The Building Coder

Export, gbXML and Python Tips

Discussions on Python, handling DLLs, and various aspects of exporting to gbXML, FBX and MongoDB – DLL paradise in Python – Multiple gbXML export – GbXML energy settings – Automate FBX export with SendKeys – RFA export to MongoDB... Read more →

Geometry Options and Clean Simple Curves

Geometry options and clean simple curves – Curve loop simplify and clean up – Geometry options clarification – JtClicker 2023 – OpenMEP by Chuong Ho – Unintelligible film dialogue... Read more →

Revit Server and View Filter Alert

Non-API Revit Server access, exporting Outlook email text, and using a view filter to alert to missing data... Read more →

Collaboration, Dockables, Railings, Pop-Ups, ILSpy

An invitation to the upcoming AEC collaboration webinar and overviews over dockable panels, dialogue handling, decompilation and railing geometry – AEC collaboration webinar – Dockable panels and WebView2 – Dismissing Revit pop-ups – Check API changes using decompilation – Railing geometry... Read more →

Birthday, DevDays, PostCommand + SendKeys

Birthday in the past, DevDays in the future, and running a Revit command in the present moment – Happy Birthday, Autodesk! – DevDays online 2021 – For everyone – For ADN members – PostCommand + SendKeys – SVG tutorial... Read more →

Transient Graphics, Humane AI, BI and Lockdown

A quick look at various methods to integrate transient graphics into Revit and pointers to articles of interest on other current non-API-related topics such as chess AI, basic income and the effectiveness of lockdowns – Transient graphics – AI learns to emulate human-style chess – Basic income as fault-tolerant engineering – Lockdown effectivity... Read more →

Custom Export Precision, Sheet Metadata, Project Id

Many interesting topics on pure Revit API, Forge, BIM360 and AI – Custom export precision – Dismissing a Windows dialogue with JtClicker – AU classes for construction customers – Retrieve sheet metadata in Forge viewer – Determining the BIM 360 project id – AI solves partial differential equations – AI-enhanced video editing... Read more →

Optimising Parameters and Full-Text Search

I have been dabbling with the Go programming language in the past week, besides optimising and answering Revit API questions – Optimising setting shared parameters – Full-text search for The Building Coder posts – Decimal point woe... Read more →

UI Top Forms, Buttons, Web, etc.

Several user interface related topics are being discussed in the Revit API discussion forum – Keep my form on top of Revit! – Creating buttons and getting started with an add-in UI – Integrating a web-based UI... Read more →

Scaling an Add-In for a 4K High Resolution Screen

As high-resolution monitors grow ever more common, an important question arises on handling add-in scaling for 4K high resolution screens – Problem adapting a Revit add-in for 4K displays – Application properties for stand-alone apps – Application manifest – Separate UI component with IPC – Two solutions for adjusting Revit for 4K displays – Method 1 – Run hires monitor in low resolution – Method 2 – Adjust how Revit handles 4k displays – Discussion of the results... Read more →

Filtered Element Collector Benchmark

Today, let's present a benchmark monitoring filtered element collector performance. First, however, a quick note on a very useful Forge learning resource – Forge learning resource – Filtered element collector benchmark... Read more →

Set Floor Level and Use IPC for Disentanglement

Today, yet another introduction to Forge, a simple issue of setting the level of a floor element, and the much more complex one of gaining freedom and total independence via IPC – What is Forge? – Changing the level of a floor – Entanglement can be hell – CefSharp entanglement – Disentanglement and independence via IPC – Beer-ware license... Read more →

Revit Window Handle and Parenting an Add-In Form

Access to the Revit main window handle changed in Revit 2019, raising a couple of questions – Making Revit the add-in parent – The Revit 2019 MainWindowHandle API – Docking system and multiple main window explanation – Updating The Building Coder samples... Read more →

Scaling a Bitmap for the Large and Small Image Icons

Every time I created a ribbon button, I was faced with the task of creating appropriately scaled icons for it to populate the PushButton large and small image icon properties LargeImage and Image. They seem to expect a 32 x 32 and 16 x 16 icon, respectively. I finally solved that once and for all by implementing a couple of methods to perform automatic bitmap scaling – BitmapImageToBitmap – convert a BitmapImage to Bitmap – BitmapToBitmapSource – convert a Bitmap to a BitmapSource – ResizeImage – resize an image to the specified width and height – ScaledIcon – scale down large icon to desired size for Revit ribbon button – Usage sample – putting them together... Read more →

Contextual Help Best Practice

Dragos Turmac of the Revit development team solved the Revit API discussion forum questions on contextual help not working from within a command and on F1 help for add-in only by explaining the current best practice to implement online help – Question: I'm trying to add contextual help for all commands (press F1 to go to a location). It's working fine when the tooltip is shown for my commands, but, when the add-in form is open, pressing F1 opens the Autodesk knowledge site for Revit instead... Read more →

Magic Number, Magic Automation and Magic Season

Time to wind down for the year... Here are some last things to share before signing off – Magic number for schedule instance bounding box margin – Using PostCommand with the Windows Automation API – