Parameters Service - 'Collections'

[mike_engel]

The Parameter Service currently allows you to create a single collection associated with an account, for your company to organize and manage parameter definitions. For future development, we are considering expanding collections to enable more robust management workflows and support your design delivery needs.

Share your feedback in the comments and help teams at Autodesk understand how you would like to manage and organize your parameter definitions.

[dave_fagerstrom]

Hello Again.  I see that the parameters service isn't even there.   This is a new one for us.  @mike_engel is this possibly a region issue where FSS is not available in this locale?

[mike_engel]

@l.wichert - Can you confirm if you are using a European based server for the ACC account where you are not able to connect to the parameters services?  If you are, that is most likely the reason, we have on our roadmap to support multiple regions coming soon.  

[l.wichert]

@mike_engel Yes we are using European based server

- so no shared parameters for us now?? 😞

[briank8AANT]

I'm a former Revit user now at a GC, focused more on downstream data use and management of Revit models created by others. We use Assemble heavily to "condition" models with appended cloud-based data, that never returns back to the Revit model(s). Often this is a good thing, as we are not the model authors and we need to be able to maintain that data across model version updates. However Assemble is a dead-end product as far as ACC development goes.

I just began to learn about the parameter service today. It is a great step in the direction of improving data management for Revit. However, I would love to see the service broaden to become the ACC-wide, cross-project, enterprise data field management for all of the ACC tools, not just Revit.

I would like to be able to condition objects in a model without needing to use Revit, as Assemble can do. Let me associate my own data with elements for any model. Let me ensure that data field is consistent across all of my models and projects. Let me harvest, access, and manage that data for other workflows, such as Estimating. Let me push and pull that data in and out of ACC into other platforms.

The parameters service is an improvement on Revit use, but at least from what I can tell, it remains a Revit-centric silo. Are we going to move past that soon?

Thank you!

[mike_engel]

Thanks for the feedback and insight @briank8AANT 

Yes, today it is only directly integrated into Revit as a UI.  We are actively working with partners across our products to identify opportunities where this capability can be integrated and extended.  Tools like Assemble and our Construction Cloud are front of mind for this topic.  

As part of extending this functionality, we are also looking at other integrations and have delivered the API for integrations into products outside Autodesk.  Details at https://aps.autodesk.com/autodesk-parameters-api-cover-page  

One other place that is not so obvious is our Data Exchange and building an ecosystem of connected data between desktop apps.  For sharing properties and parameters we are using these same tools and technologies to power and enable the transfer of data.  https://aps.autodesk.com/data-exchange-cover-page

In short, your vision and ask is shared by us, we want to see this expand in both its availability and capabilities.  It's still new in its first year, but we've got a number of items on the roadmap, and interest from groups like yourself is what keeps us excited.

[dave_fagerstrom]

Team Omicron would like to announce that collections are now released in production!   See our YouTube video that describes how to use the new functionality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkye7CRU0H8&list=PLY-ggSrSwbZrrYq8soIPjlcGRyF3lcUve&index=8&pp=iAQB

[mcoxQ4S2V]

Forgive me if I am wrong.  But I see the Collection as a way to Manage Multiple Shared Parameter Files?

I could see a Collection as being Project Specific perhaps?

In ACC for example.  We may have a Company Standard Collection.  But we could also use a Client specific collection for a very advanced Project Environment.

Maybe we would want to limit which Projects would have access to which Collection(s)?

[Chad-Smith]

I am circling back to the Parameter Library again now that Collections went live the other month. But I keep getting an error when trying to add the parameters to a Collection.

I also have two other questions:

1. How far away are Collection Permissions to control who or which projects can see them?
2. How do we manage Archived parameters? I have two archived parameters that I now need to either restore, or, upload replacement parameters. Currently, I can do neither of those two options, meaning I am left not being able to use these two parameters in the Parameter Library.

[dave_fagerstrom]

Hi Chad,

Please reach out to help us debug what's going on with why you cannot add parameters to a collection.   

