The Building Coder

Tagging a Linked Element

The linked file enhancements introduced in the Revit 2014 API obviously need more awareness – Link enhancements – Conversion of geometric references – Tagging a linked element – Using the stable representation to tag a linked element – List all untagged doors... Read more →

How to use FilterCategoryRule

@CaptainDan raised a very pertinent question in the discussion forum on using FilterCategoryRule in the Revit API that led to some discussion and clarification with the development team: I have three questions regarding the filter rule represented by this class... Read more →

Setting Parameter Varies Between Groups

Looking at setting the SetAllowVaryBetweenGroups flag on a shared parameter; is there any way to set can vary by group instance (what I need) the default for API-created bindings? ... Read more →

Custom Exporter GetCameraInfo

Here is a simple yet longstanding question with a surprisingly simple answer that should prove extremely helpful for all those who really need it, presumably including Mohan Sawant, who raised this issue in a comment on the DWF view definition and its camera settings: Question: Is there any programmatic access to the Revit camera target and FOV? For my application, I have to define a camera using position, target, up vector, projection type and field of view. I tried to... Read more →

Upgrading Family Files Silently, Part 2

Last week, I provided some suggestions for upgrading family files silently, i.e. suppressing the warning messages displayed for every family file that requires updating when being loaded into a project, requiring a user confirmation for each one: Use a Revit file updater, e.g. the file upgrader on Autodesk labs provided by the ADN team. Handle the pop-up messages yourself using one of the techniques for handling dialogues and failures. Determine the Revit version used to save the family files before... Read more →

CreateLinkReference Sample Code

The Revit 2014 API introduced a whole bunch of linked RVT document interaction enhancements: Identifying links Obtaining linked documents Link creation Link load and unload Link path type Conversion of geometric references Room tag creation from linked rooms Picking in links They all provide important and useful functionality. Let's take a look at one of them in particular as well as another issue that just cropped up: Conversion of a geometric reference in a linked RVT model Triggering a dynamic... Read more →

Cannot Get BindingMap of a Family Document

Here is an issue trying to access the binding map of a family document that just re-arose as a new ADN support case. It took me a while (thank you, Google) to discover that I had actually already answered the very same issue in the past in the Revit API forum discussion thread cannot get binding map of a family document error 2014. Therefore, I think it is best for both you and me if I promote it to a... Read more →

Adding New Materials from List Updated

Back in the year 2010, I discussed a simple little system based on a Revit add-in named AddMaterials to generate new materials in a Revit project based on a list of required material properties stored in an Excel spreadsheet. The input data includes: Material Name Code Title Strength Graphics RGB colour values Transparency Surface pattern Cut pattern Identity Filter criteria Descriptive information Custom parameters All the further workflow details are described in the original post, of course. The add-in was... Read more →

Wrangling Revisions with Ruby

Here is a write-up by Andy Holmes, Integration Specialist at OPX design consultancy on a Ruby project that uses a lot of different Revit API features, e.g., revisions on sheet, DMU updaters, Idling and document events, and creating a Ruby 'add-in' by using an application-level macro that has no macros in it. This write-up will soon be made available on the redesigned OPX website, and the code is already freely available on GitHub. Andy adds that Mat is colleague who... Read more →

Deleting Unnamed Non-Hosting Reference Planes

Once upon a time, while teaching a Revit API class, the training participants identified a problem that was simple enough to be used as a filtered element collector learning example and did something useful at the same time: deleting reference planes not hosting any elements, implemented as the stand-alone external command DeleteUnnamedNonHostingReferencePlanes. It deletes all reference planes that have not been named and are not hosting any elements. Here is another thread discussing filtering reference planes and explaining the use... Read more →

Future Proofing The Building Coder Samples

We've reached the add-in future-proofing season again, the time of year to eliminate compiler warnings and deprecated calls for easier migration to an updated API, just like last year in January and February. It is very easy this time around, since we only have two warnings, about use of the obsolete TitleBlocks property and FindReferencesWithContextByDirection method: CmdSheetSize.cs: 'Autodesk.Revit.DB.Document.TitleBlocks' is obsolete: 'This method is obsolete in Revit 2014. Use FilteredElementCollector with a FamilySymbol class filter and an appropriate category filter instead.'... Read more →

