INTRODUCTION

    PDL was designed from the start to be a very simple language to learn but is also quite powerful.   People with no programming experience at all can learn PDL quite easily and still create useful programs that are fast and easy to maintain.  PDL is a BASIC interpreter that was specifically designed to interface to Microstation DGN CAD FILES.  PDL is not intended for application development.  For that use the Activex control and use the langauge of your choice,  C++, Delphi, Visual Basic, Powerbuilder etc.

    Both V7 and V8 are supported. However all new features are for V8 since it is the future and V7 is obsolete  Any one who has used the MDL interface supplied by Microstatioin knows how tedious it is to write application software.  PDL ties the two together with an up front full BASIC interpreter.  BASIC was chosen as the interface since it is commonly known and has extensive string handling functions.  Also it is possible to program interactively with BASIC, that is a line at a time.  This decreases the program development time.  Since many commands do much more than a single step programs are much shorter and easier to read than if you used the MDL interfaces resulting in programs that are easier to maintain.   Since an example is worth a thousand words lets start right out by creating a program will create custom graph paper.  (click here to see example)