Autodesk Vault Customization

[#1]

We are considering building an order entry application with Microsoft Lightswitch. I would like to interface this app with Autodesk Vault to get some product information.  According to this I should be able to do that via the web services interface. In the past I have interfaced with Vault via the standard api functions in a Windows Forms application, but I haven't been able to come up with any information that shows how to do it directly via Web Services.  I do know it's strictly off limits to modify the SQL database without using the api functions so I'm a little confused. Can somebody help me with this please?

[#2]

Lightswitch talks a lot about how you don't have to write code.  But I bet if you want to write code, Lightswitch will let you.  My guess is that it will allow you to link in to .NET libraries and provide your own C# or VB.NET code.  So you should be able to use Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.dll, Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServicesTools.dll just like with a winforms application

Regarding direct access to web services.

The entry point for a web service is the URL to the .asmx file.  For Vault 2012 and earlier, this URL is in the format

http://[server name]/AutodeskDM/Services/[service name].asmx

Beyond that, using the web service depends on the development environment. Vault has some specilized behavior regarding authentication and binary data transfer, so I doubt the web services will plug easily into Lightswitch.

My guess is that using the SDK DLLs is still the easiest approach.

[#3]

My guess is that it will allow you to link in to .NET libraries and provide your own C# or VB.NET code.  So you should be able to use Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServices.dll, Autodesk.Connectivity.WebServicesTools.dll just like with a winforms application

 That was my guess too, but once I really got serious, it's proving to be very difficult to work with .NET code.  Lightswitch does allow it on the server side, but does not provide an easy way to interface with it via the user interface.  I was really hoping to go with Lightswitch for this application to speed up the design process, but it looks like I'll have to do it the hard way with a win forms app.