REST POST Request to Revit Server 2014

I just arrived in Gothenburg, Sweden, for a mini-web-workshop. I'll let you know what I learn here soon. Meanwhile, here is a quick little important note on a change to the Revit Server 2014 REST API that affected some: Question: I am using a POST request to copy a RVT file from one Revit Server folder to another. This call worked fine in Revit Server 2013, but returns an error code 404 in Revit Server 2014. I looked at the... Read more →

Starting to Clean Up For the Break

I am starting to clear up some open issues before the break. Here are a few that I can handle right here and now: Autodesk University classes ready for viewing and download Building Performance Analysis update Daylighting Analysis Tool for Revit update I will obviously not be able to magically transform the entire backlog of interesting topics I still wish to share and discuss. Still, I am continuously learning to be active and still take things easy, do what I... Read more →

Setting the View Display Background

Here is an exploration of various attempts to ensure that the view background is always white, regardless of all user settings like inverted background etc. Before getting to that, I have to share an important discovery for me and my Tammik namesakes by my sister Helene, who recently consulted an Estonian translator. My last name is Estonian and comes from 'tamm', meaning 'oak'. Tammik is a small group of oaks, or oak grove, a common North European name, cf. Eklund... Read more →

Visual Studio 2013 May Partially Support Edit and Continue

The West European DevDays conferences are completed. I am on my way back from Gothenburg to Switzerland. En route, I would like to share this strange and useful discovery by Peter Muigg of CAD Anwendungen Muigg, who says: In spite of what was said in the article on debugging Revit 2014 API with Visual Studio 2013 and the Revit API discussion thread on the same topic, Visual Studio 2013 does in fact partially support edit and continue. Just as stated... Read more →

Saving a New Central File to Revit Server

One topic brought up at Scott Conover's worksharing roundtable was the question of how to save a new Revit central file to a Revit Server. Participants even questioned whether this is possible at all with the current API. Well, it is, and we look at the exact steps to achieve that below as well as: DevDay in Farnborough, cabs and flights Saving a new central file to Revit Server Consistent naming of transactions and transaction groups Changing the category of... Read more →

Triggering Immediate External Event Execution

We held our first West European Devday in Paris on Monday and I am now sitting in the airport headed for Milano. En route to Milano, I worked at testing Joe Ye's trick to trigger the Idling event (potential SetRaiseWithoutDelay workaround) to force an immediate execution of my external event. I also added a comment from Guy Robinson on Revit requiring focus that had me worried for a moment. However, the solution is easy! Before we get to that, here... Read more →

Replacing an Idling Event Handler by an External Event

I arrived back in Europe safe and sound from America. Healthy, as well, in spite of air conditioning and the freezing temperatures in some of the Autodesk University conference rooms. Thank God, I went well prepared with long-sleeved woollen underwear and thick heavy sweaters to face the arctic challenges of the desert town. As I hinted at when describing my last day at AU, I realised that I can significantly improve the implementation of the RoomEditorApp subscription to real-time database... Read more →

AU Day 2, Worksharing and Revit 2014 API Roundtables

Here is my report on Wednesday at Autodesk University, following the DevDay pre-event conference on Monday and the first real day at AU on Tuesday. These are my main activities of the day in chronological order, plus pointers to a fantastic class or two that I missed and want to highlight anyway: Virtually human – modelling the human body using BIM Design to fabrication Revit add-ins that cooperate with worksharing Worksharing roundtable Revit API roundtable Virtually human – modelling the... Read more →

AU Day 1, Revit 2014 API Class and Bounding Box Rotation

Tuesday was the first real day at AU after the DevDay pre-event conference yesterday. Here are my main activities of the day in chronological order: Advanced Revit 2014 API features and samples AU Keynote by Jeff and Carl DevLab and bounding box rotation Adding a marker at the Revit project origin Download Advanced Revit 2014 API Features and Samples I presented my first class DV2010 – Advanced Revit 2014 API Features and Samples right away starting at the very first... Read more →

Debugging Revit 2014 API with Visual Studio 2013

The officially supported development platforms for Revit add-ins are Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition. The important factor is really only the .NET environment, Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0. Of course, you can also use the built-in SharpDevelop development macro environment. This information comes directly from the horse's mouth, i.e. the Revit 2014 API Developers Guide – happily, back online again – section on requirements. The Revit Python Shell and Revit Ruby Shell, based on IronPython... Read more →

