The Building Coder

Element Visibility and Multi-Version Add-In Code Base

Current and recurring topics from the Revit API discussion forum, an LLM and a cultural colour topic – Multi-version add-in code base – UIView for element visibility – GPT reads PDF + generates ACC issues – My blue vs. green ... Read more →

API Context, Background Process, PostCommand

More aspects of the Revit API from a modeless context – Background process and Revit API – Revit background processor – Effective Revit API context predicate – PostCommand context and view focus – Protect creativity with no AI – European Union AI Act – The Sakana AI Scientist – Plasma in high school nuclear fusion reactor... Read more →

Modeless Add-Ins and PDF Printing Speed

Topics discussed in the past week – Simultaneous add-in and Revit interaction – Limited PDF printing speed – Family instance code samples – Apple intelligence foundation language models – LLM arena... Read more →

Link Filter, Ceiling and Link Hatch Dim Voodoo

Fresh looks at dimensioning voodoo with stable representations, accessing and filtering elements in linked files, and transient graphics for jigs – Stable representation voodoo for hatch dimensions – Dimensioning hatch pattern on ceiling – Dimensioning hatch pattern in linked file – Filter elements in linked file – RubberBand jig... Read more →

Stable Parameter Identifier and WebView2 Plans

Embedded browser plans are maturing further, and what to use for stable parameter identification – Move from CefSharp to WebView2 – Stable parameter identifier for use in formula – CrowdStrike outage – Ai models trained on AI-generated data collapse – Open source AI is the path forward... Read more →

APS Accelerator and Q4R4 Chunking with Claude

Vacation time, accelerator time, and chunking TBC for LLM RAG – APS accelerator Barcelona in September – Q4R4 with LLM and RAG – Claude.ai helped chunk TBC blog posts – Vacation... Read more →

Material Assets, Chromium and Sorting Schedules

Material assets, built-in browser functionality, create schedules, search text and miscellaneous LLM-related news items – Personalised material asset properties – CefSharp versus WebView2 embedded browser – Twentytwo on schedule creation – Ugrep enhanced grep – AI mesh understanding – LLM self-reflection, deep stupidity, sans MatMul, and locally the easy way... Read more →

Length Query and RevitLookup Heralds DLL Paradise

New RevitLookup solves Revit add-in DLL hell, and a clarification on the arc length properties provided by curve elements – Curve Length versus ApproximateLength – RevitLookup dependency isolation ends DLL hell – Add-in dependencies isolation... Read more →

Entitlement API for Revit, Licensing for Add-Ins

Two illuminating posts from the Revit API discussion forum on licensing and the entitlement API – Multi-version Revit entitlement API – Add-in licensing... Read more →

RevitLookup Geometry Visualisation

New RevitLookup BIM element geometry visualization, and 1000 GitHub stars – Versions 2025.0.5, 2025.0.6 and 2025.0.7 – Wiki... Read more →

Removing Docs Zip Files, Panels and Buttons

A call for feedback on a planned change downloading a RCM from Docs, a tricky solution to remove ribbon panels and buttons, and a bunch of news bites that I found interesting on sustainability, language and AI discoveries; new EU AEC energy ruling, ecological wooden buildings in Scandinavia, spoken human language speed and information density, AI uses as a hearing aid enhancement, weather forecasting, interface assistant, AI open-source and future directions... Read more →

Revit 2025 API Video and Hiding Linked Elements

The video recording on what's new in the Revit 2025 API has been released, and we discuss a nice example combining element pre-selection and PostCommand – Revit 2025 API video – Hiding linked elements... Read more →

Revit 2025.1 and Handling Lack of UI in DA

The Revit 2025.1 update release, placing a detail group in ASP Design Automation, lacking the UI, a hacker's guide to LLM and an LLM retrieval augmented generation in 10 lines of code... Read more →

RevitLookup Updates, Bounding Boxes and Podcast

New releases of RevitLookup vastly expand coverage to include numerous new classes and properties – BIMrras podcast interview – RevitLookup 2025.0.3 – RevitLookup 2025.0.4 – Outline versus BoundingBox – Linking Revit files in BIM360 Docs... Read more →

Lengthen Ducts and Highlight Links

Modifying duct length, highlighting linked elements using SetReferences and determining whether a form is currently displayed by implementing an IsMainWindowActive predicate... Read more →

Migrating VB to .NET Core 8 and AI News

Revit 2025 API migration of VB.NET add-ins to .NET Core 8 and advances in LLMs and AI, Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, 3D genAI, web scraping, spatial referring, digital twins... Read more →

What's New in the Revit 2025 API

The Revit 2025 API contains significant enhancements for add-in developers – Information sources – What's new in previous versions – Detailed table of contents – API Changes – API Additions... Read more →

Migrating from .NET 4.8 to .NET Core 8

The Revit 2025 API is based on .NET Core 8, upgrading from the previous .NET 4.8 framework – .NET Core migration webinar recording – Revit API .NET Core migration guide... Read more →

