Getting Started with Autodesk Vault Programming

Transcription

1 Getting Started with Autodesk Vault Programming Doug Redmond Autodesk CP4534 An introduction to the customization options provided through the Vault APIs. Learning Objectives At the end of this class, you will be able to: Describe the areas that can be customized in Vault. Describe the basic architecture of the Vault. Create simple Vault customizations. Locate information on more advanced Vault customization topics. About the Speaker Doug Redmond has been a software engineer for Autodesk for almost 12 years. In that time, he has worked on three separate product lines: Streamline, Vault and Productstream Professional. He has worked on Vault for over 7 years, developing features and overseeing the APIs. Doug has put together every version of the Vault SDK and written most of the sample applications. Doug is the author of It s All Just Ones and Zeros which is a blog on Vault API development. Areas of Vault Customization Server Communication All communication with the Vault Server is done through web service function calls. Web Services is an open standard for making server requests over an HTTP connection. By calling these functions, you have the ability to read/write/update/delete data from the Vault server. All Vault clients use these services to communicate with the server. There is no back door. Your applications have the same level of access as the ones provided by Autodesk. The functions in this API are grouped into services based on functionality. There are 17 services total spread out over the 4 Vault products.

2 Vault Admin Service Behavior Service Category Service Document Service Information Service Knowledge Vault Service Property Service Replication Service Revision Service Security Service Vault Workgroup Document Service Extensions Job Service Vault Collaboration Win Auth Service Vault Professional Change Order Service Forum Service Item Service Package Service The recommended entry point is Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.dll in the SDK. See the VaultListSample in DemoApps.zip from the Additional Materials section. The sample application illustrates how to establish a server connection and how to read data using the Document Service. Vault Explorer Customization The Vault Explorer client exposes APIs that allow you to add in your own commands and tab views. There are also hooks that allow your code to execute at key times, such as startup and shutdown or when a command is executed. To make use of the APIs, you must create a.net assembly, implement the required interface and perform the deployment steps documented in the SDK. Your extension has the freedom to do anything that is possible with a.net assembly, such as creating custom UI, connecting to external systems, making edits through a CAD API, etc. See the HelloWorld sample in DemoApps.zip from the Additional Materials section. The sample creates a menu command that displays the message Hello World when clicked. Job Server Customization The job server feature is basically a centralized job queue and a set of utilities for manipulating that queue. You can hook-in to this feature by defining your own job types and writing your own job handler. Your handler takes the form of a.net assembly which is loaded in to the JobProcessor.exe utility application. Jobs that have your job type will be routed to your assembly for processing. 2

3 Again, your extension has the freedom to do anything that is possible with a.net assembly. However, UI is discouraged since JobProcessor.exe is designed to be run like a service. It s important to understand how the job server feature works. Jobs are not handled in realtime. They are put in a queue, and that is where they stay until a handler executes it. If there are already a lot of jobs on the queue, it might take hours or days before your job is executed. You also can t assume order. Again, there are many factors that may cause job B to complete first even though it was queued after job A. See the JobSample example in DemoApps.zip from the Additional Materials section. The sample creates a handler for our Autodesk.JobDemo custom job type. Business Logic Customization There are a set of event hooks that you can subscribe to when key server functions are called. For example, you can get notification when an application checks-in a file. This feature is a client-side customization, which means you only hook to Vault applications running on the deployed computer. For example, it will hook to Vault Explorer, AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit, and third-party clients. Here is the list of events that you can hook to: Command Files Folders Items Change Orders Add Yes Yes Yes Yes Delete Reserve for Update Commit Changes Change Lifecycle Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A Yes Yes N/A Yes Yes N/A Yes Yes For a given command, there are 3 events that are fired, as shown in the timeline below. 3

4 GetRestrictions - This event allows handlers to reject the function call and provide a reason for the block. If there are no handlers that provide any restrictions, then execution continues. Pre - This event is run before the call to the Vault server. Post - This event is called after the results have been returned from the Vault server. This event is still fired in the case where an error is returned from the server. The customization itself takes the form of a.net assembly. Again, your extension can do anything a.net assembly can do, but UI is discouraged. You can t make assumptions about the context that your customization will be run in. For example, your event handler may be invoked from a command line application. See the EventSample example in DemoApps.zip from the Additional Materials section. The sample prevents any files from being added that start with the letter A. 4

5 Basic Vault Architecture Vault is not one piece; it s a collection of pieces that work together. When you are writing customizations, you need to be aware of the scope of your customization. 5

6 Creating Simple Vault Customizations There are four example applications in the DemoApps.zip from the Additional Materials section. In the video, you can see how those applications were created. Vault List Sample This example lists all the files in the vault. It is a stand-alone EXE that illustrates how to connect to the Vault server and read file and folder information. Hello World Sample This example creates a custom command that says Hello World. It illustrates how to create a custom command, how to set the needed attributes and how to properly deploy the DLL. 6

7 Job Sample This example is a handler for our Autodesk.JobDemo custom job type. It illustrates how to create a job handler, how to set the needed attributes, how to configure JobProcessor.exe and how to properly deploy the DLL. 7

8 Event Sample This example illustrates how to use the event mechanism to block an action that doesn t match your custom criteria. In this case, files starting with A are not allowed to be added to Vault. The example illustrates how to create an event handler, how to set the needed attributes and how to properly deploy the DLL. 8

9 Further Information on the Vault API The Vault SDK It s included with your Vault client or server install. Just go to the SDK folder under in your install location and run the SDK installer. The SDK contains the DLLs needed to write your customizations. It also contains full documentation, sample code and utilities. The Autodesk Developer Network ADN fully supports the Vault APIs. They have a library of Dev Notes and you can get personalized help through Dev Help Online. It s All Just Ones and Zeros I run a blog devoted specifically to Vault customization. It s a great place to read about new features, in-depth articles, and download sample apps (with source code). The Vault Customization Discussion Group Autodesk maintains an active discussion group area. This past year a new group was added for Vault Customization topics. Feel free to post your questions or comments on the Vault API. 9