Experience the Power of Community at the ACE 2025 Tech Summit
It’s that time of year again! Our annual Aras Community Event (ACE) is right around the corner. This year the event is taking place near Aras’ hometown of Boston from March 31 to April 3. This year’s ACE is special as it marks the 25th anniversary of Aras as a company. The event is shaping up to be one of our best yet, with tons of great presentations and breakout sessions for everyone. Like most who have attended it, the Tech Summit is my favorite part of the event. It will be on Monday, March 31. In previous years, it was invite-only. This year, we're opening it up to the entire community, welcoming anyone who wants to participate. We hope to bring in some new technical voices who might not have participated in the past. Email Beth Ewing after completing your ACE registration to register for the Tech Summit. The session lasts most of the day and allows the Aras Innovator® tech community to get together and discuss all things Innovator. In the past, we’ve covered everything from new features to best practices, and even explored ways to enhance the product based on feedback from users like you. The Tech Summit provides a space to hear how our partners and customers are using Aras Innovator. This year we’ll have presentations from customers and partners, in which they will share some of the interesting modifications they’ve made to our platform. Community presenters will: Show capabilities they built in Aras Innovator and discuss how they did it (ex: Impact Matrix extensions, pervasive search) Demo the tools they use to manage their Aras Innovator development projects Share how the next generation of engineers are building PLM skills and knowledge with Aras Between Aras presentations, customer showcases, and open discussion, the Tech Summit is a favorite part of the ACE experience. (It certainly was my favorite part of last year’s event!) The summit will be followed by a welcome reception, and the following days are filled with interesting sessions to attend. If any of the above topics are interesting to you or someone you know who is attending ACE, register now to save your place! Here's a quick breakdown of the Tech-Summit agenda: Welcome & Introductions - get to know the attendees and presenters Community Demos - community members show off what they've built and share their knowledge AI Spotlight - AI demos and insights from Aras Lab Lunch Community Update - what's new and what's coming Open Forum Discussions - bring your questions and ideas! This session is all about connecting with your fellow Builders and learning from the group's collective experience. I’m looking forward to ACE this year and to meeting some of you there. Please feel free to reach out if you have questions regarding this year’s Tech Summit or want to get involved. To secure your spot for the Tech Summit, email Beth Ewing after completing your ACE registration. Registration is open right up to the event, but I’d recommend locking in your registration and hotel as soon as possible!Requirements Engineering and Variant Management Updates in Release 33
The recent rollout of Aras Innovator® Release 33 included upgrades to some of our existing applications. Our goal is to improve the user experience for Aras's Variant Management and Requirements Engineering applications. Let’s take a look at what’s new in Release 33. Variant Management In our newest release of Variant Management, we’ve introduced the concept of Configurator Context. Since products are always evolving, Configurator Context captures the applicable features, options, and rules for specific scopes of work, streamlining the concurrent management of past, present, and future product designs. When resolving Variability Items, you can now select a specific Context to automatically resolve particular features and options based on the selected context: In this example, the RP Series 2024 robot arm is specifically for Palletizing; no other valid options exist, so none are displayed. This is also visualized more clearly in the Configurator Context ItemType within the Variability Structure Tree Grid View. Here you can see that for the same RP Series Robot Arm, we can quickly see which options for each feature applies to the given context: And these can be set directly for each context within the Context Editor tab, shown below: Requirements Engineering In addition to the upgrade to Variant Management, there is also a new version of the Requirements Engineering document. This brings the Requirement Document Itemtype more in line with our standard Technical Document Framework. This comes with multiple benefits and the ability to better customize your Requirement Documents to fit your needs. Let’s take a look at the changes. The Technical Documentation Framework is a flexible and powerful tool for customizing documents and creating powerful links between items. We’ve written blogs on how you can modify your technical documents to contain new content, and those should still function as expected with the new version of RE. The main difference you’ll notice between the old Requirement Documents and the upgraded version is in the amount of options you have for authoring your Requirements. Many of the standard Tech Doc elements are now at your disposal. These can be inserted directly into your individual requirements, which can then be embedded in your Requirement documents. Formatting and spacing should be preserved when embedding. Here’s a quick example of what a more complete Requirement document would look like: As you can see, each requirement has sub-components which can be individually modified. Try experimenting with all the new components available for more powerful and relevant Requirements Documents. That was a quick overview of some of the big upgrades to applications in Release 33. Applications like Manufacturing Process Planning and Enterprise Search were also changed for compatibility and other minor improvements. There are exciting things coming down the pipeline, and there are great reasons to be on recent releases of Aras Innovator. To learn more, consider registering for our annual Aras Community Event (ACE), March 31 – April 3, 2025 in Boston! We hope to see you there.A Few Tips for Styling Responsive Forms with Aras Innovator
