AutodeskBIM360DocsConnector

Categories

Integrations

Web

Workflows

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Accesses BIM 360 Docs and Autodesk Construction Cloud to upload, download, or delete files and folders or list file/folder information.

Jump to Configuration

Typical Uses

  • Manage files on BIM 360 Docs and Autodesk Construction Cloud by uploading, downloading, and deleting files and folders.
  • Transfer a file's contents into or out of an attribute in FME.
  • Retrieve file and folder names, paths, and other information from BIM 360 Docs and Autodesk Construction Cloud to use elsewhere in a workspace.

How does it work?

The AutodeskBIM360DocsConnector uses your Autodesk account credentials (either via a previously defined FME web connection, or by setting up a new FME web connection right from the transformer) to access the file storage service.

Depending on your choice of actions, it will upload or download files, folders, and attributes; list information from the service; or delete items from the service. On Upload and List actions, links and file/folder information are added to the output features as attributes.

Authentication

The AutodeskBIM360DocsConnector uses an oauth web service defined FME web connection. It is recommended to create a new web connection using the Autodesk BIM 360 Docs (safe.autodesk-bim360docs) web service. It is also recommended to replace the included FME Forge app client with your own Forge application by updating the client id and secret in Autodesk BIM 360 Docs (safe.autodesk-bim360docs). At minimum, the Forge app must have access to the BIM 360 and Data Management APIs.

It is also required to add the chosen Forge App as a custom integration on the BIM 360 Hub page. A hub admin can do this by logging in and going to Account Admin > Settings > Custom Integrations > Add Custom Integration and entering the client ID of the connected Forge App. For the included FME Forge app, this is visible by examining the Autodesk BIM 360 Docs (safe.autodesk-bim360docs) web connection settings.

See also: How to create a BIM 360 Document Management Web Connection

Usage Notes

  • This transformer cannot be used to directly move or copy files between different BIM 360 Docs or Autodesk Construction Cloud locations. However, multiple AutodeskBIM360DocsConnectors can be used to accomplish this, by downloading files/folders and re-uploading them to a new location.

Configuration

Input Ports

This transformer accepts any feature.

Output Ports

The output of this transformer will vary depending on the action performed.

  • A Delete action will output the incoming feature.
  • A Download action will output the incoming feature and can save to either a file, folder, or attribute.
  • A List action will output a new feature for each file/folder found in the path specified. Each of these new features will have attributes listing various pieces of information about the object.
  • After an Upload action, selected information about the file will be available as attributes.

The incoming feature is output through this port.

Features that cause the operation to fail are output through this port. An fme_rejection_code attribute, having the value ERROR_DURING_PROCESSING, will be added, along with a more descriptive fme_rejection_message attribute which contains more specific details as to the reason for the failure.

Note: If a feature comes in to the AutodeskBIM360DocsConnector already having a value for fme_rejection_code, this value will be removed.

Rejected Feature Handling: can be set to either terminate the translation or continue running when it encounters a rejected feature. This setting is available both as a default FME option and as a workspace parameter.

Parameters

Account

To create a BIM 360 Docs connection, click the Account drop-down box and select Add Web Connection. It is recommended to use the BIM 360 Docs Web Service. The connection can then be managed via Tools > FME Options > Web Connections.
Action

The type of operation to perform. Choices include:

  • Delete
  • Download
  • List
  • Upload

The remaining parameters available depend on the value of the Action parameter. Parameters for each Action are detailed below.

Delete Options

Hub

The ID of the BIM 360 Hub. You may browse for the correct Hub.

Project

The Project of interest within the hub. A hub can contain many projects, which can be browsed. The browser will show all projects that the authenticated user is authorized to view.

Item

The ID of a file or folder on BIM 360 Docs to delete, which can be browsed for. BIM 360 prohibits deleting the root directory of a project, as well as the top-level “Plans” and “Project Files” folders.

Download Options

Hub

The ID of the BIM 360 Hub. You may browse for the correct Hub.

