The Building Coder

Reference Intersector and Deleting Reference Planes

We already looked at deleting unnamed non-hosting reference planes back in 2012 and 2014. Some things have changed since then, and the old code requires fixing and updating. Other interesting topics also want to be mentioned – Embodyment workshop – Bös Fulen mountain hike – Using ReferenceIntersector to place lighting fixture on ceiling face – Reformat stable representation string for dimensioning – Deleting unnamed non-hosting reference planes updated... Read more →

Purge Unused using Performance Adviser

Matt Taylor of WSP shares a solution to Purge Unused using the Performance Adviser – PurgeTool.vb implements GetPurgeableElements – PurgeUnused.vb external command... Read more →

Colleagues Deleting Non-Shared Project Parameter

Some happy news about two new Revit API supporter colleagues, Naveen Kumar and Zhong Wu. They already reached second and third place in the list of top solution providers. Here is also a very relevant recent case handled by Zhong – Top solution authors – Naveen on Naveen – Zhong shifts to AEC – Zhong on Zhong – Deleting a non-shared project parameter... Read more →

Simplifying Nested Family Instances

José Alberto Torres Jaraute implemented an add-in tool to protect the intellectual property built into a complex hierarchy of nested family instances by replacing them with a flatter and simpler hierarchy, yet retaining all the relevant non-confidential custom data. Basically, his tool also enables location of overlapping elements and duplicates elimination. In the course of this work, Alberto raised a number of questions in the Revit API discussion forum – Explode nested families – Insert a curve-based family instance associated to a face – Explode family instance to get all the components of a family in project – Change the host and work plane of a family... Read more →

Deleting a Global Parameter and RevitPythonShell

I have list of all global parameters from the active Revit document. I want to delete a specific global parameter from the list programmatically. Kindly suggest a way to delete a global parameter from the active document... Read more →

Purge and Detecting an Empty View

One topic that keeps cropping up is how to purge different kinds of Revit database elements – Purge – Detecting empty views – JavaScript debugging tips – Collection from the past... Read more →

Forgify

I am officially taking time off right now, but still jumping in here and there anyway, e.g. in an urgent case to reduce the RVT model file size before passing it into the Forge translator – RvtForgify – Forge read-write – Forge in an Enterprise Service Bus... Read more →

ForgeFader, Lookup Builds, Purge & Room Instances

Blogging despite having already exceeded my work quota for the week, but there is so much to share – ForgeFader user interface – RevitLookup builds – Purging types, families and materials – Retrieving all family instances in a room... Read more →

MacroManager, Materials and Getting Started

I am answering Revit API discussion forum threads and developer cases like crazy. Instead, as usual at this time of the year, I should be focussing and putting higher priority on the exciting upcoming events. I keep promising myself to do so and stop answering cases. Then I address just one more... Here are some of the upcoming events and recent Revit API issues – Events – Forge Accelerators, DevDay, RTC and AU – Accessing the MacroManager to Delete Document Macros – Getting Started and Changing the Colour of a Wall – Getting Started and Using the Visual Studio Revit Add-In Wizard Auto-Installer... Read more →

Freeing Your BIM Data and Roomedit3d Forge OAuth

The Forge DevCon took off yesterday with a big bang, as you have certainly heard by now. The 3D Web Fest evening event was also very cool. Today is the big day for me, with my presentation on Freeing your BIM Data coming up this afternoon. Here are all the roomedit3dv2 resources for you to explore at your own leisure – Detailed discussion – Slide deck – Demo recording – Source code – Live test... Read more →

Index, Debug, Curves, Distance, Deleting PrintSetup

Here is another bunch of issues addressed in the Revit API discussion forum and elsewhere in the past day or two – The Building Coder blog source text and index – Reloading add-in DLL for debugging without restart – Drawing curves from a list of points – Determining the distance of a family instance to the floor or elevation – Deleting a PrintSetup or ViewSheetSetting... Read more →

