Integrating with Microsoft SharePoint 2013

ContentsProduct Requirements ...........................................................................................................................................1

Deployment ............................................................................................................................................................1

Set Access Permissions .....................................................................................................................................2

Configure Profile Page ........................................................................................................................................4

Configure Vault Login .........................................................................................................................................5

Create Vault Lists ................................................................................................................................................6

Configure Vault Search .......................................................................................................................................6

Customizing Vault with SharePoint .....................................................................................................................7

Thumbnail Display Issues After BCS Model Update .........................................................................................12

1Product RequirementsAutodesk Vault Professional 2016

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Standard or higher

Business Data Connectivity Service

Search Service Application

Microsoft WSE 3 (Web Service Extensions 3 is available at Microsofts download site)

Hosted SharePoint environments are no supported.

Deployment Batch files are used to deploy the SharePoint solution. There are two main duties performed by the batch files. First is installation of the BCS model which is required for communication with Autodesk Vault. Second is the creation of two administrative web pages. Of the two administrative pages, the first is Vault Settings which applies to the farm. It should be configured by a site collection administrator. Default location:

http:///_layouts/Autodesk.Vault.BCSConnect/VaultSettings.aspx

Second is the Add List web page which is intended for use by site owners. The Add List page is used to create new SharePoint lists of Vault data. New lists are created on the site from which this page is accessed. Default location on the selected site:

http:///_layouts/Autodesk.Vault.BCSConnect/addVaultlist.aspx

The deployAll.bat file deploys the Vault integration to the default collection. When using the deployAll.bat file, deployFarm.bat and deploySite.bat files are not necessary. Each of the deploy batch files has an equivalent retract batch file for removal of the solution. The deployAll.bat can be used when the default site collection is the only collection or when there are multiple site collections.

Using the deployFarm.bat will deploy the SharePoint solution, the BCS model. The deploySite.bat file will deploy the Add List and Vault Settings pages at the site collection. Using deploySite.bat requires modifying a path within the batch file, detailed below. It is permissi-ble to deploy to multiple site collections.

2Example of deployment to the default site, then accessing the Add List web page from a sub-site of another site collection.

Default deployment creates the Add List page:

http:///_layouts/Autodesk.Vault.BCSConnect/addVaultlist.aspx

A new Vault list is desired on the site Electrical under the site collection Engineering:

http:///sites/Engineering/Electrical/SitePages/Home.aspx

Copy the path, starting with _layouts from the default site. Append to the path of the selected site:

http:///sites/Engineering/Electrical/_layouts/Autodesk.Vault.BCSConnect/addVaultlist.aspx

Using this virtual path to access the Add List page will create a new vault list that is exclusive to the site from which it was created.

Note: If SharePoint is installed in a non-default folder location, edit the SPPATH location in all applicable batch files.

1. Open the batch file and replace localhost with the server name. Set URL=http://

2. If deploying the Vault integration to a specific site collection modify the deploySite.bat with the path to that site collection. Server = ServerABC Site Collection = Engineering Example: Set URL=http://ServerABC/Sites/Engineering

3. If updating an existing deployment of Vault connector, run retractAll.bat to prepare the existing deployment for an update.

4. SharePoint Administrator Tasks outlined in this paper should be completed prior to the creation of custom lists using Add List.

Set Access Permissions

1. Start SharePoint Central Administration

2. Click Manage service applications under Application Management

33. Click Business Data Connectivity Service

4. In the View section, select External Content Types in the drop-down lists.

5. Check the box next to AdskVaultChangeOrder and click the Set Object Permissions button.

6. Add All Users(windows) and click the Add button.

7. Check each permission box and click the Ok button.

8. Repeat steps 5 7 for AdskVaultFile and AdskVaultItem

4Configure Profile Page

1. Check AdskVaultFile, AdskVaultItem & AdskVaultChangeOrder and select Configure.

2. In the URL field type: http:///

3. Click OK NOTE: When re-importing a modified BCS model selecting Create/Upgrade in the next step is optional. Choosing this option may require subsequent manual modification of XSL for proper display of thumbnails. This process is detailed in the Additional Topics section of this paper in the sub-section Thumbnail Display Issues After BCS Model Update.

