

The Vault 2014 SDK contains a bunch of DLLs from a third-party vendor, DevExpress. Autodesk and DevExpress entered into an agreement for usage and distribution of these DLLs in the Vault SDK. Here is my understanding of that agreement. Keep in mind that I do not represent the Autodesk legal department.
Background
The Vault 2014 API contains re-usable UI components, which make use of DevExpress controls. Therefore those controls needed to be included in the Vault SDK.
The Agreement
The DevExpress DLLs in the Vault SDK (these are the ones in the bin folder that start with “DevExpress”) are free for you (the user of the Vault SDK) to use and re-distribute within the context of the Vault SDK.
However, if you use the DevExpress controls directly, then you need to get a developer license from DevExpress. Things like cost, and usage are between you and DevExpress. Autodesk has no involvement.
If you try to make direct use of DevExpress controls without a license, you should see a pop-up in Visual Studio indicating unlicensed usage.
DevExpress website: http://www.devexpress.com/
Examples
If you paste a VaultBrowserControl in your dialog, that’s free, even though VaultBrowserControl makes use of DevExpress controls internally.
If you paste a DevExpress.XtraGrid control in your dialog, you need a DevExpress developer license.
DLL Redistribution
The Vault Client installs all the needed DevExpress controls into the GAC. So if your app requires the Vault Client, then you don’t need to re-distribute the DevExpress DLLs. It’s only in cases where the user may not have the Vault Client that you need to worry about re-distributing the DLLs.
Although the DLLs can go in the GAC, I recommend putting the DevExpress DLLs in the running folder.
Special Thanks
Thanks goes out to the people at DevExpress. Not only did they let us include their DLLs in he Vault SDK, but they also make good controls. Since the very first Vault release, the Vault client has been using DevExpress controls to great satisfaction.
















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Finally a Good Splash Screen
I’ve been waiting for this for almost 9 years, and it’s finally here. Vault has a good splash screen!
Don’t get me wrong. The old splash screens were not bad, they just didn’t fit well with the product. Commonly the Vault screens would be very CAD related.
The above image would look perfect on AutoCAD or Inventor, but it just doesn’t fit Vault. It’s not a bad image, but it doesn’t describe what the product is about.
Some of the early releases of Vault used “guys standing around a table” imagery.
This is better, but it doesn’t quite hit the mark. Notice the lack of computers or anything hi-tech. Some of the images even featured people staring at blueprints. Although there is a collaboration aspect to Vault, it’s not really meant to simulate face-to-face meetings like what is being shown.
Vault is really about connecting and organizing CAD data, which brings us to the Vault 2014 splash screen.
Ahh, look at it. A thing of beauty. It has a nice hi-tech vibe to it and is pleasing to the eye. So what do the interconnected balls represent? The vault client and server components? CAD files? People? Data management systems? The answer is all of the above. Vault does all of those things, and those things are a fitting description of Vault.
Vault is a hard product to describe, so it doesn’t surprise me that it took so long to get it right. I’m just glad it happened. As a programmer, I usually don’t care about things like branding, but it looks like some real effort was put in to understand the products. I’m not just talking about Vault either. All the new Autodesk product releases are accompanied by amazing imagery.
Posted at 09:48 AM in Commentary, Vault | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)