The 3D Web Coder

View and Data API Intro for BIM Programming

We successfully completed the European Munich DevDay conference and the subsequent four-day abbreviated Autodesk Cloud Accelerator. Here is the last snapshot of the frosted trees and blue sky from the train station platform in Harras. The most exciting project there for me personally was the implementation of the Revit BIM database and element modification tracker. Next on my rather busy January agenda is the BIM Programming Workshop in Madrid – Jaime's presentations and samples – View and Data API demo sites – Slack team collaborations... Read more →

Happy New Autodesk Forge Accelerator!

Happy New Year! I had a really good break, although I spent the last ten days being ill and coming to grips with a serious sinusitis. I am getting better again now, though. I also learned the nice card game Tichu :-) Meanwhile, Autodesk announced the Forge platform at Autodesk University in the beginning of December to power a connected ecosystem for product development, inviting developers and innovators to join in to integrate design, engineering, and manufacturing and build the future of making things together... Read more →

CompHound Viewer and Authorisation Service

I continued working on my CompHound component tracker and now successfully integrated the viewer – CompHound updates and the LMV viewer – Authorisation token server – LMV consumer key and secret environment variables – Client-side auth code provider – Viewer set-up – Wrap-up and next steps... Read more →

CompHound Instance View

I worked through parts of the nice comprehensive beginner’s guide to ReactJS. When I tried to implement selecting a database row to populate the react component from outside, I discovered that "You're never supposed to set a component's state outside of the component." That turned me off any further investigation and I took resort to jQuery instead, where I made much faster progress... Read more →

Lunar Eclipse, CORS Workaround, CompHound

This weekend, I wanted to add an additional field to the component occurrences in the CompHoundWeb database, which led me to discover and fix a trivial yet serious error in my C# client. Also, let me mention a CORS workaround pointed out by my colleague Cyrille Fauvel and my night out to watch the lunar eclipse: – Lunar eclipse – Fed up with CORS? – CompHound Updates... Read more →

Tutorials, Hackergarten, CompHound React.js

Yesterday I participated in the Hackergarten Basel and worked with Lukas @syzer Gintowt on integrating a Reactjs component into the CompHound node.js mongodb web server. Besides that, let me mention tutorialspoint... Read more →

FireRatingCloud Heroku + Mongolab Deployed

Fully and completely deploying the FireRatingCloud support database on the cloud was much easier than expected. Please refer to the fireratingdb node.js web server and FireRatingCloud Revit add-in GitHub repositories for an overview of the exploration and project evolution. I already moved the database off-site to the mongolab host yesterday, but I still had the node web server running locally. To do so, I created a new Heroku app and linked it to the existing fireratingdb GitHub repo. I asked... Read more →

FireRatingCloud Round Trip and on Mongolab

I completed the initial FireRating conversion to the cloud. Here are the steps it took to reach that point: Revit project identification Complete Revit Add-in Implementation Demo Run Log Demo Video Mongolab – really in the cloud Postman does more than cURL Wrap-up, Download and Outlook It now runs full circle, storing Revit building model door instance fire rating values for multiple projects in a cloud-based mongo database. It implements the same three commands as the original FireRating SDK sample... Read more →

C# .NET REST API GET and PUT MongoDB Storage

Yesterday, I set up MongoDB and the fireratingdb node.js web server driving it on Windows and started populating the database from a desktop C# .NET add-in via its REST API. Today, let's complete that, adding the door instance documents to the project data: Adding a JSON parser module Storing door instance documents in mongo Using PUT instead of POST when the database id is known Checking for project existence before adding new Adding a JSON parser module Once a project... Read more →

Populating MongoDB via C# .NET REST API

I discussed some manual testing of the REST API and the PUT, POST and Delete HTTP action implementations. I also promised some live testing from a C# .NET desktop app. In this case, it means adding documents to the fireratingdb node.js mongo web server via the REST API. We'll take a look at that today: Installing MongoDB on Windows Running MongoDB and the node.js web server on Windows Storing a document in mongo via REST API from C# .NET Generating... Read more →