RoomEditorApp Idling and Benchmarking Timer

I solved my two RoomEditorApp Idling issues! They were especially worrying due to the fact that I am planning to present this application in my Autodesk university class DV1736 on Cloud-Based, Real-Time, Round-Trip, 2D Revit Model Editing on Any Mobile Device. By the way, you should now enrol in the AU classes you are interested in – unless you already did :-) Go to the AU class catalogue, sign in, click 'View All Classes', use the filters or keyword search... Read more →

Localised Unit Abbreviations

I recently discussed how to generate unit abbreviations, both using a hard coded list and automatically generating them from the UnitSymbolType enumeration values. I implemented the CmdDutAbbreviation command in The Building Coder samples to test these abbreviations, and also enhanced it to display the Display Unit Type to Unit Types mapping that we added in the meantime. Victor Chekalin, or Виктор Чекалин, reacted to this analysis and adds: Thank you for your investigation. But... There is a big 'but' :-)... Read more →

Revit 2014 Developer Guide PDF

Happy Sunday! Extra, extra, breaking news! As I just mentioned a few days back, the Revit API developer guide is back on WikiHelp again. Still, as we recently discussed here and in the Revit API discussion forum, a PDF version of the developer guide can also come in very handy now and then, e.g. for offline perusal. Ian alias Keldar67 now repeated his heroic Revit 2013 feat and presents the Revit 2014 API developer guide in PDF format. Please take... Read more →

Multi-Version Visual Studio Revit Add-In Wizard

Developers often ask how to support multiple versions of a Revit add-in from the same codebase. Many have implemented solutions for this using various Visual Studio project settings. Alexander Ignatovich of Investicionnaya Venchurnaya Companiya went one step further and implemented a version of the Visual Studio Revit add-in wizard that automatically generates an add-in skeleton supporting both Revit 2013 and 2014 in the same Visual Studio project. He is very kindly sharing is with us here, saying: I have one... Read more →

The Developer Guide is Back on WikiHelp

Let's look at a couple of topics today, in order of decreasing relevance to the Revit API: The Revit API developer's guide on Autodesk help Using Dynamic Update and Extensible Storage in family documents 3D modelling in a browser 3D access to Smithsonian historic artefacts Comet ISON may be visible in daylight soon The Revit API Developer's Guide is Live on Autodesk Help The title says it all. Here is the link to the Revit 2014 API Developers Guide table... Read more →

Revit 2014 Update Release 2

Revit 2014 Update Release 2 has been posted to the Autodesk Revit product pages: Revit 2014 Update Release 2 Revit Architecture 2014 Update Release 2 Revit MEP 2014 Update Release 2 Revit Structure 2014 Update Release 2 As usual, the update release uses service pack technology and does not require a full install. Prior to installing the Update Release 1, please verify that you are running the First Customer Ship build of Autodesk Revit 2014, build 20130308_1515 or the Update... Read more →

Singleton Application versus Multiple Command Instances

I recently discussed the RoomEditorApp external application, the Revit add-in part of my cloud-based real-time round-trip 2D Revit model editing application, while creating the RoomEditorApp GitHub repository and migrating it to Revit 2014. I also mentioned that I was mysteriously unable to unsubscribe from the Idling event. I raised this mystifying question with the development team and received a very satisfying answer, which includes some important information on how external applications and commands are handled and instantiated by the Revit... Read more →

User MEP Calculation Sample on GitHub

I published the user MEP calculation sample a couple of months ago as an example of making use of the external services framework to redefine the algorithms used for internal calculations in Revit. Nmulder is happily making use of this to redefine pipe pressure loss calculations, but running into a generic add-in error on HTML generation that I hoped to be able to sort out: Question: I have been playing around with the Revit API recently in order to provide... Read more →

Determining Host Document Location of a Linked Element

It is getting rather cold and wet and dreary outside now, so I spent some time answering the following excellently documented developer query on relating the coordinates of a linked file with its host. Just as I was about to publish it, Kon raised the very same issue in a comment on the recent discussion on accessing individual elements in linked projects: "When I try to relate the 'internal' XYZ LocationPoint of the linked document to the main model, they... Read more →

Mapping Display Unit Type to Unit Types

Yesterday, we looked at unit abbreviations and some other aspects of the new Revit 2014 Unit API. I mentioned that one might be able to use the FormatUtils.Format or UnitFormatUtils.Format methods to generate a string representation of a given numeric value, extract a unit abbreviation from it, and that I was not looking further at that option, lacking a UnitType to feed it with, only having a DisplayUnitType to work with. That led me to wonder whether there might be... Read more →

