When to use GetBOMByFileIds vs GetFileAssociationsByIds

[FarrenYoung]

I am working on some code that uses GetBOMByFileIds and it isn't giving me the results I expect.  It's basically giving me the very first version of some files.  When I look at the "Uses" tab in vault for the same version of the parent file (assembly) it shows a much newer version.  I am wondering what the difference between GetBOMByFileIds and GetFileAssociationsByIds is?  When should each be used?  Would I get the same results with both or would GetFileAssociationsByIds show me the same results I see in the "Uses" tab?

[FarrenYoung]

Is it possible someone from autodesk that knows about this could respond? I see newer messages answered and my message just gets pushed farther down the list...

[Chris_Rogers]

I would like to know the same thing!  Bump for an Autodesk response.

[Daniel.Dulzo]

Hi Farren Young,

The GetFileAssociationsByIds() method reads relationship data that is directly stored in Vault. This is the data that you provide via the associations parameter in the CheckinFile() method. The GetBOMByFileIds() method gets BOM metadata that is really only intended for use with items and is stored seperately in BOM blobs in Vault, so it's possible that the two could return different file versions, however, you really should be using GetFileAssociationsByIds() when trying to get File associations.

The reason your "Uses" tab might look different that the data you get back with these methods is because the server actually provides multiple methods for getting file references that behave slightly different. For versions of Vault that support revisions, you can get file relationships that are "released bias". The other "versions" of the GetFileAssociationsByIds() methods are GetRevisionFileAssociationsByIds() and GetRevisionFileAssociationsByIds2().