getting started with integrations between projectwise and web based solutions - where to begin?

I am working for a utility consulting company now and we have a need to integrate a few things with the existing Projectwise server:

  • event driven means to push documents from an online system into Projectwise into a certain location
  • create folders in Projectwise programmatically without having to open up the Projectwise explorer
  • synchronize files between Projectwise and Autodesk Vault (I am very familiar with the Autodesk Vault APIs)

Based on my preliminary research, I see that there is an API called the Web Services Gateway that I would like to target for this.  However, I am really quite new to Projectwise, and therefore I'm not sure that I am seeing the methods in that API that would allow me to create new folders and push files into them, and the terminology is still new to me.  So, my question(s) are as follows:

  • Can I use the WSG to create new folders/locations in Projectwise and then push files into that location
  • Can I programmatically create new folders with a provided structure (client->job->project) in project wise
  • are there any examples of how to do those things besides what is in the WSG documentation on the server(s)?
  • Hi ,

    ProjectWise itself from the Administrator to Automation Services (import/export services) may be capable of providing a fair amount of work you need to perform, so make sure to fully leverage the product functionality/workflows first.

    Next ProjectWise PowerShell is a very popular way to script and automate ProjectWise Administrator needs and would be the next best option of entry into Customizing ProjectWise.

    After that the Web Services Gateway (WSG REST API) and lastly ProjectWise SDK; in order of productivity/complexity are next best options to consider for Customizing and Programming ProjectWise.

    You can find more information on customizing and programming ProjectWise under the Project Delivery - programming wiki (start with top two topics linked on the page)..

    HTH,
    Bob



    Answer Verified By: Shawn Weekly 

  • Shawn

    Maybe late to this party but if you or someone else is still looking.

    We did some similar integration with BIM360/ACC rather than Vault. We used WSG because it is a REST API and BIM360 is accessible through Forge (also a REST API)

    WSG can be a little hard to get your head around in the beginning, but now I am familiar with it I avoid using the SDK APIs because of the DLL dependencies.

    Synchonising data from PW would require you to poll the database for changes. We used flatsets to define what we want to synchronise.

    To create a folder you POST the Folder information as JSON to the <baseurl>/<repository>/project endpoint. The folder strucure you create can be anything.

    Damian

    Answer Verified By: Shawn Weekly 

  • Thank you Damian!  This is helpful and it's something that I want to dig into more. Your statement about avoiding the DLL dependencies is exactly what I am trying to avoid as well.   

  • Hi Damian,

    Could you please provide some information around authentication? IMS not been supported by WSG is a problem specially when it does not seems to be too much support from Bentley for it