RoomEditorApp Architecture and External Application

A couple of days ago, I wrote about creating the RoomEditorApp GitHub repository for the Revit add-in part of my cloud-based real-time round-trip 2D Revit model editing application on any mobile device and promised to discuss its implementation details anon. Well, the obvious place to start that is by providing an architectural overview, followed by a look at its external application implementation. I'll also mention an issue with unresponsive Idling that I am currently experiencing and hope to resolve, and... Read more →

ExportCncFab on GitHub and RevitLookup Update

I am in a hurry, still not finding time to prepare my AU classes, and lots going on. I published an add-in named ExportWallboard to automatically isolate and export wall parts individually to DXF for CNC fabrication back in March, still for Revit 2013, at the time. That utility is in use, was renamed to ExportCncFab and has enjoyed some further enhancement since, such as: Support for export to SAT as well as DXF A beautiful little external application to... Read more →

Programmatic Custom Add-In External Command Launch

One of the highlights of the Revit 2014 API is the new PostCommand functionality enabling programmatic launching of built-in Revit commands. The Revit SDK includes a new sample demonstrating its use, PostCommandWorkflow. However, that programmatically launches an existing built-in Revit command, not an external command added by a custom application. Furthermore, there was a problem launching custom external commands in the initial release of Revit 2014. Happily, it was fixed by the update release 1, UR1, a fact listed among... Read more →

Viewport Positioning and Conceptual Design Automation

Not all location relevant properties of viewports are currently accessible through the Revit API, which makes it slightly challenging to precisely define their position. Let us look at a clever trick to align viewports exactly that works around that limitation, sheds some light on their location calculation and the modification of it that was made between Revit 2013 and 2014. After that, I would like to briefly present a non-Revit-API BIM topic, a single-page MSc thesis overview on completely conceptual... Read more →

How to Save a Solid to a File

As I announced, I am currently on vacation. Still, I don't want to leave you or The Building Coder completely abandoned for too long, so here is a quick question recently answered by my colleague Akira Kudo: Question: How can I save a solid to a file, please? I searched for an applicable API call, but without success. I am not trying to save a Revit element, or I could use the existing Export methods. My object is an Autodesk.Revit.DB.Solid... Read more →

AppStore Advice and Zooming in a Preview Control

Let's look at another quick PreviewControl question. First, however, please note: Portathon Day 2 Today is the second day of the Portathon! Earn $100 Submitting an Autodesk Exchange App Exchange App Videos Portathon reminder and video Cloud and AppStore usage growth Everything went well yesterday, and today we continue. Last chance to earn your hundred bucks! Advice on Submitting an App to the Exchange Store While we are on the topic of the exchange store and Portathon event, let me... Read more →

MultiReferenceAnnotation Example

Miguel Angel Alanis asked on the Autodesk Revit API discussion forum for an example of making use of the new MultiReferenceAnnotation. I put together this blog post to make sure the solution is easily found. First, a note on something more imminent: Portathon Day 1 Today is the first day of the Portathon! Earn $100 Submitting an Autodesk Exchange App Exchange App Videos Portathon reminder and video Cloud and AppStore usage growth Wish us all luck and much success, please.... Read more →

Set a Suitable View for Family Instance Placement

Matt Taylor of WSP raised an issue related to the use of the PromptForFamilyInstancePlacement method, now that API access is also possible in the project browser view. He also went right ahead to suggest and implement a solution: Question: One of the new features of the Revit 2014 API is the possibility to select elements within the Project Browser view. If the Project Browser view is active, selecting a ribbon control that uses PromptForFamilyInstancePlacement will fail because the user will... Read more →

No Command Launching from Dockable Panel

Here is an issue that has come up a few times now and is worthwhile clarifying: how to operate on a Revit document from a dockable panel. The dockable panel UI API framework was introduced in Revit 2014. Its use is demonstrated by the DockableDialogs SDK sample, including modeless dialog design and external events, and also by the simpler dockable panel sample. The fact that a dockable panel lives in a modeless context is apparently confusing for some. Since the... Read more →

