The Building Coder

Wall Opening Profiles and Happy Holidays!

Last week, we discussed how to retrieve wall openings. Let's take another fresh look at that, based on FindInserts instead of the ReferenceIntersector ray tracing approach, and also at – A walk over Uetliberg – Using FindInserts to retrieve wall openings – CmdGetWallOpeningProfiles – Relationships, independence and consumerism... Read more →

Shared Project Parameter GUID Reporter

I am still busy on the Revit API discussion forum, when not involved in other important seasonal preparations. Now let's look at the overdue solution to determine the GUID of a shared project parameter – Issue – Implementation – Download – Discussion – Solution. A long discussion between CoderBoy, Scott Wilson and Ning Zhou on reporting on project parameter definitions – need GUIDs was resolved back in 2013 and never published... Read more →

Retrieving Wall Openings and Sorting Points

I continue my rather active involvement in the Revit API discussion forum. Lets look at one of them, and an associated point or two – Retrieving wall openings – Ray shooting solution – CmdWallOpenings implementation – Faster lexicographical point sorting... Read more →

Adding a Stacked Split Button to the Ribbon

I have been rather busy on the Revit API discussion forum these last few days. One of the issues I got involved with was Michał Helt's thread on RibbonPanel.AddStackedItems and SplitButton, discussing how to add a split button to a ribbon panel using the AddStackedItems method. Question: Currently, Split Buttons cannot be created in the ribbon using the AddStackedItems method. Only PushButtons, PulldownButtons, ComboBoxes and TextBoxes can be added this way. Would it be possible to remove this limitation?... Read more →

External Services

It's been a while since I talked about External Services. The External Services framework was initially introduced and used sparingly in the Revit 2013 MEP API. In Revit 2014, the IFC export was moved to an external service and I presented the user-defined MEP calculation sample, later moved to GitHub. The framework for handling referenced file resources is also implemented as an external service. The motivation to continue this discussion now was given by Arnošt Löbel's class SD10752 on Revit External Services at Autodesk University 2015 in Las Vegas... Read more →

REX Add-In Development and Migration

It's been a while since I talked about REX. Some old dedicated posts include – The REX SDK – Extensions for Revit 2012 – REX Content Generator. More recent mentions occur in my discussion of a framing cross section analyser with and without REX and its migration to Revit 2015. Now the time has come for another look... Read more →

External Events and 10 Year Forum Anniversary

Ten years ago today, on December 9, 2005, Jim Quanci posted the first thread on the Revit API discussion forum. This was pointed out by Revitalizer, one of the forum's chief contributors. Thank you very much for this, Revitalizer, and thank you even more for all the good advice and numerous solutions you have provided to the community! – Use of the Revit API Requires a Valid Context – Driving Revit from Outside through an External Event... Read more →

Quick, Slow and LINQ Element Filtering

I arrived back safe and sound in Switzerland after the exciting week at Autodesk University. Another happy arrival is my first grandson: He was preceded by his big sister almost two years ago. Life goes on. I have been wanting to highlight the difference between quick and slow element filters for quite a while, and now a query came in that provides an ideal opportunity – Use of LINQ with filtered element collectors – Revit element filter classification – Filter types – Efficiency guidelines – Logical filters – Quick filters – Slow filters... Read more →

AU, IoC, Banks and Not To Delete While Iterating

Autodesk University is already nearing its end. It went by so fast! I attended a bunch of brilliant classes, took notes during Cyrille Fauvel's cloud and mobile expert panel, and successfully presented my own two, the Revit API expert panel and connecting desktop and cloud. That led to a completely different topic – SpatialElementGeometryCalculator bug fix – do not delete while iterating – SpatialElementGeometryCalculator migration to Revit 2016 – IoC, the Internet of Cows – Two nice Iain Banks Quarry quotes... Read more →

AU Keynote and Revit API Panel

The first day at Autodesk University was jam-packed full and exciting as always. My main highlights were – The Keynote session – The DevHack – Arnošt Löbel's class SD10752 on Revit External Services – The Revit API panel... Read more →

DevDay@AU and Using a Custom Exporter for 2D

Several developers recently asked how to export 2D shapes through a custom exporter. I recently discussed this issue with Arnošt Löbel and below present a summary and combination of several different conversation threads on the topic. First, let me mention that I arrived safe and sound at Autodesk University. I travelled on my birthday last week, so I was upgraded to fly in style – in a sledge – sleeping in the desert – DevDay@AU... Read more →