In previous posts, we’ve covered the basics of responsive forms. In this blog, we will dive even deeper and share some tips and tricks for making responsive forms more visually appealing to your end users. Here are a few tips on how to make your responsive forms convey more information in the same space. Nested columns In our first introductory blog on responsive forms, we outlined how your form can be broken down into columns to better organize your properties. A cool thing that you might not know is that you can actually break your columns into additional columns. While that might sound complicated, our UI makes it very simple to configure. Here’s a quick look at what this looks like in action: To configure this, you need to open your responsive form editor and just drag a box from the Structure tab into one of your columns: From here, you can select any of your unused properties and drop them directly into the new columns you’ve created. It’s important to keep in mind the length of your property when doing this and reserve this practice for shorter properties. Good examples are things like Revision, State, Generation, Part Number, and things like Booleans or Cost. Color coding important properties In another of my previous blogs, I showed how you can set rules to customize your forms. These can be based on things like who is viewing the form or what the actual value of the property is. This can be used in multiple different ways, but one that I’ve found useful is to check the current variable of your item and style the Revision property a different color if you’re not looking at the most current version of the Item. This gives your user a very quick visual indication that they might be looking at an older version of an Item. Here’s a quick look at what that rule would look like: Another great place to use this is on lifecycle/workflow states. Using a simple color code allows users to quickly understand what is happening with their Items once they open a form. I recommend playing around with these to see what is possible. In the same vein, utilizing rules to hide specific properties from identities is much easier than it was in the old form system. This allows you to have fewer specialized views, which require less maintenance. Concluding thoughts Responsive forms continue to receive enhancements with each release. There has never been a better time to give them a try, and trying is as simple as pressing this button on your Item’s form: Keep in mind that this button just changes your view and doesn’t overwrite any of your existing forms. You can freely switch back and forth between your classic and responsive forms. Give them a try, and let us know what you’re able to build! Consider sharing with colleagues via comments. We want to hear from you.
Aras Builders! The Virtual Tech Summit is Just Around the Corner
Want to see some real-world challenges developers have solved with the Aras platform and learn how they did it? Want to connect with other Aras Community members in an open forum? Want to do it all for free? Join us for the virtual Aras Tech Summit live on September 19 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM US EDT. What's a Tech Summit? The Tech Summit is a small, 1-day pre-conference session we host at our onsite Aras Community Event (ACE) in the US and some of our Aras Connect events in Europe. The format is simple: In the morning, Builders—developers and other hands-on folks who create solutions on the platform—gather for "show & tell" to showcase their projects and get inspired by others' cool ideas. Then, participants regroup after lunch for open forum discussions, where everyone can ask and answer questions or exchange ideas on various technical topics. It's a beloved tradition that Aras Labs’ AJ Sebastian summed up well in his post-ACE blog this year. Why (virtually) mess with a good thing? While we love our in-person events and plan to continue to host them, two factors are behind our decision to try a virtual format for this event: frequency and inclusivity. Optimize frequency We often hear feedback that attendees would like to engage with the technical community more frequently. Supplementing the onsite events with an online offering means we can help folks connect between our conferences. Convenience and accessibility Onsite events pose logistical constraints (like travel restrictions) and exclude potential participants who can't secure the budget or time to travel to our in-person events. Now, you can attend from anywhere, with a shorter time commitment to expand the reach and increase networking opportunities. Access Expert Knowledge Gain direct access to industry leaders, innovators, and technical experts who might not otherwise be available at in-person events. Virtual summits provide opportunities to hear from top-tier speakers without geographical limitations. Virtual Tech Summit Highlights Here are some highlights attendees