Field Guide

As described in the API Basics page, there are four primary entities in the Design Automation API for executing custom programs or running scripts on input files:

Activity
WorkItem
AppBundle
Engine

Entity Relationships

WorkItems reference exactly one Activity.
Activities reference exactly one Engine.
Activities reference one or more AppBundles. Note: Inventor Activities may only reference one AppBundle.
AppBundles reference zero or more other AppBundles. Note: Inventor AppBundles may not reference any other AppBundles.
AppBundles reference exactly one Engine.

An Activity is an action that can be executed within the core engine (AutoCAD, 3dsMax, Inventor or Fusion). For example, this might be plotting a DWG to PDF, updating the CAD standards in a drawing file or modifying the assembly based on iLogic parameters in Inventor.

Examples

AutoCAD

{
    "commandLine": [
        "$(engine.path)\\accoreconsole.exe /i $(args[HostDwg].path) /al \"$(appbundles[Publish2View22].path)\" /s \"$(settings[script].path)\""
    ],
    "parameters": {
        "HostDwg": {
            "verb": "get",
            "description": "Host drawing",
            "localName": "$(EmptyDwg)"
        },
        "Result": {
            "zip": true,
            "verb": "post",
            "description": "Results",
            "localName": "result"
        }
    },
    "engine": "Autodesk.AutoCAD+22",
    "appbundles": [
        "AutoCAD.Publish2View22+prod"
    ],
    "settings": {
        "script": "(command \"_prepareforpropertyextraction\" \"index.json\")\n(command \"_indexextractor\" \"index.json\")\n(command \"_publishtosvf\" \"./output/result.svf\")\n(command \"_createbubblepackage\" \"./output\" \"./result\" \"\" \"\")\n"
    },
    "description": "AutoCAD translation sample generating SVF via core console.",
    "version": 1,
    "id": "AutoCAD.AcSvfPublish+prod"
}
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3ds Max

{
    "id": "ExportToFBX",
    "commandLine": "$(engine.path)/3dsmaxbatch.exe -sceneFile \"$(args[InputFile].path)\" \"$(settings[script].path)\"",
    "description": "Export a single max file to FBX",
    "appbundles": [
        ],
    "engine" : "Autodesk.3dsMax+2021",
    "parameters": {
        "InputFile" : {
            "zip": false,
            "description": "Input 3ds Max file",
            "ondemand": false,
            "required": true,
            "verb": "get",
            "localName": "input.max"
        },
        "OutputFile": {
            "zip": false,
            "ondemand": false,
            "verb": "put",
            "description": "Output FBX file",
            "required": true,
            "localName": "output.fbx"
        }
    },
    "settings": {
       "script": "exportFile (sysInfo.currentdir + \"/output.fbx\") #noPrompt using:FBXEXP"
   }
}
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Inventor

{
    "commandLine": [
        "$(engine.path)\\InventorCoreConsole.exe /i \"$(args[InventorDoc].path)\" /al \"$(appbundles[ChangeParams].path)\" \"$(args[InventorParams].path)\""
    ],
    "parameters": {
        "InventorDoc": {
            "verb": "get",
            "description": "IPT file or ZIP with assembly to process"
        },
        "InventorParams": {
            "verb": "get",
            "description": "JSON with changed Inventor parameters",
            "localName": "params.json"
        },
        "OutputIpt": {
            "zip": false,
            "ondemand": false,
            "optional": true,
            "verb": "put",
            "description": "IPT with the changed parameters",
            "localName": "Result.ipt"
        },
        "OutputIam": {
            "zip": false,
            "ondemand": false,
            "optional": true,
            "verb": "put",
            "description": "ZIP with assembly with the changed parameters",
            "localName": "Result.zip"
        }
    },
    "engine": "Autodesk.Inventor+23",
    "appbundles": [
        "Inventor.ChangeParams+prod"
    ],
    "description": "Change parameters of a part or an assembly (Inventor 2019).",
    "id": "ChangeParams"
}
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Revit

{
   "id": "CountItActivity",
   "commandLine": [ "$(engine.path)\\\\revitcoreconsole.exe /i \"$(args[rvtFile].path)\" /al \"$(appbundles[CountItApp].path)\"" ],
   "parameters": {
      "rvtFile": {
         "zip": false,
         "ondemand": false,
         "verb": "get",
         "description": "Input Revit model",
         "required": true,
         "localName": "$(rvtFile)"
      },
      "countItParams": {
         "zip": false,
         "ondemand": false,
         "verb": "get",
         "description": "CountIt parameters",
         "required": false,
         "localName": "CountItParams.json"
      },
      "result": {
         "zip": false,
         "ondemand": false,
         "verb": "put",
         "description": "Results",
         "required": true,
         "localName": "result.txt"
      }
   },
   "engine": "Autodesk.Revit+2018",
   "appbundles": [ "YourNickname.CountItApp+test" ],
   "description": "Count and output elements from Revit file."
}
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Fusion

{
  "id": "{{activityName}}",
  "engine": "{{engine}}",
  "commandline": [],
  "parameters": {
        "TaskParameters": {
          "verb": "read",
          "description": "the parameters for the script",
          "required": false
        },
        "PersonalAccessToken": {
          "verb": "read",
          "description": "the personal access token to use",
          "required": true
        }
  },
  "appbundles": [
  "{{dasAppBundleId}}+my_working_version"
  ],
  "settings": {},
  "description": ""
}
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WorkItem

A WorkItem is a specification of the processing job for an Activity, and it is submitted to and executed by the core engine.

