Features of the PLM 360 REST API

OK, great, there is an API for PLM 360.  So what can one do with it?  How is it different than scripting?  What does REST even mean?

Ultra short definition of REST:  
REST allows a client to communicate with a server via HTTP.

You can read more about REST if you want. But for the purposes of this article, REST means that you can write a client app that talks to PLM 360 over HTTP.

Scripting vs REST:
PLM 360 has a scripting engine for performing server-site tasks in response to certain events.  Scripting is great but it can’t integrate two systems or plug-in to AutoCAD.  For client-side operations, you need the REST API.

Features of the API:
There are a lot of things PLM does, but not all those features are available yet in the API.  The initial focus of the API is to provide a stable framework to build on.  I believe we now have that framework, so the next steps are to add more features.

Current feature set:

• Login / logout.
• Get all the workspaces.
• Get detailed information on a workspace (item details tab only).
• Get a list of all the items in the workspace.
• Get a filtered list of items in a workspace.
• Read data on an item (item details tab only).
• Add / edit / delete an item.
• Get a list of all files attached to an item.
• Upload /download files.
• Checkin / checkout / undo checkout of a file.

Note: All operations and data are scoped to the permissions of the logged in user.

Uses for the API:
There is enough functionality here to start writing some interesting apps.  Here are some ideas.  Some of these ideas can already be seen in sample apps.

• Take a picture with your mobile device and attach it to an item in PLM 360.  (see Java sample)
• CAD plug-in that pulls data from PLM 360 and uses it in the model. (see Material Profile example)
• Integrations with other systems.
• Custom views of PLM data.

API Updates:
In theory, the API can be updated any time PLM 360 updates, and PLM 360 updates about every 4 weeks.   That means there will be a constant stream of new API functionality.  It’s not like with Vault where you have to wait a year for API updates.  If there is a specific feature you want API support for, let us know in the idea station.  That will help us prioritize what to work on next.