The Building Coder

DirectObjLoader for Revit 2017

Here is a last quick Sunday morning post before I head off on vacation, on the DirectObjLoader migration to Revit 2017, handling the changes in DirectShape.CreateElement and TessellatedShapeBuilderResult... Read more →

Trusted Signature Motivation and Fishing

Topics for today – How does code signing of Revit add-ins increase security? – What happened to LoadCaseArray? – How and where to search for help on a Revit API question? – Dynamo 1.1 Update... Read more →

Revit Macro Samples Migrated to Revit 2017

I recently received requests for a migration of the macro samples provided in the Revit_Macro_Samples.rvt project. The version included in the Revit 2017 SDK miraculously is still based on Revit 2013 pre-release version, according to the update message displayed when opening it, and the macros cannot be executed successfully due to a number small Revit API enhancements made in the intervening years – Problem – Solution – Sam comes to the rescue – See the diffs on GitHub... Read more →

Trusted Signature and Revit 2017 API Resources

Here is a bunch of long overdue news items to round off this hot week – Trusted add-in signature – Revit 2017 API news summary – ADN training labs for Revit 2017 – ADN Xtra labs Revit 2017 migration – We had an extensive discussion on the topic of equipping each Revit add-in with a trusted signature in order to avoid the warning presented before loading it that otherwise pops up and needs to be manually confirmed by the user... Read more →

Automatically Reload Links After Migration

Today, my colleagues Michael Brian Lee and Miroslav Schonauer share a solution for links that are not automatically reloaded after migrating the model to Revit 2016... Read more →

Exporting RVT BIM to JSON, WebGL and Forge

I am happy to say that I returned safe and sound to Switzerland from my travels for the Forge DevCon and Cloud Accelerator. Since then, I rounded off the hierarchical MEP system exporter to a JSON graph for interaction with it in the Forge viewer, worked on an update of the ADN JSON mesh exporter and helped my son Christopher getting started with C# scripting to drive audio effects for professional spatialized sound design for computer games – More TraverseAllSystems updates – CustomExporterAdnMeshJson updates – ADN JSON Exporter Alternatives to View RVT in WebGL – vA3C – The Forge Viewer – Getting started with Unity C# scripting – Opendesk at Autodesk Forge Accelerator Barcelona... Read more →

Visual Studio 2015 Revit 2017 Add-in Wizards

I updated the Visual Studio Revit C# and VB add-in wizards for Revit 2017. They enable you to create a new C# or VB Revit add-in in Visual Studio with one single click on File > New > Project... > Installed > Templates > Visual Basic/Visual C# > Revit 2017 Addin. The wizard creates a complete Revit add-in skeleton, ready to immediately compile and run. Just hit F5 to start debugging; the add-in manifest is automatically created, copied to the proper location, Revit launched in the debugger, and your shiny new add-in is available in the external tools menu... Read more →

BCF API and Manually Setting Up an Add-In

The time is overdue to migrate the Visual Studio Revit Add-In Wizards to Revit 2017. This time, instead of a simple flat migration like in previous years, I decided to set up a new Visual Studio C# .NET Revit add-in project manually, by hand, completely from scratch, just to see whether anything significant changed since I did that last, and to ensure that the wizard is really using all the required Visual Studio settings. I tried it out in by implementing a buildingSMART BCF API sample client. Basically, that requires the following steps – Create a new pure Visual Studio class library – Rename Class1 to Command – Add references to the Revit API assemblies – Implement an external command – Implement an add-in manifest – Define an add-in GUID – Implement a post-build event to auto-install the add-in... Read more →

The Building Coder Samples 2017

Last night, I migrated The Building Coder samples to Revit 2017 – Flat Migration – Updated RvtSamples Include File – Automatic Transaction Mode is Obsolete – Obsolete Plane Constructors and NewPlane Methods – Obsolete NewPlane Method Taking a CurveArray Argument – Replace View.SetVisibility by SetCategoryHidden – Use DirectShape ApplicationId and ApplicationDataId – All Obsolete Revit API Usage Eliminated... Read more →

Real-Time BIM Update with FireRatingCloud 2017

Yesterday, I migrated RoomEditorApp to Revit 2017 and mentioned the BIM and cloud related projects I am working on. Next, let's focus on the FireRatingCloud sample. The main goal there is to implement fully automatic real-time BIM update from the cloud. Now, 24 hours after writing the previous sentence, I can tell you that I succeeded. Well, add another six hours to edit this post... Here is the updated FireRatingCloud custom ribbon tab with its new set of commands... Read more →

