Basics of Aras Mark-up Language and NASH

Aras Innovator has an underlying mark-up language it uses for all of its database transactions. The language is referred to as Aras Mark-up Language, or AML. Aras also provides a sandbox interface for developing and running AML, called NASH. Here’s a short primer for getting familiar with AML and NASH. 

Aras Mark-up Language is written in XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language) syntax and takes the following form:

This piece of AML will return, or “get”, all of the ECN records in your Aras Innovator database. This basic syntax can be used to return the records of any item type by changing the type attribute of the Item tag.

So how do you use AML? One place is in the Innovator Application Programming Interface (API). Once the syntax is determined, it can be used in the API or a web service to get the ECN records or whatever information is desired.

Another place to use the AML syntax is in NASH. NASH is a mini-application that is available in most Aras Innovator installations. You can start NASH by opening a browser and pointing it to the URL, http://<ServerName>/<InnovatorInstance>/client/scripts/nash.aspx. If you are not sure of the values to use for <ServerName> or <InnovatorInstance>, you can review the properties of you Aras Innovator desktop shortcut.

When your browser resolves the URL, the following page will be rendered.

Follow these steps to run the Aras Mark-up Language.

1. Specify a user, password and database
2. Select the Login button. A confirmation message will be displayed in the lower textbox stating “Login complete for user”
3. Change the Action dropdown to ApplyItem
4. In the XML textbox type <Item type=”ECN” action=”get”></Item> replacing the type attribute with the name of any item type in your database
5. Press the Submit button
6. The lower textbox will update with all of the records of the item type. The textbox is not a very readable format, but by pressing the ShowXml button, the results will be displayed in a new browser window in an XML view

The AML can be modified with search criteria to filter the results down to specific records. For example, the following AML will display all of the ECNs in the Released state:

For more reference on Aras Mark-up Language syntax you can reference the Aras Innovator 9.1 – Programmers Guide.pdf available for download from the Aras web site.

Aras Innovator’s AML is a very intuitive language for working with the underlying data in your Innovator database and is used in almost all Innovator customizations. It is also the base for communicating with Innovator through a web service. The NASH application provides a great sandbox for developing and validating the AML before writing any code.

For those of you interested in a little arcane trivia, there is a short story behind the meaning of NASH.  NASH originated as a nickname for the tool, given to it by some of the Aras developers that speak Russian.  The name NASH (pronounced slightly differently in Russian) means “ours” or “belonging to us.”  Naturally, the tool was originally meant to be used by the Aras development team, but luckily they’ve made it available to the rest of us, too.

If you would like further information on using AML or using NASH, please contact us.

Tags: API, Aras Innovator, Aras Mark-up Language, development, PLM, web service, XML