Project

The Project of interest within the hub. A hub can contain many projects, which can be browsed. The browser will show all projects that the authenticated user is authorized to view.

Item

The ID of a file or folder on BIM 360 Docs to download, which can be browsed for.

Destination

Download as

Select whether to store the downloaded data in a file, folder, or attribute.

  • Attribute: The downloaded object will be stored in the specified attribute.
  • File: The downloaded object will be stored in the specified folder.
  • Folder: The downloaded folder object will be stored in the specified folder.
Download to Attribute

Specify the attribute that will store the contents of the downloaded file. Valid for Download as Attribute only.
Response Body Encoding

For Download as Attribute, you can specify a character set encoding to ensure the output is in a human-readable form.

If Auto Detect from HTTP Header is specified but there is no encoding in the Content-Type metadata associated with the data, the output will be returned as raw bytes.
Download to Folder Specify the path to the folder that will store the downloaded file. Valid for Download as File or Folder.
If File Exists

Specify what to do if the file already exists locally. Valid for Download as File or Folder.

  • Reject: If downloading a file, the input feature will be rejected. If downloading a folder, a rejection error will be logged for each rejection.
  • Overwrite: Any existing local files or folders will be overwritten with the remote copy.
Include Subfolders Choose whether to download subfolders of the BIM 360 Docs source or not. Valid for Download as Folder only.

Output Attributes

The selected attributes will be added to the output feature.

_download_path

Path of the downloaded object on the local file system. This attribute will not be added for Download as Attribute.

Note: Viewable files in the Plans directory are not supported for download.

List Options

Hub

The ID of the BIM 360 Hub. You may browse for the correct Hub.

Project

The Project of interest within the hub. A hub can contain many projects, which can be browsed. The browser will show all projects that the authenticated user is authorized to view.

Folder

The ID of a folder on BIM 360 Docs to list, which can be browsed for.

Include Subfolders

If set to Yes, then subfolders are recursively traversed, and their contents are included in the result.

Output Attributes

_name

Name of the file or folder.

_id

Item id of the file or folder.

_full_path

Full path of the file or folder, from the root of the project.

_project

The Project ID of the file or folder.

_extension

The extension of the file.

_hub

The Hub ID of the file or folder.

_source_file_name

If the file is a viewable under the Plans directory (an automatically extracted Revit view, for example) this will be the name of the source file it was extracted from.

_file_or_folder

Whether the item is a file or a folder.

_version_number

The version number of the file.

_created

Date and time when the file was created.

_created_by

Name of user who created the file or folder.

_last_modified

Date and time when the file was last modified.

_last_modified_by

Name of user who last modified the file or folder.

Data Source

Upload

The type of data to be uploaded.

  • Attribute: The contents of the specified attribute will be uploaded.
  • File: The specified file will be uploaded.
  • Folder: The specified folder and its contents will be uploaded.

When working with large objects, File is a better choice than Attribute as the data will be streamed directly from disk and not require that the object be stored entirely in memory on a feature.

When wanting to upload content from a folder, it is better to upload as a folder instead of setting a fixed path and sending multiple features into the connector to upload as a file.

File to Upload

The file to be uploaded to BIM 360 Docs if Upload is set to File.

Folder to Upload

The folder to be uploaded to BIM 360 Docs if Upload is set to Folder.

Include Subfolders

Choose whether to upload subfolders of the Folder to Upload or not.

Attribute to Upload as File

The data to be uploaded, supplied from an attribute if Upload is set to Attribute.

Upload Options

Hub

The ID of the BIM 360 Hub. You may browse for the correct Hub.

Project

The Project of interest within the hub. A hub can contain many projects, which can be browsed. The browser will show all projects that the authenticated user is authorized to view.
Upload with File Name The name of the file created from the data supplied in Attribute to Upload as File. The name must include a filename extension (for example, .dwg, .rvt, .pdf).

If File Exists

Specify what to do if the file already exists on BIM 360 Docs.

