This same exact behavior is observed when hovering over arc elements as well.
- All other snaps seem to behave just as expected.
Unfortunately we don't have access to the simple elements that compose a complex element.