For your other questions, 

1. How far away are Collection Permissions to control who or which projects can see them?
   • This is on our backlog and helpful to see interest for the feature here.  We cannot say when it will be implemented.  
2. How do we manage Archived parameters? I have two archived parameters that I now need to either restore, or, upload replacement parameters. Currently, I can do neither of those two options, meaning I am left not being able to use these two parameters in the Parameter Library.
   • Like collection permissions and controls, archived parameter management is also in our backlog of features to work on.  When we work on the feature we hope to provide a view to see all your archived parameters, and restore parameters.  Right now the only options I'm aware of are to upload under a new GUID, or use the API to remove the archived flag for the parameter.  While helping debug your collection management issue we can try to provide guidance on either of these options.  

[Allard_LTB]

Same here, but as i understood it is not yet present on the european server.  Are there plans to integrate this on the European server as well?

[l.wichert]

hi @mike_engel 

What is the status of the introduction of the european servers for the shared parameter service?

[bryanBYS]

1. How can I delete 'labels' 

2. View the parameter created GUIG? or alter an existing one that I have uploaded?

[dave_fagerstrom]

For labels, having no parameters attached to a label used to delete it.  Now we have a future enhancement to remove unwanted labels.

For the Guids, you cannot currently see them in the UI.  In a future enhancement around versioning parameters you will be able to reference the guid of the parameter.   Since the GUID is a unique identifier you cannot change them without creating a new parameter.   

[bryanBYS]

Thank you Dave

would you say then the best option around it is to export it out and view (the GUIG) it a the text file? is there an option I can export the parameter services parameters to a txt file anyway? 

[bryanBYS]

Hi @dave_fagerstrom 
I archieve the parameter that I upload using our share parameters txt file (to test removing unwanted labels, it removed all the labels). Now, I can no longer use any of the parameter or upload the file again. Is there a way to recover this? I would hate to now have to recreate a new parameter and relink all our models/tags. 😢

[dave_fagerstrom]

While in the service, select the parameters you want to export, then select the three vertical dots next to "add to collections" to see more options.  You'll be able to export parameters into a new text file from there.  

[dave_fagerstrom]

UN-archive is on our roadmap of features to implement.   Via the API the parameter can have the archived flag removed.  please reach out to me at dave.fagerstrom@autodesk.com and we can work to resolve this issue for you.  

[bryanBYS]

Hi @dave_fagerstrom , what is the eta on the implementation? this is serious problem as there is nowhere in the documentation that warn users about it properly (you cant recover, you cant reupload parameter files, etc)
This is one of the responses I received, and it is extremely disappointing that 'is by design' .... 

Hi ,

Thank you for contacting Autodesk. My name is **** and I am from the Technical Support team, specializing in BIM360 and Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC). I'll be glad to assist you with this service request!

I understand that you are having issues with Parameters Services in ACC, please feel free to add if I have missed any details.

As per Design, If the parameters have previously been uploaded to ACC Parameter services, they cannot be generated or reuploaded even if they have been archived; if the GUID matches one of the already current parameters, an error indicating that the parameter already exists will be displayed. If GUID is not your first choice, you may change the text file with a new GUID by utilizing random GUID creation and upload it.

Please let me know if this helped you resolve the issue. I look forward to hearing from you soon!.

Thank you.

Best regards,

****
Customer Technical Success
Autodesk

[youssef_ahmedNFESX]

The account could contain multiple projects, and I need separate each collection to be accessed through each project individually, to have all the parameters accessible through all projects is a problem, is there a way to make a certain collection accessible through a certain project 

[bryanBYS]

Hi @dave_fagerstrom 
I note that the un-archive has been roll out. It can now be handled by admin. Thx

Circling back to the ability to remove unwanted label from the 'Library" , is it not a feature for ACC but APS as below?
https://aps.autodesk.com/en/docs/parameters/v1/reference/http/parameters-deletelabelv2-DELETE/

Also, can I share my parameter collection with another team outside of my organization? ie consultants (project-involement), or autodesk reseller (non-project based)