We have an MDL application (since ported to Native Code) that resymbolizes elements on the fly based on user specified criteria. Changing Color, Style, and Weight are the most common uses and this application has worked just fine for many years. I am in the process of modernizing it by adding support for Named Levels and Custom Linestyles.
The issue I'm having is trying to resymbolize lines\linestrings within attached reference files with a custom linestyle defined (actually in a RSC file) in the MASTERFILE (the custom linestyles have never been placed in these reference files). Even though I am adding the custom linestyle to the element descriptor (and validating it is there via mdlElement_hasLineStyle()), the custom linestyle refuses to display. The only way I can get the custom linestyle to display properly is to either copy the element into the MASTERFILE (in the code) or open the reference file as the main file and place a sample line with the target custom linestyle. These are not desirable as this application is meant only to resymbolize the display of the elements without altering the underlying dgn files.
I understand that this issue is likely caused by the reference file not having the custom linestyle definitions loaded - how can one accomplish this without physically touching each of the 1000+ dgn files that we use as reference files (they are provided by a third party).
All thoughts and commentary are greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Jeff