Idling, DMU, DocumentChanged and Need for Regen

Today we have two ever-recurring topics to revisit: a discussion on how to react to a document modification and yet another example of the need for regeneration – Idling and external events, DMU and DocumentChanged – Need for regen in an updater... Read more →

Flatten All Elements to DirectShape

I am still busy preparing my presentations for Autodesk University and making slow progress due to handling too many Revit API issues in between. And blogging, as well. Here is a new cool sample contributed by Nikolay Shulga, Senior Principal Engineer in the Revit development team. In his own words – Name: Flatten – Motivation: I wanted to see whether DirectShapes could be used to lock down a Revit design – remove most intelligence, make it read-only, perhaps improve performance – Spec: converts full Revit elements into DirectShapes that hold the same shape and have the same categories – Implementation: see below – Cool API aspects: copy element’s geometry and use it elsewhere – Cool ways to use it: lock down your project; make a copy of your element for presentation/export – How it can be enhanced: the sky is the limit... Read more →

Exploring How to Remove a Shared Parameter Definition

Here is yet another example of the importance of the RevitLookup database exploration tool. In this case, Trevor Taylor of ZGF, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP, shows his use of it to discover how to remove a shared parameter definition. Task at Hand When I remove a shared parameter definition, it disappears from the UI. However, the parameter definition isn't truly removed from the model. Its definition persists. Steps to repeat: In a shared parameter definition file, create a parameter... 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 →

Deleting and Updating Extensible Storage Schema

We discussed a number of extensible storage schema topics in the past. Once you've started using it, you may run into the need to update or delete something. Discussing that also provides an opportunity to summarise the other results we already have: Deleting an Extensible Storage Schema Question: I am unable to delete my extensible storage schema if the RVT project contains a linked project with the same schema. First I thought I was doing something wrong, but the ExtensibleStorageUtility... Read more →

Determining Purgeable Elements

A question that crops up from time to time and is rather hard to answer exactly and exhaustively is on purgeable elements: Question: What is the best way to get all of the elements that can be purged? I can use WhereElementIsElementType filter to return all types, and WhereElementISNotElementType to return instances, but comparing the two lists does not leave me with the purgeable result. I could compare individual lists of types (i.e. family symbol and family instance), but that... Read more →

Deleting a GraphicStyle Element

Here is a short and sweet deletion question handled by Joe Ye: Question: I am trying to delete a GraphicStyle object in a RFA family document. I tried to achieve this using the following code, but it was not successful: Dim elem As Element = m_rvtDoc.Element( "5ad9f0cf-6eff-4c63-8a44-9f3a87881dd7-00000b22") m_rvtDoc.Delete(elem) How can I delete this object? Answer: Some internal line style objects cannot be deleted, because the model requires their presence. As you can see in the following image, the Delete and... Read more →

Do Not Delete During Iteration

Here is a type of question that crops up much too regularly, and that I am hoping this little example will help you avoid. When you are iterating over a collection, deleting the elements in the collection at the same time can wreak havoc in many ways. Here is an example: Question: Since my last plug-in was such a huge success here in the office I have been tasked with writing another. However, I've run into an issue. When I... Read more →

Remove DWF Links

I spent this weekend in Chamonix with my brother Nick. We did one day of rock climbing in the valley at Les Gaillants and Servoz doing Surbac a' Bras, 6a+, and one day of skiing with Chris down the Vallee Blanche, Mer de Glace and Montenvers from the Telepherique de l'Aiguille du Midi. Our route from the telepherique actually joins the Vallee Blanche via the steep looking descent at the extreme right of this picture, with a sharp ridge crossing... Read more →

Remove Imported JPG and BMP Images

Here is a query which helps understand how imported files are handled by Revit and how they can be removed from the model. Question: I want to remove imported images like JPG and BMP files from my Revit model. I tried to use a filtered element collector, apply its WhereElementIsNotElementType filter, select all elements whose name ends in ".jpg", and then delete them in a separate loop, but that does not seem to do it. Some other similar attempts also... Read more →