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Vault Data Standard – Tutorial
Introduction and Read Me About Autodesk Vault Data Standard
Vault Data Standard is a data control feature helping users
capturing design relevant information in a
standardized format during the data entry process in Vault
Client, Inventor, and AutoCAD.
For Vault Explorer Data Standard extension adds new commands to
create files or folders, and additional tabs to
the detail view. All user interface elements are customizable to
match your company’s requirements for
standardization.
The AutoCAD and Inventor extensions of Vault Data Standard
subscribe to the save event and display a
customizable Save New File dialog. Both CAD extensions add
additional commands to edit file metadata and to
create file copies based on customizable rules.
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We use the acronym VDS to shorten the full name Vault Data
Standard in all episodes of this tutorial collection.
About this Tutorial
This course targets Vault key users and Vault Administrators
getting started with Data Standard customization.
VDS offers several options to customize the behavior by enabling
options in Vault Behavior Configuration, e.g.,
Vault Numbering for Projects. Other customizations require
editing of VDS configuration files, like Dialog
definitions or PowerShell scripts reflecting the business rules
and user guidance handling file’s metadata.
Advanced customizations, like dialog extensions by additional
user controls or tabs, require more skills in creating
Dialogs (Windows Presentation Foundation) and in writing
PowerShell scripts using direct Vault API (Application
Programming Interface) calls. This Tutorial does not cover any
advanced topics. However, the transition from
Chapters 10 onwards to more in-depth scripting relates to each
student’s ambitions and interest in learning
programming concepts.
VDS Tutorial - System Requirements
• Autodesk Vault Workgroup or Professional 2020.2 or newer,
Client and Server in the English language. For
non-English Server environments note the additional step
preparing the tutorial environment in chapter 1
• VDS Installation 2020.2 or newer, Default Configuration,
en-US. Follow these steps to install the
extension: Install Vault Data Standard
• XML Editor. We recommend using an XML Editor rather than a
text editor to edit the VDS configuration
files following the Tutorial’s exercises. Select any XML Editor
of your preference. This tutorial
documentation used the Microsoft Visual Studio Code Editor.
http://help.autodesk.com/view/VAULT/2020/ENU/?guid=GUID-EF14D3BA-EC42-4388-A0A5-BCEB3BC3A411
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• PowerShell Editor. Windows 10 operating system includes a
PowerShell ISE to edit and format PowerShell
script files. Other editors like Visual Studio Code with
PowerShell Extension are suitable as well.
Setup your Environment
1. Software
Instructor and Students – Client Machine:
- AutoCAD or AutoCAD Mechanical, release 2020 or newer
- Inventor Professional, release 2020 or newer
- Vault Workgroup or Vault Professional, release and update
2020.2 or newer
All client’s installations are in English; Chapter 08 requires
an additional Language Packs installed for each
client; the documentation uses German language packs for all
clients in this chapter.
Instructor and Students need to have access to a Vault
Server:
- Autodesk Vault Server Workgroup or Professional, release 2020
or newer, English
2. New Vault – VDS Tutorial
On ADMS create a new Vault of the name VDS Tutorial while using
the Manufacturing Configuration as shown
below:
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This Tutorial requires an English Vault configuration. In case
your ADMS server is localized (the pulldown list
displays localized configuration names), navigate to the
subfolder en-US to select the English configuration
template:
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3. Training Files
Download, extract, and import all training files required to
follow the practical exercises of this Tutorial.
The download is available in the attachment section of the AKN
Article
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/article/302121
1. Create the folder C:\VDS Tutorial\
2. Open the Zip-Archive and extract each subfolder as
follows:
a. Extract all subfolders and files of ..\Vault Files\ to C:\VDS
Tutorial\:
b. Extract all subfolders, files, and Zip-Archives of ..\VDS
Configuration Files\ to a location of your
choice – but use a different location than C:\VDS Tutorial\.
3. Allow adding CAD files to Vault Explorer for the Vault VDS
Tutorial (The training files include template
files for Inventor and AutoCAD):
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/article/302121
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4. Drag & Drop the extracted Training files to the root
folder:
5. Re-enable the option Disable Check-in of Design Files:
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6. Set Working Folder Options as shown below:
7. To better compare screenshots of the documentation with your
environment, we recommend enabling
the client option (Tools -> Options) Show working folder
location:
4. Configure AutoCAD/AutoCAD Mechanical
Students will create new drawings during exercises consuming the
templates added before; configure AutoCAD
Template Options to use these:
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For AutoCAD:
For AutoCAD Mechanical:
You may also use the AutoCAD templates in AutoCAD Mechanical;
the title block definition is different. AutoCAD
templates use MText fields mapped to file properties, whereas
Mechanical drawings apply title blocks with block
attributes. Chapter 04 – Save New and Edit Files in AutoCAD
talks you through the decision criteria more in detail.
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5. Configure Inventor
Inventor by opening the project file Designs.ipj from Vault
while refusing the check-out option:
With the project file enabled, Inventor is all set to follow the
exercises for Inventor starting in Chapter 05.
6. Configuration Files – Setup Editor
We recommend using the same Editor as shown in Videos and
Exercise images for editing xml, ps1, xaml, and text
files.
Download and install Visual Code from
https://code.visualstudio.com/. After installation, add the
PowerShell
extension within the Editor:
https://code.visualstudio.com/
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First Insights on Data Standard Configuration Files
Get a sneak peek on the VDS client configuration files. The
configuration for all VDS client applications Vault
Explorer, Inventor Vault, and AutoCAD Vault install into all
users’ Program Data files. The path relates to the Vault
version installed; the tutorial documentation uses Vault 2020,
for later versions update the version number in the
path, respectively.
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Vault 2020\Extensions\DataStandard
Access all folders and files using VS Code Editor:
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Instead of editing the default configuration files in the
Autodesk VDS default folders, you should copy the file
before to the *.Custom folder structure and edit there. Data
Standard extensions read all available configuration
files during the start-up of the application and will prefer
custom files as they exist.
Note – Multi-language support definitions are stored in the
subfolders named according to the locale/language
code. Autodesk default and customized configuration use these in
common. Your company configuration backup
needs to include all language definitions and client language
packs applied plus the *.Custom\*.* configuration
files as a minimum.
See also Help: Data Standard Configuration
http://help.autodesk.com/view/VAULT/2020/ENU/?guid=GUID-547E1852-A866-45ED-A687-294208B412AB