RevitLookup Hotfix and The Revit 2025 SDK

RevitLookup HotFix 2025.0.1 has been released, and I continue the exploration of the Revit 2025 API – Revit 2025 SDK download – Comparison with previous SDK – Integration into RevitSdkSamples – Compiling the Revit 2025 SDK samples – Custom add-in context menu... Read more →

The Building Coder Samples 2025

I migrated The Building Coder samples to Revit 2025 – Compilation environment – .NET upgrade assistant – Revit API assemblies – Errors and warnings – Conclusion... Read more →

Revit 2025 and RevitLookup 2025

Revit 2025 has been released and the new Revit API is now based on .NET Core – PackageReference versioning support – RevitLookup 2025 – Revit developer starter kit – Revit 2025 macros with Visual Studio 2022 – Cheap Chinese AI chip... Read more →

Change Pipe Level and PreviewControl Border

Picking up two illuminating conversations from the Revit API discussion forum, we look at spying to suppress the PreviewControl border and changing the level of piping elements... Read more →

Camera Settings, Doors Traversed, Script on the Fly

New exciting Revit API solutions and furious pace of LLM development – Bowerbird C# scripting for Revit – Doors traversed by path of travel – Camera mapping between APS and Revit – Claude 3 can see – Devin, an AI software engineer – Meta Imagine generates images – An LLM for decompiling binary code – Simple climate change overview... Read more →

API Context, Input State and DA4R Debugging

We present a long-awaited solution to check for a valid Revit API context and a whole bunch of short pointers to other mostly AI-related topics of interest – Determining Revit API context – Detect Revit user input state – Easy Revit API – Gemini with image and video input – LLM is not self-aware – Generative AI transformer – Design to reduce junk data – C and C++ are risky – Ultra-processed food is toxic... Read more →

Interactive BIM Notebook, Temporary Graphics and AI

Interactivity and AI keeps growing – BIM interactive notebooks – TemporaryGraphicsManager in action – Classify line styles built-in vs user – The curious case of JavaScript – Magika AI-based file type classification – NotebookLM – AI understands videos better – Airline chatbot invented a refund policy – LLM tokenisation – Diátaxis systematic technical documentation – Amara's law – Talking about progress versus risk... Read more →

Refresh Graphics, Start View and Excel

Refreshing graphics, exchanging data, setting the start view, and random titbits related to AI, politics and climate – UpdateAllOpenViews – Refreshing spot elevation prefix – Excel data exchange options – Defining the start view – How big is a LLM – Base rate fallacy – Last year was hot – Previous climate changes negligeable – PV panel price trend... Read more →

.NET Core, C4R Views and Interactive Hot Reloading

Importing cloud-based APS parameters in desktop project, pondering .NET Core, publishing views the cloud, and hot tips for hot reloading for interactive Revit API testing and debugging – APS parameters API Revit import – .NET Core migration webinar recording – C4R publish view to cloud API – Revit polyglot notebook – Hot reloading in Visual Studio With Dynamo and Revit – Assigning invisible graphics linestyle – ChatGPT system prompt – RIP John Walker... Read more →

Retrieve Rooms, Build a Schema, Sort and Animate

Using the extensible storage schema builder, retrieving adjacent rooms, embedding an animation in a tooltip and controlling detail item draw order – Schema builder quirks – Get all apartment rooms – Embed GIF in tooltip – Control draw order of detail items... Read more →

Valid Revit API Context, LLM and LTG

Revit API, climate, and AI – Valid Revit API context – Extensible storage in APS – Large language model course – Token-free selective state space model – L'humanité en péril – The limits to growth... Read more →

DirectContext3D, Ids and Linked Section Elements

Revit element id compilation, unique cross-document reference, AU class on DirectContext3D and determining elements present in section view... Read more →

Journals, Logging, Progress Bar, AEC, AI and CO2

A nice new collection of Revit API, AI and AEC related topics – Accountability, Logging and Journals – WPF progress bar with abort button – Sublime text – Interesting AI motivation: ensure it goes well – Now you see it, now you don't – BIM-GPT AI BIM information retrieval – AEC greenwashing – IKEA life at home report – Climpact carbon footprint action comparison... Read more →

Dependency Injection and Model Checker API

Happy New Year! – AU 2023 classes – Dependency injection for Revit API – RevitLookup updates – Model checker API docs – ChatGPT and Maestro AI for Revit scripting – Construction spending rising in the US – Free Will – Vuca... Read more →

Parameters and .NET Core Webinar

Let's end this year with some notes on parameters and a reminder of the upcoming shift to .NET Core – .NET Core migration webinar – Adding a parameter with a specific GUID – Getting started with the parameter service – Happy holidays! ... Read more →