Room Editor – First Revit 2017 Addin Migration

A wonderful Monday morning to you. We are enjoying perfect April weather, rapidly oscillating back and forth between warm sprintime sunshine, sleet and hail. Meanwhile, I am continuously striving hard yet failing miserably to reduce my pure Revit API focussed case answering and Revit API activity – Things To Do – Forge DevCon developer conference – RoomEditorApp for Revit 2017 – Roomedit CouchDB installation on Windows – FireRatingCloud enhancements completed and upcoming – First Revit 2017 deprecated API clean-up – Where BIM hasn't gone... Read more →

What's New in the Revit 2017 API

Here is the online version of the 'What's New' section of the Revit 2017 API help file RevitAPI.chm included in the Revit SDK, which is also provided in the separate document Revit Platform API Changes and Additions.docx. This is very important information, both for exploring thee new features and for later reference. If you encounter any issues at all migrating your add-in between different versions, this is one of the first ports of call... Read more →

RvtSamples for Revit 2017

Setting up RvtSamples for Revit 2017 – Copy Html Markup in Visual Studio 2015 – Running Revit 2017 in the Visual Studio 2015 debugger – 'Security – Unsigned Add-In' message – RvtSamples DLL and TXT should be together – Specifying the Revit SDK samples root path – Correcting errors in individual SDK sample entries – PlacementOptions description line is missing – The five FabricationPartLayout external commands – RvtSamples loads and RvtSamples.txt is cleaned up... Read more →

Revit 2017, RevitLookup and SDK Samples

Revit 2017 was released yesterday. Here is the official Autodesk statement stating that Revit 2017 advances BIM for the future of designing buildings. I downloaded and installed my version from the Autodesk Revit family free trial web site. Let's look at what I did to install and first add-in compilation experiences – Uninstalling prior versions and cleaning the registry – Dummy API assembly folder for compiling samples – Resolving hiccups compiling Revit 2017 SDK samples – RevitLookup for Revit 2017... Read more →

All Model Text, StringSearch 2016 and New Jobs

I migrated another one of my samples to Revit 2016: StringSearch. That was prompted by a question on extracting all visible text from the Revit model that I will take a closer look at below – ADN Internship and Other Jobs – Extracting all Visible Text from the Revit Model – StringSearch for Revit 2016... 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 →

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 →

Connecting Desktop and Cloud, Room Editor Update

Last week, I listed my three Revit Technology Conference classes on connecting the desktop and the cloud, The Building Coder chatroom, and published the full detailed handout of the lab on getting started with Revit macros. This week, I published the notes from the Revit API panel Q&A. So what do we have left to talk about? Oh yes, connecting the desktop and the cloud. That is actually the most interesting of the three, and also the topic of my Autodesk University session – Connecting the desktop and the cloud – Message and Takeaway – The 2D cloud-based round-trip room editor – FireRating in the cloud – The CompHound component tracker – Dotty animated 3D assembly instructions – Conclusion... Read more →

Fill Pattern Viewer Fix and Add Materials for 2016

@kfpopeye discovered and fixed an issue with complex fill patterns in the venerable old WPF Fill Pattern Viewer Control, part of the AddMaterials Revit add-in to load new materials into a project based on a list defined in an Excel spreadsheet – Original implementation for Revit 2011 – Reimplementation for Revit 2014 – Improved error messages and reporting – WPF FillPattern viewer control – Check for already loaded materials – FillPattern viewer benchmarking... Read more →

SVG, In-Memory Family, RevitLookup BoundingBox

The cloud accelerator kept me busy last week, I am working hard on the CompHound project and documenting that work on The 3D Web Coder. Besides that, I submitted several enhancements to various Revit add-in projects. Here are some of my recent activities – CompHound component tracker project development – RevitLookup displays element bounding box – SvgExport for Revit 2016 – In-memory family creation and structural stiffener migration from 2012 to 2016... Read more →

Batch Processing, DWFx Links and Future-Proofing

The never-ending stream of Revit API topics continues. Today, let's look at: Unrestricted VendorId. Retrieving DWFx links. Batch processing Revit documents. Future-proofing The Building Coder samples. Recent Revit API AEC DevBlog posts: Delete custom family parameter. JoinGeometryUtils.JoinGeometry for walls and columns. Reading gross and rentable area elements. Unrestricted VendorId In the past, we recommended using an Autodesk registered developer symbol or RDS as your vendor id, stored in the add-in manifest VendorId tag (starting from the Revit 2012 extensible storage... Read more →

