The Building Coder

Filter for a Family

We already discussed the topic of family category and filtering previously, but this question keeps cropping up anyway, so here is a repetition from a slightly different point of view by Saikat Bhattacharya. Question: I am trying to get the loaded families with a LightingFixtures category. However, I am not getting the results I expected. I used the following code: Autodesk.Revit.Creation.Filter cf = app.Create.Filter; Filter f1 = cf.NewTypeFilter( typeof( Family ) ); Filter f2 = cf.NewCategoryFilter( BuiltInCategory.OST_LightingFixtures ); LogicAndFilter f3... Read more →

DevDays Online Recordings

The recordings from our recent DevDays Online events are now publicly available. They cover API-related information about much of the 2010 family of products. Here is a link to the recording of the AEC session (47.5 MB). The links for the AutoCAD, Geospatial, Manufacturing and Civil 3D domains are available from Kean's blog Through the Interface. Read more →

More Questions

Here are some more of the questions that were raised lately, including some cases handled by my colleagues Joe Ye and Saikat Bhattacharya: Can I define my own user or API family type parameters that provide a list of options to the user and are displayed in a drop-down list, like 'Level' or 'Phase Created', or through a dialogue, like 'Assembly Code'? I am trying to use a built-in parameter by calling the Parameter method on a family type object,... Read more →

Back Again

I'm back from a wonderful vacation in southern Italy. I tried to plan something beforehand and inform myself, but found no time to do so. I ended up just booking the flights to and from Napoli, with no idea what would happen in between. My main goal was to practice Italian. And the result was great! The main components were: I spoke to lots and lots of people, it was really wonderful, they are so nice. I saw wonderful places,... Read more →

Transform Instance Coordinates

We briefly introduced transformations and the Revit Transform class in the overview of the geometry library, and discussed some basic Transform concepts and usage. Now we are well prepared to address a more interesting topic. Question: I need to be able to find the coordinates of all the vertices of a shape. If I take a simple shape such as a mullion, I am able to select all its faces and vertices, but I am getting confused with the coordinates.... Read more →

Transform

In some upcoming posts, I would like to take a look at the how to handle transformations of Revit elements, as well as locations of nested linked files. Before we get into that, let us take a closer look at the underlying Revit API Transform class. We briefly mentioned it in the discussion of the Revit API geometry library, and demonstrated some basic use of it for transforming a polygon from 3D to 2D. The Revit API Transform class is... Read more →

Parameter Binding Performance

Here is a short but important question that has come up repeatedly concerning the performance of parameter bindings. Question: There is a big problem in the early versions of Revit 2009 with the performance of the Document ParameterBindings property, for example in the last line of the following code: Application app = commandData.Application; Document doc = app.ActiveDocument; BindingMap bindingMap = doc.ParameterBindings; The last statement takes a huge amount of time to execute, in the order of minutes. Are there any... Read more →

Real Break

I am looking forward to taking a real break now after a couple of months of working rather a lot. Cut my blog and PC connection for a while. I will be going to Napoli and Sicilia in Italy, with no fixed goals or itinerary beyond that. Rather exciting, not knowing. After a week or two of thinking this over and gradually getting used to the idea, I have finally completed the process of deciding not to take my computer... Read more →

Create Room on Level in Phase

Question: I want to create a room at a specific location on a given level and in a specific phase as well. I see a constructor to create a room in a phase, and a constructor to create a room in a level at given UV coordinates, but there is no constructor to do both. If I create a room on a level, I don't see how to establish the phase. If I create it in a phase, I don't... Read more →