Exporting Image and Setting a Default 3D View Orientation

Here is a nice little explanation by Alexander Ignatovich of Investicionnaya Venchurnaya Companiya (that sounds like a venture investment company to me) on how to export an image file for a family or project. One issue that cropped up was how to set the default view orientation for a newly created 3D view: Question: In versions prior to Revit 2014, I used this code to create a new 3D view with a default view direction: var direction = new XYZ(... Read more →

Determining Absolutely All Visible and Hidden Elements

Yesterday, I discussed the view filter API. One issue mentioned that was not completely answered was the following: Question 3: I would like to export only visible objects. Using the element IsHidden method reports whether it was hidden using the Hide in View > Elements menu option, but ignores Hide in View filters, and so does the IsHiddenElementOrCategory method. How can my application determine exactly what the user actually sees on the screen? Our customers obviously expect this functionality for... Read more →

View Filter API

One long-standing developer wish list item that was fulfilled by the Revit 2014 API is the ability to access, add and control the view filters listed in the visibility dialogue. The Revit API now provides the following methods supporting this: View.AddFilter() View.SetFilterVisibility() View.SetFilterOverrides() Here are several variations of the request for this functionality that help understand the need and new possibilities by highlighting the numerous ways in which it can be used: Question 1: We want to programmatically achieve what... Read more →

Attributes, Relationships and Other Stuff

Before entering this wonderful new week, I have some unfinished business left over from the last one. Last week I returned from a short holiday and was inundated with developer cases, some of which I would still like to report on, or the results will presumably be lost forever, or at least until the next person runs into the same issue. I hope to prevent this here and now before starting with anything new. Let us therefore take a quick... Read more →

Revit 2014 Update Release 1

Rather belatedly, let me point out that Revit 2014 Update Release 1 has been posted to the Autodesk Revit product pages: Revit 2014 Update Release 1 Revit Architecture 2014 Update Release 1 Revit MEP 2014 Update Release 1 Revit Structure 2014 Update Release 1 As usual, the update release uses service pack technology and does not require a full install. Prior to installing the Update Release 1, please verify that you are running the First Customer Ship build of Autodesk... Read more →

Setting the Exact Same Location for two Views on a Sheet

A recent developer query requests a method to define the exact same location for two views on a sheet. This was possible to achieve in Revit 2013 and previous releases, and some related API behaviour apparently changed in Revit 2014. A simple but clever trick enables achieving this reliably in Revit 2014 as well. Question: I noticed that sometimes when I place views on a sheet the location is somewhat shifted. I have a Revit sample model and C# add-in... Read more →

Animation and the DisplacementElement Class

A recent developer query asks about animating elements in the Revit model and updating the display within a loop in the external command to show the step-by-step displacements. This provides a welcome opportunity to highlight another one of the Revit 2014 SDK Samples: The DisplacementElementAnimation SDK Sample One of the very visually impressive Revit 2014 API samples is the DisplacementElementAnimation application. It automatically animates groups of structural building members in any Revit BIM, proceeding sequentially from bottom level to top.... Read more →

User MEP Calculation Sample

One of the main new features in the Revit 2014 API is the possibility to make use of external services to redefine the algorithms used for certain MEP related calculations. The external services framework was introduced in Revit 2013, but not used in that version. The recent listing of Revit 2014 API functionality and SDK samples points out that this is one of the highlights of the new API, and yet no sample using it has been published yet. Let's... Read more →

Curve Length, Idling, Units and RevitPythonShell

Here are a couple of recent interesting questions that came up: Curve Length versus ApproximateLength Potential SetRaiseWithoutDelay workaround Unit handling improvements Self-contained RevitPythonShell deployment Curve Length versus ApproximateLength Question: What is the difference between the Curve Length and ApproximateLength properties, please? I am using them to obtain an arc wall length. As far as I can tell, the result is exactly the same, so which one should I normally use? Answer: All Revit geometry curves are parameterised. A curve is... Read more →

Revit 2014 OBJ Exporter and New SDK Samples

Funnily enough, after dealing with the new Revit 2014 custom exporter framework last week, and even suggesting rewriting my Revit 2013 OBJ exporter to make use of it, a request came in for a version of the OBJ exporter for Revit 2014, so I discuss that below. I also add some more background to the list of new Revit 2014 SDK samples. Finally, to wrap up, we'll look at a surprisingly unbalanced distribution of Revit API blog page views per... Read more →