OpenStudio can't connect BIM Server

[macumber]

Reported at NREL/OpenStudio#4393

[macumber]

@keleisi2001 the developers that made the BIM Server integration are no longer part of the project so we have limited experience with BIM Server. From your second screen shot it looks like BIM Server wants you to change your password. Could that be the problem preventing you from logging in from OpenStudio Application.

[keleisi2001]

@keleisi2001 the developers that made the BIM Server integration are no longer part of the project so we have limited experience with BIM Server. From your second screen shot it looks like BIM Server wants you to change your password. Could that be the problem preventing you from logging in from OpenStudio Application.

OK I see. I am trying to find the reasons from multiple aspects, including restarting BIM Server, restarting openstudio, etc. At the same time, I also asked the same question in the BIM Server section. In fact, I think this problem is not a technical problem, but because of some inexplicable reasons. Anyway, I will try as much as possible

[keleisi2001]

Although I have tried many ways, I still haven't solved it. The newest screenshot is shown.

[hlg]

The current integration with BIMserver ist still based on version 1.3.4. You will need a Java 8 JRE (or older) for this version. On first run wait for the BIMserver to expand and drop the OSMserializer plugin into the plugins folder. Setup the admin user and then you should be able to connect. You can use the BIMserver API or console (web app) to check if the plugin has been loaded, e.g. with PluginInterface.getAllSerializers. You should see something like this in the result:

{ "__type": "SSerializerPluginConfiguration",
  "description": "OsmSerializer",
  "enabled": true,
  "name": "Osm",
  ...
}

As for compatibility with newer versions: I believe the API that OpenStudio talks to for login, project selection etc. has not changed much, except that the interfaces where renamed, e.g. from Bimsie1AuthInterface to just AuthInterface. You can find the current interfaces, methods and parameters here, for example. If in doubt, I can also review the respective code - I already had a look. The OsmSerializer probably needs a bit more work, since the plugin system has changed a bit and those the wrapping/integration code needs updates. Also the serializer should be updated to handle both IFC2x3 and IFC4.

I would be glad to assist with the update to a recent version, both for the OpenStudio pieces as well as the serializer plugin. Since the serializer requires a bit of OpenStudio expertise, I would prefer the plugin to stay and be maintained in the OpenStudio realm, but feel free to invite me as a contributor to a forked OsmSerializer repository.

[macumber]

From what I can tell looking at https://github.com/BIMDataHub/BIMServerOsmSerializer/blob/master/src/org/bimserver/osm/serializer/OsmSurface.java, the OsmSerializer does not actually use the OpenStudio SDK Java Bindings which is probably a good thing because I'm not sure if those are well supported. It looks like the plugin just generates OSM files as string content. So, there might need to be a review to see if the IDD for any objects written by the serializer have changed but it should largely be a pure Java/BimServer effort. Is that plugin something you would use in a real workflow @hlg?

[hlg]

Exactly, the OsmSerializer plugin is quite independent of OpenStudio and in fact, it can also be used to download OSM files directly from a non-OpenStudio BIMserver client, such as the web client BIMvie.ws. No matter whether the conversion happens on the BIMserver or OpenStudio side though, the mapping from the IFC to OSM model certainly needs some expertise on both sides and those I think in the long term, it must be some shared effort between the communities. For the parts in the OpenStudio app, it might be useful to factor them into a small C++ client library maintained at the BIMserver side, so you don't have to bother with updates on those parts that are affected by the BIMserver API.

I believe the functionality as such is quite valuable as I am not aware of any other operational IFC-to-OSM conversion. IFC import is, without doubt, a useful feature for the OpenStudio application. There is a need and some work around conversion from IFC to energy simulation models and some alternative workflows (without BIMServer) via gbXML or IDF generated from IFC. I did not do a thorough review on the state of the art yet, but I will and also see if there are potential collaborators in the BIM communities. Dou you have a recommendation where I can read more about the differences between those formats, in particular OSM versus IDF?

Btw. - you are probably aware of that - the shorthand OSM is also used for OpenStreetMap data and formats and in fact search engines have more references to the geospatial use of the acronym than from the building energy modeling domain.