Note that a WorkItem cannot be modified after it has been created.

Request Example

{
    "activityId": "dqRuDWmG904xamaQi6zWLFOm7snzBOaR.InventorActivity_MaxOnDemand_x1+InvActivityNickName_MaxOnDemand_x1",
    "arguments": {
        "InventorDoc": {
            "url": "https://inventor-io-samples.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/V3_Front_End_Limit/MaxOnDemand/Memory_Inventor.zip",
            "zip": true,
            "pathInZip": "1100_10001080329_IAM_001.iam",
            "localName": "Assembly"
        },
        "InventorParams": {
            "url": "https://inventor-io-samples.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/V3_Front_End_Limit/MaxOnDemand/changeParameters.json"
        },
        "OutputIam": {
            "url": "https://inventor-io-samples.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/V3_Front_End_Limit/MaxOnDemand/Result.zip?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIMGS3VXBFI36OKEQ&Expires=1577791320&Signature=vnuzDeDtIaLXm4%2FL5YS5j4dPDu0%3D",
            "verb": "put"
        }
    }
}
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Response Example

{
    "status": "pending",
    "reportUrl": "https://dasprod-store.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/workItem/sdfsdfsfWmG904xamaQi6gsdgfdsgsdsgfzWLFOm7snzBOaR/sdgfdsgdfgd5988036d7f8ef36a3/report.txt...",
    "stats": {
        "timeQueued": "2018-08-07T12:23:49.5379221Z"
    },
    "id": "dd1c37bf239b4695988036d7f8ef36a3"
}
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AppBundle

An AppPackage is a module that is used by an Activity in order to perform a particular action.

Example

{
    "engine": "Autodesk.AutoCAD+22",
    "description": "App for Model&View (Omega)",
    "version": 1,
    "id": "AutoCAD.Publish2View22+prod"
}

Engine

An Engine is what executes a WorkItem job and processes the actions specified by an Activity.

Example

{
    "productVersion": "23.0",
    "description": "AutoCAD 2019 (Pi) Core Engine",
    "version": 2,
    "id": "Autodesk.AutoCAD+23"
}

Variable expansion

A variable $(workitem.id) can be used in the payload. The following fields support variable expansion:

workitems.arguments[n].url
workitems.arguments[n].headers
workitems.arguments[n].value
activities.commandLine[n]

Examples

{
  "activityId": "owner.name+alias",
  "arguments": {
    "result": {
      "verb": "put",
      "url": "https://myProvider/$(workitem.id)/File.ext"
    }
  }
}
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{
  "activityId": "owner.name+alias",
  "arguments": {
    "result": {
      "verb": "post",
      "url": "https://myProvider/results",
      "headers": {
        "myWorkitemId": "$(workitem.id)"
      }
    }
  }
}
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Command lines

Note: Use of the command line is not support with the Fusion engine.

The command line contains variables of the form $(collection[index].property) where collection may have the following values:

args or settings refers to the arguments of the workitem or settings of the activity respectively, index must be the name of the argument/setting, property can be the following:
1.1. path: full path to the file system entry (file or folder) for the argument/setting.

Note that this may be different than the localName for input arguments when the Content - Disposition header value is provided by the server. It is also different from localName when zip`=`true, in this case path will be determined like this:
if the zip file contains a manifest (etransmit) then path will point to ‘main file’ designated by the manifest.

if the zip file contains no manifest then path will point to what’s designated by pathInZip.
1.2. value: string value of the argument/setting
appbundles refers to a referenced app, index must be the id of the appbundle, property can be the following:

2.1. path: full path to the folder where the appbundle is executing from.
engine refers to a referenced engine, ‘index’ should not be used, property can be the following:

3.1. path: full path to the folder where the engine is executing from.

Examples:

$(engine.path)/AcCoreConsole.exe /i “$(args[hostDwg].path)” /s $(setting[script].path)

“$(appbundles[Autodesk.ShardingApp].path)/AcReadEx.exe” /i “$(args[hostDwg].path)” /retries $(args[retries].value))

Note: args and appbundles must be provided between quotes.

Expanded WorkItem Payload

The working directory of the executable running in the context of the service will also contain a <workitem.id>_Job.das file. Appbundles can use this information to get to the details of the submitted work.

For example, you can use the following C# code to read this the contents of this file in your appbundle code:

var json = File.ReadAllText($”{Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(“%DAS_WORKITEM_ID%”)}_job.das”);

This file contents are encoded as JSON. The following attributes will be present on the root object:

Id string	Id of the WorkItem
ActivityId string	Id of referenced Activity
EngineId string	Id of referenced Engine
Apps array of strings	Ids of referenced Appbundles
BoundArguments dictionary of objects	This attribute presents a merged view of the Actvitity.parameters and WorkItem.arguments
Settings dictionary of objects	Same as Activity.settings
CommandLine array of strings	Same as Activity.commandLine
Quotas dictionary of integers	Some of the quotas applied to this workitem. Please note that this is not a complete list.

Request

Response

Jump To

Field Guide

Entity Relationships

Activity

Examples

AutoCAD

3ds Max

Inventor

Revit

Fusion

WorkItem

Request Example

Response Example

AppBundle

Example

Engine

Example

Variable expansion

Examples

Command lines

Expanded WorkItem Payload