  • Create New Version: The new file will be uploaded as a new version of the existing file.
  • Reject: If uploading a file, the input feature will be rejected. If uploading a folder, rejected files will be listed in the Rejected Files attribute.
  • Overwrite: Any existing files or folders on BIM 360 Docs will be overwritten with the local copy.

Note: Files uploaded to BIM 360 Docs are processed before being published and so will not be immediately viewable after uploading. There are also restrictions on what file types may be uploaded, which can be found here.

Output Attributes

_name

Name of the file or folder.

_id

Item id of the file or folder.

_full_path

Full path of the file or folder, from the root of the project.

_project

The Project ID of the file or folder.

_extension

The extension of the file.

_hub

The Hub ID of the file or folder.

_file_or_folder

Whether the item is a file or a folder.

_version_number

The version number of the file.

_created

Date and time when the file was created.

_created_by

Name of user who created the file or folder.

_last_modified

Date and time when the file was last modified.

_last_modified_by

Name of user who last modified the file or folder.

Editing Transformer Parameters

Using a set of menu options, transformer parameters can be assigned by referencing other elements in the workspace. More advanced functions, such as an advanced editor and an arithmetic editor, are also available in some transformers. To access a menu of these options, click beside the applicable parameter. For more information, see Transformer Parameter Menu Options.

Defining Values

There are several ways to define a value for use in a Transformer. The simplest is to simply type in a value or string, which can include functions of various types such as attribute references, math and string functions, and workspace parameters. There are a number of tools and shortcuts that can assist in constructing values, generally available from the drop-down context menu adjacent to the value field.

Using the Text Editor

The Text Editor provides a convenient way to construct text strings (including regular expressions) from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and constants, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Text Editor

Using the Arithmetic Editor

The Arithmetic Editor provides a convenient way to construct math expressions from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and feature functions, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Arithmetic Editor

Conditional Values

Set values depending on one or more test conditions that either pass or fail.

Parameter Condition Definition Dialog

Content

Expressions and strings can include a number of functions, characters, parameters, and more.

When setting values - whether entered directly in a parameter or constructed using one of the editors - strings and expressions containing String, Math, Date/Time or FME Feature Functions will have those functions evaluated. Therefore, the names of these functions (in the form @<function_name>) should not be used as literal string values.

String Functions

These functions manipulate and format strings.

Special Characters

 A set of control characters is available in the Text Editor.

Math Functions

Math functions are available in both editors.
Date/Time Functions Date and time functions are available in the Text Editor.

Math Operators

These operators are available in the Arithmetic Editor.

FME Feature Functions

These return primarily feature-specific values.

FME Parameters

FME and workspace-specific parameters may be used.
Creating and Modifying User Parameters Create your own editable parameters.

Dialog Options - Tables

Transformers with table-style parameters have additional tools for populating and manipulating values.

Row Reordering

Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:

  • Add a row
  • Remove a row
  • Move current row up one
  • Move current row down one
  • Move current row to top
  • Move current row to bottom

Cut, Copy, and Paste

Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:

  • Cut a row - delete and copy to clipboard
  • Copy a row to the clipboard
  • Paste a row from the clipboard

Cut, copy, and paste may be used within a transformer, or between transformers.

Filter

Start typing a string, and the matrix will only display rows matching those characters. Searches all columns. This only affects the display of attributes within the transformer - it does not alter which attributes are output.

Import

Import populates the table with a set of new attributes read from a dataset. Specific application varies between transformers.

Reset/Refresh

Generally resets the table to its initial state, and may provide additional options to remove invalid entries. Behavior varies between transformers.

Note: Not all tools are available in all transformers.

Reference

Processing Behavior

Feature-Based

Feature Holding

No
Dependencies BIM 360 Account, recommended to have a Forge App with access to the BIM 360 API and the Data Management API
Aliases AutodeskConstructionCloudConnector
History Released FME 2020.2

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Examples may contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver and/or the Open Government Licence – Canada.