Adding a Folder to Views Using Glue API

Here is a question my colleague asked:

Q. Is it possible to create a folder to Views using Glue API?

A. If you look at the list of methods in the documentation, you don’t see a method name that says “create folder” explicitly. But you can use the following Model Services API to create a folder:

URL: https://b4.autodesk.com/api/model/v1/view_create.{format}

Method: POST

Document: https://b4.autodesk.com/api/model/v1/view_create/doc

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Creating a View Using Glue API

Creating a view using Glue API is possible using model/v1/view_create. That said, defining parameters for an intended view can be a challenge without the user interaction. In this post, I’m going to look at view_create method, focusing purely on the format of parameters.

URL: https://b4.autodesk.com/api/model/v1/view_create.{format}

Method: POST

Document: https://b4.autodesk.com/api/model/v1/view_create/doc

A list of parameters required to create a view may need a little bit explanation. The documentation lists parameters that are mixture for creating a view and for a folder. It makes less clear what parameters are needed to create a view. In addition to the parameters common to all REST calls (i.e., the first six, up to “sig” in the documentation), you will need the following to create a view.

Glue API Staging Access

Note: As of this writing, below applies to the member of ADN (Autodesk Developer Network) who has requested the Glue staging access for their development purpose.

For the purpose of Glue API Development, we are using the staging server. To Access BIM 360 Glue staging for the first time, you will need the following two things:

• Autodesk Account staging environment
• Invitation e-mail from the Autodesk BIM 360 Glue staging

The Glue will use the e-mail address to identify the user.

Creating Users with Glue API

Automating user creation for a given project seems to be one common task using Glue API.

Q. We want to create users for a certain Glue project programmatically. I looked at User Service APIs. But I cannot find a web service call to do this. Is it possible to create users using API?

A. Yes, it is possible. The following two calls are needed to invite a new user to a project:

1. Invite a new user to company/host
   https://b4.autodesk.com/api/security/v1/invite/doc

Identify Layout Points Coming from Total Station

Here is the first question that I received about Point Layout API.

Q. In the Glue API reference document, I see there are APIs for Point Layout. But it looks to me that they are points of a model only. Do we have any API to get point data coming from Total Station?

A. The sample response in the documentation for getting points for a model includes the description of each item for a point data. But it does not include actual sample data nor more detailed information. Having a sample with real data might help understand where to look for to identify point coming from a total station. Below are two examples taken from an actual point data in JSON format. The first one shows data that came from a robotic total station. The second is from a model with points generated using Autodesk Point Layout:  

Glue API: Visibility of Company Roster Explained

Q. I’m a project admin for a Glue project. Using company_roster REST call, I can get a list of users who are in other projects and not necessarily in my project. Is this intended behavior?

A. Yes, this is the way it is designed. The primary reason is that the company roster API is required when a project admin would be adding a new user to a project. If they cannot see the entire company roster list, it would be impossible to add people to a project that weren’t already on one of their existing projects.

This is the same for host admin. If you are full member, you will not see the list as you do not have a right to add members.

Related to this, if you see a member with no name, this person has not accepted the invitation, yet.

Mikako

Deprecated Glue API Calls Will Be Removed

Back in February, I pointed out four deprecated Glue REST API calls in the following blog post:

2015/02/03/glue-api-versioning-and-deprecated-calls/

Namely, the following are deprecated calls:

• model/v1/info
• model/v1/markups
• model/v1/view_tree
• model/v1/view_info

I hope you have migrated to /v2/ by now. If not, please make sure you migrate them as soon as possible. Deprecated API calls will be removed sometime next month. 

Google Chrome Drops NPAPI Plugin Support

With the release of Google Chrome version 42, you can no longer run plugins, such Java and Silverlight by default. This is due to the Google’s decision to drop so-called NPAPI (Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface). At a moment, you can still turn on the support if you wish. But it will be a temporary remedy as, according to Google, it will cease all together by the release 45 later this year. For more information, please refer to this article.

How does this affect us?  BIM 360 Glue viewer component is Java application. If you are using Chrome as your default browser, Chrome will block the Glue viewer from running.  If you are using Firefox and IE, you don’t have this problem. (I haven’t tested with other browsers. Other browsers should continue to work as this is a Chrome specific issue.)

A360 Viewer vs. Glue Viewer

“What is the difference between A360 viewer and Glue viewer?” This is a question that I receive every once in a while. (Here we are using word “A360 Viewer” as View and Data API, and will use both forms interchangeably in this post.) As a developer who is planning to develop a new web service and looking for a viewing capability, it is important to understand differences.

In this post, I’m going to write about some questions and answers comparing two viewers. I should note that both technologies are continuously evolving (it is more so as both are being developed under agile methodology). Some part of what I write, especially about what you can/cannot do technically, might change as a new sprint releases come out. Some of comments I make might be subjective. For example, “which is better”, of course, depends on what you are trying to do. I also don’t want to limit people’s creativity over the usage of technology by defining intended usage; we always love hearing about application areas that we never thought of. With this lengthy disclaimer, let’s talk about the two viewers in comparison.

Creating a Merged Model Using Glue API

This question came from Joe Augustino through a forum post. I finally managed to clean up a sample for a blog post.

Q. I’m having trouble creating a merged model. I tried it using the Test Harness, but it is returning “Bad Request” each time. I can manually create it in Glue UI.  Can someone please check on this and verify?

A. I can confirm that the one in TestHarness does not work. It’s not up to date. We need clarification on this.

According to the documentation:
https://b4.autodesk.com/api/model/v1/merge/doc

Following are URL, request method, and required parameters.