Bentley ProjectWise is a widely used file management system for engineering projects. Automating processes and file conversions in ProjectWise has caused consultants numerous headaches in recent years. This presentation will explore the inner workings of ProjectWise and FME, walk through a world of complex documentation and experimentation, and explain how to access and make the most of remote APIs with FME.

1. Automating
ProjectWise with FME
Roland Martin

2. Roland
Martin
Senior Consultant
Digital Insight

3. Coming up…
1. Automation FTW
2. ProjectWise
3. Connecting FME to
ProjectWise
4. Applying this to
other APIs

4. This presentation contains technical content
Lee Haywood, https://www.flickr.com/photos/leehaywood/4765430360

5. automate
If in doubt,

6. something interesting
Spend a day doing
Sources: Bruno Oliveira/XKCD
http://xkcd.com/1205/

7. Place your screenshot here
Bentley ProjectWise

8. Based on http://spaceinvaders.mosaic.free.fr/
CR – Rail
CH – Highways
CS – Structures
CU – Utilities
CV – Civils
DR – Drainage
HD – Hydrology
MF – Maintenance Facilities
SC – Systems & Comms
SN – Stations
Project manager à
1_zSC 1_zCE 2A_zCE 2B_zCE 2B_zNC 3A_zNC 3B_zNC 4A_zNC 4B_zNC 5_zNC
TC – Construction

9. ProjectWise APIs
• .NET
Requires a user to remain
logged in on the machine
• Web Services Gateway
Dedicated web API

10. ProjectWise Custom Transformers

11. DataSourceRetriever
The process – 1
User provides their ProjectWise URL
Transformer returns a list of
accessible ProjectWise data sources

12. NavigationHierarchyRetriever
or Searcher
The process – 2
User provides their ProjectWise logon
details and (optionally) a parent object
identifier or some search criteria
Transformer returns a list of files or
directories that meet the criteria

13. Object and File Handlers
The process – 3
Retrieve, delete, or update objects
associated with a unique identifier in
ProjectWise
Create a new object
Download the file associated with an
object

14. ObjectRetriever
Under the hood
HTTPCaller
JSONFlattener

15. FileDownloader
Under the hood
HTTPCaller AttributeFileWriter

16. ObjectCreator
Under the hood
JSONTemplater
JSONUpdater
HTTPCaller Loops!

17. HTTPCaller
Returns the contents of the HTTP
response, which can then either be
parsed from JSON, or written directly
to a binary file type.
A deeper dive

18. Using Python instead
• Uses the .NET API, with code ported from
C#.NET to Python
• Requires ProjectWise Explorer to be open
on the FME machine
• Can read reference files

19. ProjectWise Web
Services Gateway API
Some shortcomings of the
It’s intended as a simple web-
based interface to
ProjectWise
It’s very slow for complex files
It requires a lot of space on
the server
There are some other weird
bugs

20. Some of the things we have automated
Esri Personal
Geodatabase
DGNs
Daily
conversion
ProjectWise ProjectWise
Esri Personal
Geodatabase
Daily
conversion
ProjectWise
Esri File
Geodatabase
ArcGIS Server
ZIP
SFTP Site
Esri Personal
Geodatabase
ProjectWise
DGN
ProjectWise
Daily conversion and file renaming Daily conversion

21. More of the things we have automated
MetadataFile
“Attributes”
Daily conversion
ProjectWise SQL Server
Metadata
Search
Web Interface
Esri Map
Document
ProjectWise
PDF with
“Attributes”
ProjectWise
One-off conversion and upload
Web API access

22. automation
Some musings on
Without automation:
• Task run for ~1 hour, a couple of times a week
• ≈ 26 hours over 13 weeks
• + a big delay in data synchronization
With automation:
• Approximately 1 day spent setting up task
• Task runs in the background, 3 times a day
• Maintenance takes approximately 1 hour a week
• ≈ 8 + (1 x 13) = 21 hours over 13 weeks
• + limited delay in data synchronization
• + reduced chance of human error
Plus: we’ve used the same process on
loads of other projects

23. Automation is always
the answer *
* Question may vary. Your definition of “always”
may not match ours. Always read the label.

24. • Always read the documentation
• HTTPCaller is extremely powerful
• Don’t underestimate the power of
looping!
Tips for other APIs

25. THANK YOU!
roland.martin@arup.com