Getting Existing Vault Connection Through API

[Tiffany_Hayden_]

I'm creating a Vault Addin and I need to get the existing connection through vault. The user has already connected to vault and logged in. And there is already an existing connection when I need to do my logic. Is there a way to do this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! 

Autodesk.DataManagement.Client.Framework.Vault.Currency.Connections.Connection connection ;

[Markus.Koechl]

For an Inventor Addin, I'd recommend following this approach: add a reference to the Inventor-Vault library Connectivity.Application.VaultBase. Then create a readonly property that represents an existing connection: iLogic-Vault/iLogic-Vault-QuickstartLibrary/iLogic-Vault QuickstartLibrary.cs at 2023.3 · koechlm/iL....
Validate the connection before you rely on it: iLogic-Vault/iLogic-Vault-QuickstartLibrary/iLogic-Vault QuickstartLibrary.cs at 2023.3 · koechlm/iL...
A Vault extension provides the existing connection best with the logon event argument application: 

/// <summary>
/// This function is called after the user logs in to the Vault Server.
/// Part of the IExtension interface.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="application">Provides information about the running application.</param>
public void OnLogOn(IApplication application)
{
    conn = application.Connection;
    mFldrPropDefs = conn?.WebServiceManager.PropertyService.GetPropertyDefinitionsByEntityClassId("FLDR");
}

[Tiffany_Hayden_]

@Markus.Koechl - Oh I'm doing a Vault Addin within Vault. Do I need to do anything differently? 

[Markus.Koechl]

A Vault "Addin" is an extension. So, the second approach should provide what you need: Your extension class needs to reference the IExporerExtension interface, which includes the LogOn event handler mentioned above.

namespace CloudLinkPanel
{

    /// <summary>
    /// This class implements the IExtension interface, which means it tells Vault Explorer what 
    /// commands and custom tabs are provided by this extension.
    /// </summary>
    public class CloudLinkPanelExtension : IExplorerExtension
    { .......

[Tiffany_Hayden_]

I have implemented the IExplorerExtension and all is fine. But I need to do some queries to display information and use the "Connection" to do so and was curious how that worked with an extension? @Markus.Koechl 

[Markus.Koechl · Accepted solution]

To have the connection always available, you could implement an internal static connection object and consume whenever the extension class or another class in this namespace needs. A sample: 

 public class VaultExplorerExtension : IExplorerExtension
 {
     // Capture the current theme on startup
     internal static string mCurrentTheme = "light";

     internal static Connection? conn { get; set; }

     internal static IApplication? mApplication { get; set; }

.....

 void IExplorerExtension.OnLogOn(IApplication application)
 {
     conn = application.Connection;
 }

......

consuming the connection to retrieve entities and their details:
// Look for the File object depending on the selected source
Item? mItem = null;
if (selection2.TypeId == SelectionTypeId.File)
{
    // our ISelection.Id is a File.MasterId
    var selectedFile = conn?.WebServiceManager.DocumentService.GetLatestFileByMasterId(selection2.Id);
    if (selectedFile != null)
    {
        var items = conn?.WebServiceManager.ItemService.GetItemsByFileId(selectedFile.Id);
        mItem = items?.FirstOrDefault();
    }
}

 @Tiffany_Hayden_ : Does this resolve your open question?

[Tiffany_Hayden_]

Yes it does! Thanks so much. It was a mystery to me how to use the internal connection. I appreciate your help. @Markus.Koechl