3D View, Curved Section and Browser Round-Trip

RevitLookup update, roundtrip interaction between your own browser instance and external command, BIM element location, structural 3D view, curved section view – RevitLookup 2024.0.10 – Calling Revit command from Chromium browser – Chromium browser Js round trip callback – Element location – Create a structural-only 3D view – Creating a curved section in Dynamo – Carbon footprint of AI – Sending data by pigeon – Permaculture farm – The Valley of Code... Read more →

Camera Target and Toposolid Subdivision Material

A quick look at CefSharp and conversations shedding light on Toposolids and camera settings – Using the built-in CefSharp browser – Toposolid subdivision material – Camera target... Read more →

.NET Core Preview and Open Source Add-In Projects

Open-source related discussions, interesting Revit API and AI related news – Revit preview release with C# 7 – RevitLookup 2024.0.9 is here – RevitPythonDocs for Dynamo and pyRevit – New Revit SDK sample browser and launcher – Purge add-in with rave reviews – SpeedCad tools OptionsBar and StatusBar – Managing multiple Revit API versions – DesignScript, Rhino, and other geometry libraries – Trading glass beads for AI IP... Read more →

Journal Magic, Adjacent Rooms and Room Boundary

Taking a look at journal files, room boundaries, adjacent rooms, a ForgeTypeId question and where AI might lead – Harry's journal file magic – Closed contiguous room boundary loop – Challenges identifying adjacent rooms – ForgeTypeId for 'Other' parameter group – AI may obsolete all apps... Read more →

Revit 2024.2 Update with UDA Preview

The recent Revit 2024 update release is interesting for developers as well – Autodesk Revit 2024.2 update – Extensible storage schema conflicts in Revit 2024 – Universal data access UDA in Revit 2024.2 – Inpoly.c point in polygon algorithm... Read more →

Contour Lines, Batch Processor and Dynamo Shapely

Powerful tools and solutions for batch processing, 2D geometric analysis and toposolids – Revit batch processor sample code – Shapely for Dynamo – Retrieve Toposolid contour lines – Internet artifacts... Read more →

Pernickety Blogging

Some important, some less important and some absolutely pernickety recommendations on perfecting API-related blog posts... Read more →

DLL Paradise and a Fall

APS overview – DLL paradise for Revit add-ins via named pipe IPC – Interprocess communication strategies and best practices – Using named pipes to communicate between different .NET versions – Interactions between .NET 4.8 and .NET 7 – Server / client transmission protocol – Connection management – Two-way communication... Read more →

Xgbxml Fixes Building Geometry Gaps

A mighty beautiful Python solution for fixing gaps in the building geometry and new AI-related titbits – Fixing building geometry gaps – Open and render gbXML BIM model – Identify gaps in geometry – Add missing surfaces – Verify waterproof – LLaVA large language and vision assistant – Moonvalley text to video – DETR model detects objects in images... Read more →

No Geometry, Touching Geometry and Cut Geometry

Discussions of BIM, geometry, pyRevit and AI news – pyRevit discourse – The BIM has no geometry – Get touching elements – What is a stable representation of a reference? – CUT_EDGE reference voodoo – Revit and IFC coordinate systems – Chinese influencer deepfakes livestreaming 24/7 – Generative AI use and misuse... Read more →

OptionsBar and Bye Bye to DA4R 2018

A great new open-source productivity enhancement tool making use of the built-in OptionsBar provides handy access to frequently used information, utilities, element selection options and more, and a reminder of the deprecated DA4R Revit 2018 engine... Read more →

Element Diff Compare, Shapely and RDBE

Exciting new and enhanced tools and libraries to check out – Revit element difference comparison – The Revit database explorer RDBE – The Shapely Python 2D geometry library – Measuring developer productivity... Read more →

System Family Predicate and Python Section Creation

Today, we shed some light on family and section view creation – System family predicate – Level-based family template – Create section view in Python... Read more →

Add-In Threads and Geometry Comparison

Deep Revit API questions requiring clarification and a simple database connection issue resolved – Add-in threads – GeometryObject comparison methods – Accessing Access – The INTERCAL programming language... Read more →

15 Years, Polygon Areas and .NET Core

A birthday celebration, a forward-looking statement or two and observations on geometry, AI and emissions – 15 years of The Building Coder – Revit API with .NET Core – Bye-bye document macro? – Polygon area algorithms – AI recreates Pink Floyd from brain activity – Create ML model with one sentence? – Compress greenhouse gas emissions... Read more →

GasTools, Cmd Ids, Key Schedule et al

A nice, varied bouquet of topics – GasTools – Key schedule browser API – Revit command id list – AI generates 3D model from 2D drawings – Careful with infant screen use – Baroque typography in the digital world... Read more →

Resx Language Management and APS DevCons

The Autodesk Platform Services APS Developer Conferences are coming up, and we all need to deal with application localisation and i18n issues – Resx language management – Ribbon panel localisation – Creating the localised WinForms... Read more →