Dynamo, Centroid & Volume Calculation Migration Blitz

My French colleague Olivier Bayle, co-author of the French AEC-related Village BIM blog, just re-raised the topic of my old solid centroid and volume calculation add-in. Let's also point out one or two of the numerous topics we tackled in the past few days on the Revit API discussion forum: Graphically displaying the centre of gravity using Dynamo GetCentroid on GitHub and blitz migration across four Revit API releases Finding the orientation of welded pipe outlets How to set the... Read more →

ADN Labs Xtra, Multi-Version Add-Ins and CNC Direct

Let's discuss some more Revit add-in migration aspects and yet another completed migration task: ADN Revit API training labs Xtra migration Multi-version add-ins and CNC Direct ADN Revit API Training Labs Xtra Migration I recently mentioned that the official ADN Revit API Labs Training Material for Revit 2016 is available from the Revit Developer Centre and the Revit API Training GitHub repository. They are used for our standard two- or three-day hands-on Revit API introduction training courses. They are also... Read more →

CNC Direct – Export Wall Parts to DXF and SAT

I implemented the Revit ExportCncFab add-in back in 2013 to export Revit wall parts to DXF or SAT for CNC fabrication. The full source code, Visual Studio solution and add-in manifest lives in the ExportCncFab GitHub repository. The project was prompted by William Spier, who recently published a nice 12-minute YouTube video Revit to CNC Direct describing and demonstrating its practical use and application: In William's words: "Asked Jeremy to write a DLL that allows users to export multiple objects... Read more →

ArchSample, Active Transaction and AdnRme for 2016

Today, let me point out ArchSample, a heretofore unmentioned Revit SDK sample that I happened to notice answering a recent case, how to determine a currently active transaction, and an update to the ADN Revit MEP sample AdnRme: ArchSample and Retrieving Element Properties How to determine active or current transaction AdnRme for Revit MEP 2016 Before getting to those, let me add that I am still travelling in Greece, heading back to Athens now from the Greek island of Euboea... Read more →

Geometry Creation and Line Intersection Exceptions

Today, let's look at some geometry related questions, a small enhancement of the line intersection we discussed two days ago, NURB spline and solid creation: Creating a NURB spline GeometryCreationUtilities, moving and copying solids Line intersection enhancements Built-in parameter checker for Revit 2016 1001 discussion forum posts Creating a NURB Spline This question was raised by anarchyfree in the Revit API discussion thread on a NurbSpline creation error: Question: I'm working on a Revit plugin that in part accepts curves... Read more →

RevitLookup in Python Shell and Multi-Release Solution

Here is some exciting news from Daren Thomas on RevitLookup and the Revit Python Shell. The Python and Ruby shells came up a couple of times recently, and I also mentioned Daren's initial thoughts on making the RevitLookup snoop functionality easily accessible from within the interactive Python IDE: Curved wall elevation profile implementation in Python Live development Revit 2016 Python shell and RevitLookup incorporation Revit 2016 Ruby shell This idea has now come to fruition, and more easily than one... Read more →

Migrating The Building Coder Samples to Revit 2016

I finally tackled the task of migrating The Building Coder Samples to Revit 2016. I also have another update on RevitLookup to report: Preparation Fixing the compilation errors Installing RvtSamples RevitLookup update displays all built-in parameter names Preparation Before doing anything else, I ensured that the entire project compiles for Revit 2015 with zero warnings. This guarantees that I am not using any API functionality that was already deprecated in Revit 2015 and therefore removed in 2016. I then replaced... Read more →

Compatibilizar entre versões – API Compatibility Helper

Once again, the time has come to migrate add-ins to the new version of the Revit API. Magson Leone in Brazil has been through this process every year now since Revit 2012 and got tired of maintaining separate versions of his code for each release of Revit. He solved the problem by using Reflection to implement a whole host of Revit API compatibility helper methods that reroute the call to the proper underlying API method for any Revit API version.... Read more →

Transferring a Wall Type

Let's look at transferring a wall type from one document to another. In fact, we already did so, way back in 2011, as an example about how to possibly approach the task of at least partially programmatically transferring project standards. Now Parley submitted a comment on that, saying: Question: We could still really use this... This post originally was from 2011. Any update on API access for this tool? Answer: Glad to hear it sounds useful to you. Well, nothing... Read more →

