1. ADN Developer Days 2011
Connecting the Pieces

2. Nondisclosure Agreement
Today’s discussion is covered under your ADN Agreement with Autodesk.
The information we will be providing is highly confidential, and is to be shared within your company on “need to know basis” and to no one outside your company.
Autodesk makes no guarantees that anything presented or discussed will actually appear in the future.

3. The Upcoming Vault Release
Grindstone is the codename for the next release of Vault.
API enhancements, scalability and optimization are the major themes for the release.
Still 4 product tiers.

4. Custom Entities
Create Vault objects that are not Files, Folders, Items or Change Orders.
Only available in Vault Professional.
Custom Entities support the following behaviors:
Properties – Define your own properties. Search on property values.
Links – Link a custom entity to or from any other entity.
Lifecycles – Use the same lifecycle engine that files uses.
Security – Use the ACL engine to set security on your entities.
Let’s say you want to store objects in the Vault, but the objects aren’t Files, Folders, Items or Change Orders. The Custom Entity feature is your solution. It allows you to define your own object type and store your objects in the vault.
This feature is only available in Vault Professional.
Properties – Works just like with Files and the other entity types. You can define your own properties and search on those properties.
Links – This is a very powerful feature. You create links between your objects. You can also link to existing objects, such as files. This allows you to create complex hierarchies.
Lifecycles – You can define your own lifecycle states and transitions. It has all the features that the file lifecycles have because it uses the same underlying engine.
Security – You can set security on your objects using Vault’s ACL engine.

5. Custom Entities – API Features
Vault Explorer provides default UI for custom objects.
API allows creation of custom commands and tab views in Vault Explorer.
API allows override of the default New and Delete commands in Vault Explorer.
Vault server can be configured to trigger jobs on lifecycle state change.
New web service: CustomEntitityService.
Read from slide

6. API Compatibility
Vault 2012 clients will be able to communicate with the Grindstone server without the need for a code change or re- compile*.
For example, the following Inventor clients will work with the Grindstone server:
The upcoming Inventor version
Inventor 2012
Inventor 2011 with Vault 2012 patch.
Inventor 2010 with Vault 2012 patch. No official support.
Vault 2012 clients will be able to communicate with the Grindstone server without the need for a code change or re-compile. Of course there is a star on this statement. I’ll get to the star in a bit.
NOTE: Grindstone is the codename for the next release.
Let’s take Inventor for example. The upcoming Inventor release will work with the upcoming Vault release, as always.
The good news is that any Inventor version that talks to Vault 2012 can also talk to Grindstone. This includes Inventor 2012 and any Inventor versions that have the Vault 2012 patch. Autodesk will not provide official support for the Inventor 2010 case.
These Inventor versions will work as soon as you upgrade to Grindstone. No patch needed.

7. API Compatibility
Compatibility only applies to consumers of the web service pieces of the Vault API. Anything that is considered an extension needs a code update and re-compile. For example, Vault Explorer custom commands. Self contained applications, such as Autoloader, should be compatible.
Compatibility does not apply to the entire Vault API. It only applies to the web service functions, which is the mechanism for making server calls.
If you have an “extension” you still need to update your code against the latest DLLs.

8. YES NO API Compatibility Vault 2012 client Grindstone ADMS
Compatibility is only one way. An older client can talk to the latest Vault server, but the inverse will not work. So you need to upgrade your Vault first before upgrading your cad seats. NO
Grindstone client
Vault 2012 ADMS
Client
Server

9. API Compatibility
Compatibility is achieved by the server exposing multiple services.
This feature works by having the server maintain multiple API interfaces.
Vault 2012 client
Vault 2012 web services
Grindstone ADMS
Grindstone client
Grindstone web services
Client
Server

10. API Compatibility
Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.dll will be synced with the web services from it’s current version.
If the build number on the DLL starts with 16, then it uses the Vault 2012 services.
If the build number on the DLL starts with 17, then it uses the Grindstone services.
WebServices.dll
(version 16.x.x.x)
Vault 2012 web services
ADMS
WebServiecs.dll
(version 17.x.x.x)
Grindstone web services
Client
Server

11. API Compatibility The URLs tell which version API is being used.
Vault 2012:
Grindstone:
The web services are distinguished by the URL. Starting with Grindstone, there will be a version component to the URL.
Example URLs:
Vault 2012:
Grindstone:
The Information Service is a special case. There is only one service, which can be used by all versions.

12. API Compatibility
Vault 2012 clients will be able to communicate with the Grindstone server without the need for a code change or re- compile*.
What the * means:
New features may affect legacy behavior.
The returned data sets may be different. For example, there are new properties related to Custom Entities.
New error codes may be added.
Performance may be slower on the legacy API.
New features not available.
Worst case scenario: New client or hotfix is needed.
Back to what the “star” means. There are limitations to the compatibility feature.
- The returned data sets may be different. For example, there are new properties related to Custom Entities.
- New error codes may be added.
- Performance may be slower on the legacy API. For example, legacy APIs may have to make multiple database calls to gather the required information.
New features not available. This one is pretty obvious, the legacy API doesn’t have any of the new features.
You still have the option of updating your client to the new APIs if these issues become too great for your needs.