can look forward to: Get the inside scoop The new Aras SVP of Product Management, Igal Kaptsan, will introduce himself to the community and share key insights into his product philosophy. We'll also share a quick update on the Build with Aras initiative our CEO, Roque Martin, announced at ACE US in March. Learn how they built it We have great presentations lined up that demonstrate not only a solution built on the Aras platform but also how and why it was built. Builders from Aras and the Aras Community will outline a business problem, discuss how they built the solution, and show the result. These speakers will touch on various PLM and technical topics, including web services, low-code modeling, mobile-friendly applications, serialized part manufacturing, and BOM to CAD management. Learn what's coming up for the Aras Community We'll have a quick update on upcoming events for the Aras Community. Be ready to mark your calendars with the next online and in-person events! Connect with fellow Builders We'll wrap up the virtual event with an open forum discussion for all participants. This segment is an excellent opportunity to ask other community members how they've solved a similar problem, exchange ideas, or ask follow-up questions of the day's presenters. Don’t miss this opportunity! If the virtual Tech Summit sounds like your kind of event, be sure to sign up and save the date: September 19 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, US EDT. For more information on the event, visit our event page. You can also skip that step and register now!Aras Innovator: Three Quick Configuration Tips
Hello! As I continue to tinker with Aras Innovator® working on internal projects, I’m constantly discovering cool tips and tricks on how you can improve your user experience with our low-code tools. This blog will have three quick tips for configuring your instance of Aras Innovator to improve collaboration and visual clarity. Reverse graph navigation direction When looking at a Graph Navigation, you can move left or right (assuming horizontal orientation). Items that flow from left to right follow a standard or item property relationship. Items moving right to left use a referencing item relationship. This can make some Graph Navigation Views difficult to parse with left and right connections. I prepared a demo to show how it’s done and for visual quality. Read on to learn more. Go to the TOC > Administration > Configuration > Graph View Definition. Open the Graph View Definition you’d like to modify the direction of. Open the Connectors tab. It should look like this The important part of this is the Source and Target Node columns. Find the relationship you’d like to reverse the direction of by looking at the start/end query item. Once you’ve located the row you’re looking for, you can swap the values for the Source and Target Nodes. This will flip the direction of the connector, allowing for more easily digestible Graph Nav Views. Label your graph connectors Another way to add visual clarity to your graphs is to label your connections. It’s an easy way to ensure people understand the connections within your digital thread. This one has two steps. First, we need a View Card Definition with the following Template Definition. This definition is just a simple black line with a label affixed to it. Once that View Card is created, we’ll have to add it to our Graph View Definition. Open the Connector View Relationship. You’ll have to add your new View Definition to the Connector View Column. This simply states that you want your connector to follow the definition we set previously. The final step is opening up the Connector Type for the row you just modified. Under the Properties relationship, you can add a new Property called description (case sensitive), and in the value template, add the text you’d like to add to your Connector. When you open your Graph Nav View, you’ll see beautifully labeled Connections. Auto-enable SSVC pane This is a quick one, but it helps ensure people are aware of the discussion surrounding whatever Item they may be viewing at a given moment. Having the pane default to open allows any new discussions to be immediately visible to anyone viewing a given Item. To do this, we’ll take a look at the Part ItemType. Start editing the Part ItemType and open the Secure Social relationship: Right click the Discussion Template and open the related item. You’ll see a Discussion Template with two relationships. Open the Discussion Template View tab. Here, you’ll see a single Item with a few properties. The important one is Discussion Panel Behavior. Editing this relationship and setting this to Discussion Panel On will make it so the discussion panel automatically opens when you open an Item. This is set on an ItemType by ItemType basis, so set it wherever you think collaboration could use a boost! These were just three quick customizations you can make in your own system. Things that improve visual clarity and make things more apparent to users save everyone time in the long run. If you’ve made changes like this that improve efficiency at your company and want to share them, take it to the Forums! We’d love to see some of the amazing user-friendly customizations people have made to make Aras Innovator.Consuming CWS Endpoints in Aras Innovator
