Creating new project from based on the project template

[dk941]

Hi,

We are looking into API's related to BIM 360.

we are trying to create a new BIM 360 project in a specific BIM 360 account based on the project template

(https://developer.autodesk.com/en/docs/bim360/v1/reference/http/projects-POST/)

{
  "name": "TEST",
  "service_types": "doc_manager",
  "start_date": "2015-05-02",
  "end_date": "2016-04-03",
  "project_type": "office",
  "value": 3000,
  "currency": "USD",
  "job_number": "0219-01",
  "address_line_1": "The Fifth Avenue",
  "address_line_2": "#301",
  "city": "New York",
  "state_or_province": "New York",
  "postal_code": "10011",
  "country": "United States",
  "timezone": "America/New_York",
  "language": "en",
  "construction_type": "Renovation",
  "contract_type": "Design-Bid",
  "template_project_id": "9999fddd-9999-9999-999c-fd166369999d",
  "include_companies": "true",
  "include_locations": "true"
}

"template_project_id": "9999fddd-9999-9999-999c-fd166369999d" - is ID of the existing active project with the folder structure in Document Management.

response JSON:

{
    "id": "xxxxx-1065-409a-xxxx-xxxx359778",
    "account_id": "xxxxxxxx-eae9-xxxx-xxxx-cd3ad690xxxx",
    "name": "TEST",
    "start_date": "2015-05-02",
    "end_date": "2016-04-03",
    "value": 3000,
    "currency": "USD",
    "status": "pending",
    "job_number": "0219-01",
    "address_line_1": "The Fifth Avenue",
    "address_line_2": "#301",
    "city": "New York",
    "state_or_province": "New York",
    "postal_code": "10011",
    "country": "United States",
    "business_unit_id": null,
    "created_at": "2018-06-15T11:22:42.514Z",
    "updated_at": "2018-06-15T11:22:42.514Z",
    "project_type": "office",
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
    "language": "en",
    "construction_type": "Renovation",
    "contract_type": "Design-Bid",
    "last_sign_in": null
}

new project is created!

activation of service (https://developer.autodesk.com/en/docs/bim360/v1/tutorials/activate-service/)

total:
A new project was created using a template (no errors); is activated.
but the new project does not have a folder structure from the template project!!

What are we doing wrong?

Thanks! 

[Anonymous]

It looks like no one ever posted a Reply to this question from June.  Did you ever get an answer or figure this out?  We are having the same problem.  We developed a service utilizing nodejs that creates new projects, assigns a project admin, and activates the Document Management service. 

The part that we do not have working yet is:

the equivalent of choosing to “Copy project settings” (see screenshot) so that the folders and subfolders within the Project Files section of the selected project’s Document Management module are copied/created within the new project. 

We read about needing to have Field activated in order to copy templates, but it didn’t seem to me that it applies to what we’re trying to do, does it?  Anyway, we tried that, and it didn’t work for us through the API either way.  That is, we tried copying a project that was created as a Template Project with Field activated.  And we tried "copying" a project that was not designated Template Project, with and without Field activated.  Using “Copy project settings” through the interface, like in the screenshot, all of these options work the way we need it to.  But we haven't found how to make it work with any of these options through the API. 

We know that we could build the folder structure through the API every time we create a new project.  But it would be much simpler and faster if we could just copy it the way an end-user can.  Also, if our management wants to edit the folder structure, they can just change the "project" that we're copying without the need to change any code.  If anyone could steer us in the right direction, we would appreciate it.  Thank you!

[Littlerubarb]

Hey  sorry to be the bearer of bad news but templates via the API does not create folders as of "yet"(Hello Autodesk)...

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the confirmation.  That is bad news.  We know that we can get the list of contents (folders and files) from our template project's Project Files via the Data Management API.  So, we can develop our own workaround.  But we were hoping to be able to be "lazier" than that   

[Janne_Boman]

Bumping up this old thread, it seems that this limitation is still there?

Any news?

In general, I would like to see feature parity between the web UI and API: if a feature is available in the web UI, it should be also in the API.

Thanks

-Janne

[Anonymous]

Bumping this thread again. Could we get some answer from Autodesk if this is going to be enabled at some point? Or if it is how do we make it work. Really annoying that we have different functionality between web GUI and API.

Also, some explanation on what for are we entering that "template_project_id" during project creation, if it is not used afterwards would be nice. 

Justinas

[mikako_harada]

Sorry for the late reply.  Unfortunately, not being able to set up a project from a template is a known limitation.  It only works for BIM 360 Field classic.  We have the following wish logged against this:  

HQ-5023: “As a account admin, I would like to setup account level templates (Budget Codes, Document Templates, Markup Formulas and Custom Attributes) so that every new create project can automatically inherit those templates from account level” (i.e., “API wish: set project templates”)

As a workaround, you can create a project using:

https://forge.autodesk.com/en/docs/bim360/v1/reference/http/projects-POST/

you can then use Data Management API to read and create folders.  