Add-in Migration to Revit 2016 and Updated Wizards

I updated my Visual Studio Revit C# and VB add-in wizards for Revit 2016. Before presenting them, a quick important note on how to approach resolving issues that you may encounter migrating your existing add-ins: Please read What's New in the Revit 2016 API! Revit add-in wizards for Revit 2016 Revit add-in wizard customisation Revit add-in wizard usage Download and installation Please Read What's New in the Revit 2016 API! Every major Revit API release so far enhanced the existing... Read more →

What's New in the Revit 2016 API

Here is the online version of the 'What's New' section of the Revit 2016 API help file. The information provided here is extracted from the document 'Revit Platform API Changes and Additions.docx' provided with the Revit SDK. As said, is also included in the 'What's New' section in the Revit API help file RevitAPI.chm. This is very important information, even for later reference. The explanation of the changes and enhancements are well worth referring to later on as well, to... Read more →

Revit 2016 API News and DevDays Online Recording

Revit 2016 has been released! Let's dive straight in to the new Revit API functionality, plus a note on table of contents for video recordings: Revit 2016 API news – DevDays Online slide deck, recording, notes and sample code Video recording table of contents RevitLookup for Revit 2016 Revit 2016 API News – DevDays Online Slide Deck, Recording, Notes and Sample Code Here is the Revit 2016 DevDays Online recording material, based on the presentations shown at the confidential Autodesk... Read more →

Revit API Trends and Team Meeting in Bretagne

Here is an illuminating explanation by Arnošt Löbel and Martin Schmid on some Revit API development trends that have already been underway for a couple of releases. Before I get to them, a quick report from our ADN team meeting: ADN European Team Meeting in Bretagne As you may have noticed from Adam Nagy's tweets in the past few days, I am at a team meeting with my European ADN colleagues: We are convening in Brittany, home of our manager... Read more →

Calculating Gross and Net Wall Areas

Determination of gross and net areas and volumes is fundamental to BIM. Here is an interesting solution to determine the gross and net area of a wall, i.e. with and without its openings, making use of the SpatialElementGeometryCalculator and the temporary transaction trick. The question was raised and solved by Phillip Miller of Kiwi Codes Solutions Ltd, starting with the Revit API discussion forum thread on door/window areas: Question: I need to determine the cut areas of windows and doors... Read more →

Framing Cross Section Analyser and REX in Revit 2015

Back in December 2013, I discussed structural cross section analysis, i.e. determination of the cross section profile of beam, columns, braces, etc., and several completely different approaches one can take to achieve that. I also demonstrated how to make use of the powerful functionality provided by the REX toolkit without building the entire add-in on top of the REX framework. By the way, here are some other earlier discussions of REX: The REX SDK Extensions for Revit 2012 REX Content... Read more →

Automatically Open a Project on Startup

Yesterday, I talked about the interesting activity, numerous answers and my participation in the Revit API discussion forum and edited the thread and GitHub solution for opening and activating a Revit document in an event handler. Today, we look at the related issue of loading a Revit RVT project file automatically on start-up. Before getting into that, here is a quick note on the deprecated SolidArray class: SolidArray Removal In the long distant past, the Revit API defined a considerable... Read more →

A Dockable Web Browser

The Revit API supports add-ins defining their own dockable panels, similar to the built-in Revit project browser and element properties panels. Here is The Building Coder topic list of Dockable Panel related discussions: What's New in the Revit 2014 API A Simpler Dockable Panel Sample RevitRubyShell for Revit 2014 Revit 2014 Update Release 1 Open MEP Connector Warning Revit 2014 Update Release 2 I have repeatedly been asked bow to host a web browser in a dockable panel, and this... Read more →

Using Transaction Groups

We repeatedly discussed the optimal usage and error handling of transactions, mainly based on the expert advice of Arnošt Löbel, Sr. Principal Engineer of the Autodesk Revit R&D team: Scope and Dispose of Transactions Using Using Automagically Disposes and Rolls Back Handling Transaction Status and Errors Let's complete this with his most recent advice on handling transaction groups to combine multiple transactions into one undo: Question: I am creating an application that must do the following steps: Load a FamilySymbol... Read more →

Family Instance Area and Auto-Loading a Project File

I have been pretty busy answering queries on the Revit API discussion forum in the last few days. Here are two that I quite like that came up today, on calculating areas occupied by furniture and equipment family instances and loading a project file automatically on Revit start-up. Calculating Areas Occupied by Furniture and Equipment Family Instances This query was raised by Vyom Dixit on how to calculate model group elements area: Question: I am new to the Revit API.... Read more →