4. Check AdskVaultFile, AdskVaultItem & AdskVaultChangeOrder and click Create/Upgrade.

5. Click Ok.

5Configure Vault Login

1. Go to URL http:///_layouts/Autodesk.Vault.BCSConnect/VaultSettings.aspx (This should be done at the site level not at the Central Administration site.

2. Fill in Vault connection information. NOTE: It is suggested that a custom Vault user is created for the SharePoint integration. This user would require read access to the objects that should be exposed in SharePoint. The Vault server name may be the machine name or IP address. Active Directory Vault users are not supported.

Check the Update Password option only when you set or change the password.

3. Click the Save button

6Create Vault Lists

1. Go to http:///_layouts/15/Autodesk.Vault.BCSConnect/addVaultList.aspx

2. Type in a name for the list in the List Name field.

3. Select the list type from the List Type drop-down field.

4. Click Create List when finished.

Configure Vault Search

1. At the home page for the site, click the Settings > Site Settings.

2. Select Search Result Sources under Site Collection Administration

3. Click Result Sources in the Search group.

4. Click New Result Source.

5. Fill in the following data

Name: VaultSearch

Protocol: OpenSearch 1.0/1.1

Query Transform: {searchTerms}

Source Url: http:///_layouts/Autodesk.Vault.BCSConnect/VaultSearch.aspx?s={searchTerms}&i={startIndex} Replace [server] with the value of your SP site.

Credentials: Anonymous

6. Click Save

7. Return to the home page for the site and click the Settings > Site Contents.

8. Click new subsite

Title: Vault Search

Web Site Address: http:///vaultsearch

Select Basic Search Center in the Enterprise Template tab

Select Yes for Navigation Inheritance

Click the Create button

9. Go to the newly created site

10. Click the Settings > Site Settings

11. Select Result Sources

12. Select the Vault Search resource created in step 8 and select Set as Default from the drop-down menu.

13. Return to the site page and perform a search.

7Customizing Vault with SharePoint

Global Settings

There are global settings that are configured in the Vault Settings page. Under the Other Settings section you can configure the Cache Window, Thumbnail Library Name, Allow Visualization Download, Require Synchronized Visualization and Show Only Released Revi-sions.

The Cache Window is the period that Vault list data is cached on the SharePoint server.

Allowed File Extensions defines the file extensions available for both source download and visualization download options on the profile pages. Visualization files are defined by a unique relation-ship within Vault. File extensions are separated by semi-colons.

Allow Visualization Download enables download of Vault specified visualization files.

Require Synchronized Visualization blocks download of outdated visualization files.

Show Only Released Revisions restricts all lists and searches to the latest released revision. If there is no released revision the object is not returned. If the tip version is a Work in Progress, or some other state, the last Released revision will be returned.

Customizing File Lists

Each Vault list can be configured for the specific needs of the users on that SharePoint site.

By modifying the list, you can configure the list view, the columns displayed and for file lists, the Vault Folder the list will start at. Display the list you want to customize. On the SharePoint Ribbon, select the List tab then select Modify View.

In the Edit View page of the list, in the columns section, select the columns you would like to appear in the main list view.

Modify the Position from Left numbers to display the column in a specific order.

Note: these settings dont change what is available in the Profile view of the item.

8Other filters can be applied to the file list. You can filter by Category, State, Vault Folder and Limit.

Category allows filtering by Vault Category.

State supports filtering by Vault life cycle state.

Vault Folder supports limiting the scope to a specific folder branch. The correct format is: $/FirstLevelFolderName/SecondLevelFolderName

Limit specifies the number of returned objects from Vault. The de-fault value is 100

Note: none of the filters affect the federated search results.

Customize Item Lists

The Item list can be customized using the same information in the Customize File Lists section. However, the Item list will display all Items in the Item Master by default. If you wanted to configure the Items list to only display Items that are associated to as specific project, you can create a custom Item property with the Project name or you can use the Vault Folder filter.

1. In the Vault client inside the Project Explorer, create a sub-folder for Items associated to the project.

2. In the Vault client inside the Item Master, drag-n-drop items into the sub-folder you created.

3. In the Item list in SharePoint, modify the list view.

4. In the Data Source Filters section, enter the name of the sub-folder in the Vault Folder field.

5. Click the OK button and now your list will only display the short cuts to the Items in the list.

Customize Change Order Lists

The Change Order list can be customized using the same information in the Customize File Lists section. However, the Change Order list will display all change orders in Vault by default. Just like the Items list, you can customize the change orders in the view by creat-ing short cuts to the change orders in a sub-folder of the project.