My previous blog reviewed how to configure a simple Web Service using Configurable Web Services. This companion blog will use the same example created in my previous blog and go over how to submit requests to the Web Service you created. It will be similar to previous blogs about authenticating with and utilizing our Rest API. We’ll be using Postman to execute our requests, but you can also use this method to communicate with Aras Innovator from your own custom applications. API Key vs Oauth In the previous blog, I showed how you could generate an API Key for your Web Service. I want to take a moment to say that while those are useful, they should not be used except in unique circumstances. The biggest reason is the lack of traceability. When external systems are accessing or modifying your Aras Innovator instance, you want a record of who is making those transactions. For custom applications, you should be authenticating via OAuth, as we will in this post. API Keys are intended for use in cases where a server-to-server connection is being made, and you wouldn’t be worried about who is committing that action. An example would be an Azure service called s called automatically and programmatically. The API Key would be the better option there as a user wouldn’t be responsible for the transaction. An Example – Launching Postman Since we’ve already created our Web Service, the next step is to launch Postman. If you’re unsure how to use/authenticate with Postman, take a look at these two blogs on authenticating and utilizing our Rest API. The format for querying your Web Service is exactly the same as using our OData endpoint. Using OData, a request for all parts looks like this: http://localhost/31demo/Server/Odata/Part Querying our new endpoint looks like this: http://localhost/31demo/Server/ws/partBom/v1/Part The URL you use is specific to your Endpoint, and of course, you can have multiple. You can find the URL in the Endpoints tab of your Web Service. It’s also important to note that you can use all the same tricks to get specific data that you can use in the OData endpoint. Things like filtering, getting specific items, and querying relationships all work. Here’s an example of the part output. The only things that are returned from your query are the things you defined in your Web Service. If you try to get Documents without including them in your Endpoint, you’ll see the following result. This is very powerful, allowing you to ensure that only the required data is exposed. A great example of this would be if you wanted to create an external application that queries Aras Innovator®. You’d want to limit the app's access to avoid potential security issues. That was a quick demonstration of how you can consume your Configurable Web Services. I highly recommend playing around with the Endpoint editor to see if it could suit the needs of your external applications.9 Reasons to Upgrade to Aras Innovator Release 14+
We are excited by all the new functionality and features to the Aras Innovator® platform that are available with our regular release schedule. At ACE 2024, our Product Design Manager, Kenny Sperling, ran a great session about all the UI/UX changes to the platform since release 14. Many people, myself included, weren’t aware of some of the amazing quality-of-life additions introduced within the past few years. While some of these are easy to miss, if you’re like me and are constantly using the platform these can be game changers. I’ll be reviewing some of these changes chronologically as well as sharing which changes come in which service pack. Release 24 had some significant changes to how you interact with a main search grid. You can now copy data from read-only cells in the search grid. In addition to that, you can now edit multiple items directly from the search grid without ever having to open the item form. Release 26 added the ability to add Help Text and Tooltips for item properties. This allows someone to better understand the information they’re being served in a search grid. Release 27 added an excellent indicator when you’re viewing an item that is out of date. This will help you understand the context of the data you’re looking at on a form and help avoid miscommunication when discussing versioning. Also in 27 is the ability to perform an item search by selecting multiple items at once. They’ll be joined by a pipe operator, and your search results will include all the items you have selected. Release 28 included a fast, simple way to see who is claiming an item directly from the main search grid. Release 30 included additional protections when modifying an older version of an item. This has already saved me plenty of time while working collaboratively with others. And finally, the upcoming release 31 has some very interesting features. First off, we have an improved UI for advanced search. This allows you to quickly and easily select properties of a given ItemType using a custom dialog. The final feature is the ability to perform an Excel-like fill-down for rapid data entry. This means that within a search or relationship grid, you can copy the value from one row and apply it to other items immediately. As you can see, there are many reasons to keep your Aras Innovator environment up to date. The product is changing and improving with every quarterly release. I only chose a handful of the changes Kenny showed at ACE to share. He also went into the roadmap for 2024, discussing some really exciting features coming to the product in the next year. Keep an eye out for future blogs where I’ll be covering more exciting improvements. Interested in hearing more about new features in Aras Innovator? Join us on May 9, 2024 at 10:00 AM ET for "What's New in Aras Innovator," in which John Sperling, SVP of Product Management at Aras shares a 30-minute overview and live demonstration of new capabilities, applications, and more.