List Pipe Sizes and More Obsolete API Usage Removal

I was ill for a few days last week, with a fever and a virus. I also made a quick trip to Moscow, where we held the final event in this year's sequence of DevDays conferences. For the first time in my life, I gave my presentations in a woolly hat :-) I also rented my first airbnb flat ever, on Arbat street in the centre of town, and was pretty happy with that. I returned back to Switzerland on... Read more →

Wall Elevation Profiles in The Building Coder Samples

Last week, I presented a stand-alone command by my colleague Katsuaki Takamizawa to retrieve wall elevation profiles. His implementation provides a nice little example of using the ExporterIFCUtils.SortCurveLoops method and differentiates between outer and inner loops. It can be used in almost exactly the same way as the first wall elevation profile implementation presented in 2008. After publication, Katsu-san and I discussed what to do next and unearthed a couple of interesting aspects: Response: Thank you very much for publishing... Read more →

Futureproofing and Determining Intersecting Elements

I continued cleaning up the obsolete API usage in The Building Coder samples, an... Read more →

Rotation by π and NewSweptBlend Using Arcs

Let me address two questions concerning form generation in family documents raised by Alex Hearn: Rotation by π NewSweptBlend using arcs Among other things, the answers also demonstrate some trivial migration steps of the form generation code from Revit 2012 to 2015 and, yet again, the occasional crucial importance of regeneration. Rotation by π Question: I am exploring and really enjoying your blog site. Thanks for all the detailed information. I have been attempting to build a Revit translator that... Read more →

Migrating Deprecated API and 2D Boolean Operations

While my colleagues are busy with the DevDays in Asia, Let me mention two little questions that I addressed in the past few hours: 2D Boolean operations Getting started migrating deprecated API 2D Boolean Operations Question: In AutoCAD development, the ObjectARX AcGe library provides powerful tools such as the AcDbRegion::booleanOper computational geometry unions and differences. Does the Revit API provide anything similar for surfaces? Is there any way to calculate and display the difference between two areas? Revit is a... Read more →

Creating Topography Contours and Building Masses

After diving deep into both Revit MEP and Structure API issues in the past few days, let's round it of with a GIS related topic: I had an interesting discussion back in the spring of this year with Mohammad Rahmani Asl, Saied Zarrinmehr and Chengde Wu of the Texas A&M University in the Revit API discussion forum on the topic of creating a height dimension for a form. I finally grabbed some time last weekend to document that discussion thread... Read more →

Concrete Setout Points for Revit Structure 2015

I was prompted by a Revit API forum discussion thread on Jeremy's setoutpoint to take another look at my SetoutPoints structural concrete setout point add-in, publish it on GitHub and migrate it from Revit Structure 2013 to 2015. SetoutPoints is a Revit add-in for automatic placement and management of structural concrete setout points. Setout point markers are automatically generated at all vertices of structural members. They can be manually designated as minor or major: The major points are automatically numbered,... Read more →

Past, Future, Frameworks, RevitLookup and Hackathon

Today, let me ask you to test my RevitLookup future-proofing update and mention a discussion on the use of the .NET 4.5 framework for Revit 2013, 2014 and 2015. I am sitting here writing this among the swans and gulls, squinting in the autumn sunshine on the shore of the Zurich Lake. Later, I visited the nearby Kronenhalle, a rather exclusive restaurant highly praised year in and year out by gourmet Christian Seiler, e.g. 2011, 2012 and 2014. With all... Read more →

ADN Labs Xtra on GitHub and RvtVa3c in Three.js

I had several cases recently discussing advanced Revit API exploration issues with experienced application developers new to the Revit API. Therefore, once again, the topic of available tools and their various uses came up. One important tool for me is the simple element lister, which is currently still part of the ADN Xtra labs, the precursor to the official ADN Revit API training labs. I had not yet migrated those to Revit 2015, so I now finally did so and... Read more →

AdnRme Update to Eliminate Obsolete API Usage

The ADN Revit MEP HVAC and electrical sample AdnRme version 2015.0.0.2 produces three compilation warnings, all three saying: 'Autodesk.Revit.DB.Family.Symbols' is obsolete: 'This property is obsolete in Revit 2015. Use Family.GetFamilySymbolIds() instead.' So let's do what the man says. The code producing the first two instances of the warning in the module CmdChangeSize.cs looks like this: FilteredElementCollector collector = new FilteredElementCollector( doc ) .OfClass( typeof( Family ) ); foreach( Family family in collector ) { // Family category is not implemented,... Read more →