Begin an Assembly Session

The begin assembly session API method enables you to create a new assembly session for a work item.

Prerequisites

Before making an 'begin assembly session' request, you must have an access token to sign the request. You can retrieve an access token using one of the following flows:

Additionally, you must have the following items in the tenancy for which you are creating an assembly session:

A work item

Overview

The 'begin assembly session' API method is a command method. The API client invoking this method must have either a command or a root scope.

This method is useful when you want to display a HotDocs interview or assemble documents from within your own application.

Validating the HotDocs Answer Set XML

When sending HotDocs answer set XML in a begin assembly session request, you must first validate the answer set against the HotDocs answer Set schema.

Authentication

See Authentication for more information about authenticating requests to the Advance API.

API Documentation

You can view the latest documentation for the Advance API at http://hotdocsadvance.com/api/rest/documentation/index.html

Request

Request URL

PUT https://{tenancymoniker}.hotdocsadvance.com/api/rest/v1.1/WorkItems/{id}/Versions/{versionId}

Headers

Key	Required	Description	Example value
Authorization	Yes	The Authorization header for the request. Uses the access token retrieved (see Prerequisites section above for more information).	Bearer [access token]

Parameters

Name	Type	Location	Required	Description
tenancymoniker	String	URL	Yes	The tenancy moniker for the tenancy in which you want to create the new work item.
id	Guid	URL	Yes	The Guid for an existing work item.
versionId	Guid	URL	Yes	A new Guid, used to identify the assembly session in Advance.
answerXml	String	Body	No	A HotDocs answer set, containing an initial set of answer data to be used by the assembly session. This is a string of XML that validates against the HotDocs answer set schema. If you are using the batch processing workflow, it is likely that you will always want to include answer XML data.
forceCreate	Boolean	Body	No	If true, the request forces Advance to create a new assembly session, even if there is already an in-progress assembly session for the work item. The existing in-progress assembly session is deleted. If you omit this parameter, the default behavior of Advance is to treat this parameter as false: You will receive a 409 Conflict error informing you that there is an existing in-progress assembly session.

Examples

Example Request URL

https://tenancy1.hotdocsadvance.com/api/rest/v1.1/WorkItems/2d9f3d10-6fdb-494f-9929-955515c6f114/Versions/54210021-e86e-429d-ab1b-cc8e101cf7e1

Example Request JSON

{}

Example Response

Status: 200 OK

Body:

{

"hdaSessionId": "32b701fa-fh73-4d58-a70c-71e27c277df9",

"coreSessionId": "mntekqe11s9w3rhe7u3rfdxws3ur1fhdpo68j74rpw6ofmkcoyn9ene3dzz84bnrh7qcy35geon855o7drgsahi3t9ba8yhg",

"interviewJsUrl": "https://core.hotdocsadvance.com/scripts/interview.js",

"serviceMetadataUrl": "https://core.hotdocsadvance.com/AssemblyService/ipi/session/mntekqe11s9w3rhe7u3rfdxws3ur1fhdpo68j74rpw6ofmkcoyn9ene3dzz84bnrh7qcy35geon855o7drgsahi3t9ba8yhg"

}

Using the Response Data

The begin assembly session method provides the following data in its response:

Name	Type	Description	Example data
hdaSessionId	Guid	Identifies the assembly session within Advance. You will need this ID when using other API methods that interact with the assembly session. For example, the save, delete, and complete assembly session endpoints.	32b701fa-fh73-4d58-a70c-71e27c277df9
coreSessionId	Guid	Identifies the assembly session within the Core Assembly Service. You will need this ID when using HD$.AttachSession to display the interview in a user's browser.	mntekqe11s9w3rhe7u3rfdxws3ur1fhdpo68j74rpw6ofmkcoyn9ene3dzz84bnrh7qcy35geon855o7drgsahi3t9ba8yhg
interviewJsUrl	String	The URL from which to load the interview.js file. You must include this in the page on which the interview is displayed.	https://core.hotdocsadvance.com/scripts/interview.js
serviceMetadataUrl	String	The URL for the current assembly session in the Core Assembly Service.	https://core.hotdocsadvance.com/AssemblyService/ipi/session/mntekqe11s9w3rhe7u3rfdxws3ur1fhdpo68j74rpw6ofmkcoyn9ene3dzz84bnrh7qcy35geon855o7drgsahi3t9ba8yhg

You will require this data when displaying an interview.

Resuming a Saved Assembly Session

If you have already saved an assembly session, you can resume the session by making a request to the begin assembly session endpoint, using same versionId you used to begin the initial assembly session. When making the request, ensure that you set the request body parameters as follows:

answerXml (string) – you must omit this parameter; Advance will reload the answers from your saved assembly session into the resumed assembly session
forceCreate (boolean) – you must set this parameter to true

Code Example

C#

Note: this code example assumes that you are using .Net Framework 4.6 and a new ASP.NET Web Application project. You will build upon this project in the later code examples for displaying an interview and completing an assembly session.

HomeController.cs

using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace AdvanceExampleApplication.Controllers
{
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        public async Task<ActionResult> Index()
        {
            // You should have already implemented the 'ResourceOwnerAuthorization' method in the 'Getting an Access Token using the Resource Owner flow' topic.
            var token = await ResourceOwnerAuthorization.GetResourceOwnerToken();
            var assemblySessionData = await AssemblySessionHandler.BeginAssemblySession(token);
            return View();
        }                      
    }
}

AssemblySessionHandler.cs

using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
namespace AdvanceExampleApplication
{
    public static class AssemblySessionHandler
    {
        public static async Task<AssemblySessionDto> BeginAssemblySession(string token)
        {
            // ID of a work item for which you want to create the assembly session;
            // it must not have an in-progress assembly session
            var workItemId = Guid.Parse("a1e0e795-5a51-44f5-8fe2-e85a61dbf3c2");
            // Create the request
            var request = CreateHttpRequestMessage(workItemId);
            // Send the begin assembly session request to Advance
            using (var client = new HttpClient())
            {
                client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", token);
                var response = await client.SendAsync(request);
                return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<assemblysessiondto>(await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
            }
        }
        private static HttpRequestMessage CreateHttpRequestMessage(Guid workItemId)
        {
            var assemblySessionId = Guid.NewGuid();
            var assemblySessionUrl = $"https://tenancy1.yourorganization.com/HdaApi/rest/v1.1/WorkItems/{workItemId}/Versions/{assemblySessionId}";  
            var body = new
            {
                forceCreate = true,
                answerXml = string.Empty
            };
            return new HttpRequestMessage
            {
                RequestUri = new Uri(assemblySessionUrl),
                Method = HttpMethod.Put,
                Content = new StringContent(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(body), Encoding.UTF8, "application/json")
            };
        }
    }
}

AssemblySessionDto.cs

namespace AdvanceExampleApplication
{
    public class AssemblySessionDto
    {
        public string InterviewJsUrl { get; set; }
        public string HdaSessionId { get; set; }
        public string CoreSessionId { get; set; }
        public string ServiceMetadataUrl { get; set; }
    }
}