Put, Post, Delete and Curl Testing a REST API

I continued the cloud-based FireRating project by equipping my node.js mongoose-driven mongoDB database web server with a REST API. Let's discuss and test the PUT, POST and DELETE implementation. For the sake of future-proofing, I also added a version prefix to the routing URLs: Add version prefix to routing URLs. Test REST API using browser and cURL. Put – update a record. Post – add a record. Delete – delete a record. Wrapping up for today. So far, we already... Read more →

Starting to Implement the FireRating REST API

Let's equip our node.js mongoose-driven mongoDB database web server with a REST API. To be precise, I will: Define a URL route schema to map requests to application actions. Implement controllers to handle each action. Add interfaces to store, access and modify data. I already discussed the over-all goal and what to store, namely building project models, door instances living in those models, and each door's fire rating value. Next, we looked at how to identify projects and maintain the... Read more →

Implementing Mongo Database Relationships

Let's look at how to implement relationships in a mongo database. Yesterday, I made my very first steps exploring mongoDB to implement a mongoose based node.js database web server. The example I am using is a hopefully simple project to implement a cloud-based multi-project version of the Revit SDK FireRating sample. The relationships we are dealing with here are as trivial as they get: we are looking at doors in a building, represented by door family instances in a Revit... Read more →

My First Mongo Database

Allow me to present a partial log of my very first experiments with mongoDB. My ultimate (short-term) goal is to convert a very simple Revit SDK sample called FireRating to a cloud-based multi-project implementation. The existing sample is a Revit add-in implemented in C# .NET that exports the following data for all door instances in a building model to an Excel spreadsheet, enables the user to edit the external fire rating values, and reimports the modified data to the corresponding... Read more →

WebGL Workshop, Jobs, Anchors and Functional JavaScript

I returned happily from the successful fourth and last day of the Milano WebGL workshop, which we concluded with a group session guiding through the View and Data API tutorial. Here is a short report on that and a few other current topics: WebGL workshop report Working at Autodesk Resolving the link offset error caused by the Snap responsive design menu bar Functional JavaScript workshop I took a break in the middle of the train trip from Milano back home... Read more →

Node.js REST API Workshop Part One

As mentioned, I am preparing a Node.js REST API class for the Milano WebGL workshop end of this month. I will also need this material – and much more – for my RTC Europe and AU classes, assuming my proposal for the latter is accepted. Let's finally get going with it. My plan is to create a node server using Express, implement a REST API for it, and drive a simple mongodb database. I covered lots of preliminary explorations for... Read more →

Athens AngelHack Hackathon

I am in the middle of the Athens AngelHack Hackathon, after the View and Data workshop we held last night: Angel workshop I♥3D Athens AngelHack Hackathon Project pitches Angel Workshop I♥3D We held the second I love 3D – Athens meetup yesterday in The Cube, with 19 enthusiastic participants: Here are some of the main links for further exploration: Main entry point: developer.autodesk.com Play with it live Documentation, sample code, step-by-step guide, API reference Forum, community, discussion group Blog Live... Read more →

Athens AngelHack Hackathon, Node.js REST Workshop

I am in the middle of the preparations for a couple of events in June: AngelHack and I♥3D in Athens Node.js REST Workshop AngelHack and I♥3D in Athens I am already on my way to the second I love 3D – Athens meetup on June 5th in The Cube, Greece's biggest coworking space, followed by the AngelHack hackathon coming weekend. I am travelling there via a detour sleeping out on the beaches of Euboea Island, on which I already visited... Read more →

Journey to the Cloud – Development Team Transitioning

Today, let me pass on to you some observations on how to transition a desktop oriented development team to the cloud. Today is Ascension Day and a holiday in Neuchâtel, giving me a bit of time to clear some of my todo list items, and this article was one of them. Before getting to that, I'll just briefly mention that I returned safe and sound from the Dubai hackathon and have been pretty busy with Revit stuff since, e.g., how... Read more →

Dubai, Hackathon Preparation and Viewer Workshop

I am in Dubai for the AngelHack Hackathon. We held a pre-hackathon workshop on using the View and Data API last night, and we've scheduled another one here at the hackathon itself at four o'clock this afternoon. I'll jot down my notes and the most up-to-date sexy links here to prepare. Here are some other important upcoming events and tips for getting prepared: 3D Web Festival in San Francisco AngelHack in Dubai AngelHack in Athens Autodesk University proposals Preparing for... Read more →