Have you ever heard of "Make"?
It is not a service that was born recently; in fact, it has existed for some time. (Originally called Integromat, it was acquired and renamed.)
Make" allows you to integrate various services and build automated workflows.
When you think of no-code tools, you probably think of Autodesk Dynamo.
However, Dynamo is only used by people who specialize in BIM. In fact, the number of people working in the construction field in Japan is decreasing year by year, and there are concerns about the decline in productivity. As the population of the construction industry shrinks, we no longer need to limit ourselves to BIM alone; we need to automate work across the entire construction field. This is where Make comes in.
The cloud development platform announced by Autodesk, "APS" (Autodesk Platform Service), is not only for those who specialize in BIM, but for all construction professionals. We believe it is important for all construction professionals to feel the benefits of APS, not just those who specialize in BIM.
We chose "Make" as a means to achieve this.
It has a very intuitive UI and, like Dynamo, is particularly easy to use in that you can create programs by connecting nodes.
We will write an introductory article on APS using "Make".
We hope that through this article, we can support the creation of a soil where even those who do not have BIM-related skills can easily benefit from APS.
①First, register with Make.
Please register an account at the URL below.
https://www.make.com/en/register
②Once you have registered for an account, you will see the following screen. From the left sidebar, press "Scenarios" to create a new program, which in Revit is called creating a project.
③From the top right, press "Create Scenario".
④First, press the plus button in the middle. Then, you can link various applications. However, no Autodesk-related applications are published.
So, let's create a custom one.
⑤In the search window, search for "http". Then select
⑥You will be presented with various options, but select "Make an OAuth 2.0 request".
In utilizing the Autodesk Platform Service, we will be accessing data in BIM360 and Autodesk Docs.
⑦This "http" module is very useful.
This module is very useful because it handles all the authentication related stuff and automatically writes the access token that is required when executing the API.
In other words, you can skip the usual header and body access tokens when executing the API.
Let's try it once.
Authorize URL is "https://developer.api.autodesk.com/authentication/v1/authorize" and Token URL is "https://developer.api.autodesk.com/authentication/v1/gettoken" for the Token URL. Otherwise, enter as shown in the image above.
Please login to the Autodesk Platform Service and create your own Client ID and Client Secret.
See "Create an App" below for specific instructions.
Also, add "https://www.integromat.com/oauth/cb/oauth2" as the redirect URL for the App.
https://aps.autodesk.com/en/docs/oauth/v1/tutorials/create-app/
⑧Once you have entered your information, save it. You will then jump to the authentication page and log in with your Autodesk ID.
After authentication, you will be automatically returned to the Make page.
This completes the authentication process. Oh, that was easy!
⑨Once authenticated, the next step is to access the ACC API, which will automatically create the issue.
Enter "https://developer.api.autodesk.com/construction/issues/v1/projects/:projectId/issues" as the URL.
However, this is not enough; we need to enter "projectId" in the URL.
The projectId itself can be obtained from the API, but if you are not comfortable with this, open ACC and open the project in a web browser.
When you open the project in a Web browser, you will see a string of characters after "projects" in the form of "https://acc.autodesk.com/build/home/projects/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx." This is the projectId.
This is the projectId.
Of course, you can also use the API to obtain it. The reference can be found at the following URL
https://aps.autodesk.com/en/docs/data/v2/reference/http/hubs-hub_id-projects-GET/
Now, once you know the projectId, you need to know the issueSubtypeId.
When submitting an issue, you need to specify which subtype it is so that you can submit it via the API.
ACC opens a configuration screen where you can create and modify issue subtypes.
When you select a subtype, the browser URL will look like this
Here, the ID you specify for types?typeOrCategoryId is the subtype ID. Make a note of this.
Of course, this subtype ID can also be obtained through the API.
The following URL is the API reference. To obtain a subtype ID, you must include "include=subtypes" in the query parameter, otherwise you will not be able to obtain a subtype ID just by hitting the API as usual.
https://aps.autodesk.com/en/docs/acc/v1/reference/http/issues-issue-types-GET/
Now it is time to submit the issue automatically.
Enter the information as shown in the yellow boxed area.
⑩When you are ready to enter the information, press the OK button. Now that you are ready for automatic submission, we will run the program.
Press "Run Once" in the lower left corner.
⑪After execution is complete, check the Output result. The status code is 201, so it was executed successfully.
⑫Let's take a look at the ACC browser. You can see that the issue has been created.
How was it?
The Autodesk Platform Service offers a wide variety of APIs and of course tutorials.
By utilizing the APS APIs, you can benefit in many ways, but you still need IT skills to do so.
As I said in the previous section, in order for all construction people to benefit from the APS, they need to use a no-code tool like Make.
Without having to go to the trouble of creating a web application, we can achieve what we want to achieve with the least amount of man-hours. This is the power of no-code tools.
Although I could not introduce it in this article, I am using Autodesk Construction Cloud as a foundation to support my company's DX by integrating data with Power BI and accounting software.
I am using Make as a means to power these efforts.
What would you like to automate with Make? We would love to hear your ideas.
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