13. API Compatibility Side by side comparison
This is just one example of how things can be different between client versions.
On the right, is the Grindstone client. In the Contacts folder, I have a link to a custom entity.
On the left, is the Vault 2012 client. It doesn’t know about custom entities, so it shows an empty folder.
2012 client shows empty folder
Grindstone client shows link to custom entity

14. API Compatibility
The long term vision is to have more and more compatibility services in the upcoming years. However this vision is not a guarantee. The number of supported APIs will be decided upon for each release. This information will be announced via DevDays and the Vault Beta.
Vault 2012 web services
Read from slide.
We will not keep legacy APIs around forever. They will be retired at some point, but we don’t know when that will be.
Grindstone+1 ADMS
Grindstone web services
Grindstone+1 web services

15. API Compatibility Best practices: Testing is still needed!
Code to only 1 API version.
If you are building a Grindstone client, use the Grindstone services.
Don’t hard-code data that may be version specific. Ex. Don’t write logic around the server’s version number.
Assume that your client may be used with a future Vault server.
Every Vault web service call should be in a try/catch block at some level.
Read from slide

16. Vault Explorer Extensions
GoToLocation feature:
When your custom command finishes, you can have Vault Explorer navigate to any File, Folder, Item or Change Order or Custom Entity.
Custom Entity Handler feature.
Override the default Add and Delete functions for a Custom Entity type.
Hide the default tab views for a Custom Entity type.
Moving on to Vault Explorer.
GoToLocation feature. When your custom command finishes, you can have Vault Explorer navigate to any File, Folder, Item or Change Order or Custom Entity.
Custom Entity Handler feature.
Override the default Add and Delete functions for a Custom Entity type.
Hide the default tab views for a Custom Entity type. By default, Vault Explorer provides a Contains tab and a Where Used tab.

17. Job Processor Enhancements
Can log in via Windows credentials. (still consumes a license)
Can do a graceful shutdown via command line. Job Processor shuts down if idle or when the current job completes.
IJobHandler enhancements:
OnJobProcessorStartup()
OnJobProcessorShutdown()
OnJobProcessorWake()
OnJobProcessorSleep()
We made some improvements to Job Processor and it’s API.
You can now log in using Windows Authentication. It still consumes a Vault license, however.
You can now do a graceful shutdown from the command line. This means that Job Processor will exit when it’s idle or after it completes the current job.
A bunch of new hooks have been added to the IJobHandler interface.
Startup and Shutdown are triggered when the application starts up and exits.
Wake and Sleep relate to when it goes idle. Wake is called right before it checks the job queue and starts processing jobs. Sleep is called after all jobs are handled, and the process is about to go idle. These events can be used to simulate a perpetual job. It’s useful if you want to do periodic checks or synchronizations of Vault data. Note: The time between two Wake or two Sleep calls is dependant on how full the job queue is.

18. Ownership Enhancements
In most cases, ownership between replicated Vaults can be transferred immediately. Previously you had to wait for SQL Server to sync the change.
If you are using the WebServiceManager, the transfer will happen automatically.
The most annoying thing about replication is the ownership feature. Any type of edit requires ownership. If your local Vault server does not have ownership, you have to first get ownership then wait for the data to be replicated. This wait could last several minutes.
Under the new model, you no longer have to wait. In most cases, you can get ownership and start editing without a wait. The only time you can’t do this is if there are unreplicated changes on the thing you want to edit.
The WebServiceManager has a built in feature that will automatically transfer ownership for you.

19. .NET Changes All SDK DLLs are now signed.
It is recommended that you sign your extension DLLs. Will probably be a requirement in the long term.
All SDK DLLs are now .NET If you need 3.5 DLLs, see ADN.
SDK DLLs are not going into the GAC.
Read from slide

20. Other Changes
Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.Tools.dll has been removed.
All content has been moved into Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.dll.
The namespaces are the same. So no code should need to change. It’s just one less DLL to reference.

21. Other Changes New web service: LifeCycleService.
Most operations relating to File life cycles have been moved into this service.
Files, Folders and Custom Entities use the same lifecycle engine.
Items and Change Orders still use their own engine.
Read from slide.
BTW: You can now have lifecycles on folders.

22. Other Changes
Most instances of “byte []” have been changed to API type “ByteArray” for web service functions.
ByteArray contains the bytes, plus compression information.
By default, data is transferred as uncompressed.

23. Other Changes More control over system names.
For example, AddPropertyDefinition(...) has you pass in the system name instead of the server generating the name.
This change allows you to have a known value for looking up Vault data.
System name has to be a GUID of the format xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx (lower case)
Read from slide

24. Other Changes File store has been optimized.
If the file version gets bumped, but the file itself doesn’t change, it will no longer result in a duplicate file in the file store.
“Vacuum Cleaner” background process will clean up redundant files after the upgrade.
So don’t panic if your file store starts shrinking after upgrade. That means it’s working!
Read from slide
Note: if you file store shrinks to 0, then you can start panicking.
Clarification.
In Vault 2012 and earlier, there was always a 1 to 1 ratio between Vault File Version objects and files on disk in the file store.
Starting in Grindstone, there can be many Vault File Versions pointing to the same file in the file store. This means no redundant files and a smaller file store.

25. Other Changes User impersonation feature.
An administrator can switch the security token to appear logged in as another user.
Once the token is switched all security and permissions checks apply to the impersonated user, not the original administrator.
Useful for things like job handlers, where you want to perform an automated task and have it look like and end user executed the change.
Read from slide

26. Other Changes New CAD clients.... Alias Studio Moldflow Navisworks
AutoCAD ecscad
Read from slide

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