With Element templates we can provide greater control and conformance to standards in MicroStation. In them we have the ability to not only set primary attributes (level, line style, line weight, etc.) as well as the active cell, but also the ability to associate secondary attributes. The only issue is that the user can't select the secondary attributes from the element template, forcing them to have to go into the element template manager, see what secondary attributes are available then go manually select these.

The new idea proposes the ability to toggle a filter that allows every attribute drop down list and cell library list to populate only what's available as defined by the active element template. This would be a toggle, perhaps in the Attributes tool group, that would "Apply Template Filters" and filter attributes as defined for each attribute or appropriate tool. If not defined in the template, it defaults to no filter for that attribute.

For example, if you have a template that has a primary level, line style, line weight defined and two secondary Line weights defined, it would only show the associated attributes as defined by the template in the drop down list, but if there were NO active cells defined, it would default to show all available cells from the library.

This would help speed up drafting production processes as well as promote ease of use and better conformance to defined standards.