Attached shapefile graphics by default are attached with a Z coordinate (Elevation) value of 0. Starting in MicroStation v8i (SELECTseries 3) elevations can be applied to shapefile graphics from a data field in the associated .dbf database file. To configure shapefile attachments to assign elevations based on database values set the MicroStation variable MS_ELEVPROP_AS_Z equal to the elevation field defined in the database.

Example:

MS_ELEVPROP_AS_Z=ELEV

In this example ELEV is the name of the shapefile database field containing the elevation values. MicroStation will assign the values in this field to the corresponding graphics displayed in the attachment. Multiple fields can be defined using the “|” (pipe) character as a separator. Setting the elevation variable as follows: MS_ELEVPROP_AS_Z=ELEV|ELEVATION|Z allows MicroStation to set the shapefile graphic elevations based on corresponding records in either the ELEV, ELEVATION, or Z fields in the associated .dbf database file.