Note: Change Orders do not have categories so the Category filter is not available in the filter section.

9Adding More Columns

The SharePoint integration comes with a set of default columns for each object type. If you are using custom user defined properties, you may want to display these properties in the SharePoint list also. To accomplish this you will need to edit the default vault BDC model.

Export the Vault BDC Model

1. Start SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.

2. Under Application Management click Manage service applications.

3. Click Business Data Connectivity Service.

4. Select BDC Models in the View section of the toolbar.

5. Select Export for the AdskVaultModel.

6. Use the default File Type and Advanced Settings.

7. Click the Export button.

8. Save the file on the local system. AdskVaultModel.bdcm is the recommended file name.

Edit the Vault BDC Model

1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the Program Files\Autodesk\Vault for SharePoint 2013 folder.

2. Double click Autodesk.BDCModelEditor.exe.

3. Log in using the Vault credentials.

10

4. Drag the file onto the editor.

5. Select the desired Vault properties and Add-> to the right column. Make sure that any property that you want to remove from the BDC model is removed from the display of all SharePoint lists and profile pages prior to removal from the BDC model. Note: the names in blue cannot be removed from the right side.

6. Save your changes and close the dialog.

The modified AdskVaultModel.bdcm must be re-imported into SharePoint replacing the existing model.

11

Importing the new Vault BDC Model

1. Start SharePoint 2013 Central Administration.

2. Under Application Management click Manage service applications.

3. Click Business Data Connectivity Service.

4. Select BDC Models in the View section of the toolbar.

5. Delete the existing AdskVaultModel.

6. Select External Systems in the View section of the toolbar.

7. Delete AdskVaultLobSystem if it exists.

8. Click the Import button from the toolbar.

9. In BDC Model File field browse to and open your updated version of the exported file AdskVaultModel.bdcm.

10. Click Import at the bottom of the screen.

11. Click OK to the message saying import was successful.

12. Reset the permissions on the each of the pages as described in the Set Access Permissions and Configure the Profile Page sections. The new properties are available for use on the existing lists but will not appear until they are enabled.

12

Thumbnail Display Issues After BCS Model UpdateWhen the Create/Upgrade profile page for Vault file lists are created inside of SharePoint, the profile page are overwritten and file thumbnail may not display properly. To restore the proper display of the thumbnails, the profile page XSL must be manually updated. There are a couple of methods to fix this issue. All methods require familiarity with profile pages and XSL configuration.

This process outlined below requires Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2013 which is available online from Microsoft.

1. Select a link that opens a Vault file list.

2. Click drop-down arrow next to one of the files in the list that has a thumbnail showing and select View Profile.

3. Once the profile page appears you should see that the thumbnail field show HTML code instead of a picture.

4. Click on the Page tab, expand the Edit Page button and select Edit in SharePoint Designer.

5. Find the following section

6. Change it to the following:

7. Select Save and then close file in SharePoint Designer.

8. Refresh the Profile page in the web browser and you should see the thumbnail displayed properly.

13

To fix the thumbnails without the Microsoft SharePoint Designer, perform the following.

1. Select a link that opens a Vault file list.

2. Click drop-down arrow next to one of the files in the list that has a thumbnail showing and select View Profile.

3. Once the profile page appears you should see that the thumbnail field show HTML code instead of a picture.

4. Click on the Page tab and select Edit Page.

5. In the Web Part that shows the Thumbnail, select the drop-down arrow and select Edit Web Part.

6. In the Data View Properties section, select XSL Editor.

7. Find the following section

8. Change it to the following:

9. Click the Apply button and the thumbnail should appear after the page refreshes.

10. Click the Stop Editing button.

Autodesk and Autodesk Vault are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Microsoft SharePoint 2013 are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. 2015 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

Product RequirementsDeployment Set Access PermissionsConfigure Profile PageConfigure Vault LoginCreate Vault ListsConfigure Vault SearchCustomizing Vault with SharePoint

Thumbnail Display Issues After BCS Model Update