API to set Folder permissions are still to come, too.  You can only create folders without them. 

Sorry for the bad news.  We are fully aware that this is a highly demanded feature. 

(Side note, if you have a specific API features you would like to see in Admin module, feel free to drop off an e-mail to mikako.harada@autodesk.com with an example of use case.  We will log a wish.)  

[Littlerubarb]

Here a sample of how this is accomplished in vb, its not the most efficient way to do it, but it gets the job done.

Public Shared Function TemplatesCopy(folderDataTemplate As DynamicDictionaryItems, folderDataNew As DynamicDictionaryItems, RootParentURN As String, counts As String, Optional ByVal bgw As System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker = Nothing)
        Dim folderApi As FoldersApi = New FoldersApi()
        'folderApi.PostFolder()
        Dim Project_ID_SDK = "b." + Account.Default.ActPrjCreateId
        Dim Project_ID_Data = Account.Default.ActPrjCreateId
        Dim prog As Integer = 0

        For Each folderContentTemplate As KeyValuePair(Of String, Object) In folderDataTemplate

            If folderContentTemplate.Value.attributes.extension.type = "folders:autodesk.bim360:Folder" Then

                If CreateFolder(folderContentTemplate.Value.attributes.name, Project_ID_SDK, RootParentURN) = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then

                    Dim CreatefolderURN = Account.Default.ActPrjCreateURN
                    Dim NewfolderidTemp = folderContentTemplate.Value.id
                    Dim folderContentSecondTemp = folderApi.GetFolderContents(Project_ID_SDK, NewfolderidTemp)
                    Dim folderData2Temp = New DynamicDictionaryItems(folderContentSecondTemp.data)
                    Dim ParentURN_new = CreatefolderURN
                    Dim folderContentSecondNew = folderApi.GetFolderContents(Project_ID_SDK, Account.Default.ActPrjCreateURN)
                    Dim folderData2New = New DynamicDictionaryItems(folderContentSecondNew.data)
                    bgw.ReportProgress(1, New Tuple(Of String)(counts))
                    TemplatesCopy(folderData2Temp, folderData2New, ParentURN_new, counts, bgw)

                End If
            End If

        Next
    End Function

[Janne_Boman]

Hello

Thanks for sharing, although we have already implemented something similar.

-Janne

[Janne_Boman]

Still no solution to this? Any discussion in stackoverflow?

Thanks

-Janne

[mikako_harada]

Hi Janne, 

Have you look at the tool we recently added to our Github samples?  

https://github.com/Autodesk-Forge/forge-bim360.project.setup.tool

It includes taking a project as a template and creates a folder structure in a new project. 

While no API for that specific functionality, we hope it serves (or close to serve) the purpose.

[Janne_Boman]

Hi
we have already deployed something similar 2 years ago.
Thanks
-Janne

[adiln]

Hi 

If anyone interested for a tool which creates and maps project from Deltek Vision ERP or any other ERP, please refer to below link

http://www.bitechsol.com/BITSWebsite/Deltek-Vision-Integration-BIM360.aspx

Thanks

[Anonymous]

No API support yet?

[jmalcolmX3ADF]

We are also seeking support for this feature. Without feature parity between the website and API, we're stuck with BIM360 project creation being a somewhat manual process. We can surely automate folder setup as described above, but we're missing the ability to set some issue configuration, roles, and other configuration that is copied from the template project perfectly when using the website.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

We are in the exact same situation! It ends up being faster to just create all projects manually than having to configure each custom issue attributes, categories, etc. Not worth it to invest the time on auto-populating all folders if all those other settings have to be configured manually. What we need is full API support for creating projects using a template! Autodesk team, help us out here, this thread was created 2.5 years ago!

[zhounnin · Accepted solution]

is this integration based on Forge? we have an SharePoint review system and want to integrate into BIM 360, anyone have inside knowledge how to approach it?

[adiln]

Hi  Zhounnin

Yes we have developed a tool based upon BIM360API as a destination and sourcing the data from Deltek Vision system. Based upon your requirement we can change the source to Sharepoint. you can connect at info@bitechsol.com

[zhounnin]

thanks adiln, looks like your tool can sync some project data from Deltek Vision system to BIM 360, how about Review workflow? BIM 360 API for Review is not yet available, from my limited knowledge of both BIM 360 product and its API, seems it's not doable to customize full functions of our system within BIM 360 process/platform, unless develop (Forge) app outside of BIM 360, w/ own UI/etc. only read/write data from BIM 360 via URL, correct me if i'm wrong.