Write Description Attribute of File Item of ACC and BIM360

Description is a default attribute for File items of ACC or BIM360. Last year, we shared two endpoints in the Data Management API for retrieving this attribute in a blog post - Fetch Description Attribute of File Item of ACC and BIM360.

Today, we are pleased to announce that our engineering team has expanded the capabilities of the Data Management API to update or change the value of this attribute. It's available through the PATCH projects/:project_id/items/:item_id.

Known Limitations

This endpoint only supports updating the description of the file item, whose extension type is "items:autodesk.bim360:File" for both ACC and BIM360.
On the other hand, it doesn't support updating the descriptions of the following extension types:
- Data Exchange (items:autodesk.bim360:FDX),
- Revit Cloud Model (items:autodesk.bim360:C4RModel),
- etc.
Must use an empty string (""), a string with zero length, to clear the description value.
Currently, BIM360 has a known issue that prevents us from clearing the description value of a File item with a whitespace (" "), which has been logged as FDM-5287.

API call examples

1. Update or change the description of a File item

curl -v 'https://developer.api.autodesk.com/data/v1/projects/b.a74401a1-54d6-45e5-8388-fbe06672e7aa/items/urn:adsk.wipprod:dm.lineage:AeYgDtcTSuqYoyMweWFhhQ' \
  -X 'PATCH' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer ....' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json' \
  -d '{
        "jsonapi": {
          "version": "1.0"
        },
        "data": {
          "type": "items",
          "id": "urn:adsk.wipprod:dm.lineage:AeYgDtcTSuqYoyMweWFhhQ",
          "attributes": {
            "extension": {
              "data": {
                "description": "My Description"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }'

2. Clear the existing description value of a File item

curl -v 'https://developer.api.autodesk.com/data/v1/projects/b.a74401a1-54d6-45e5-8388-fbe06672e7aa/items/urn:adsk.wipprod:dm.lineage:AeYgDtcTSuqYoyMweWFhhQ' \
  -X 'PATCH' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer ....' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json' \
  -d '{
        "jsonapi": {
          "version": "1.0"
        },
        "data": {
          "type": "items",
          "id": "urn:adsk.wipprod:dm.lineage:AeYgDtcTSuqYoyMweWFhhQ",
          "attributes": {
            "extension": {
              "data": {
                "description": ""    //!<<< Must use empty string
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }'

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us through our APS support channel.

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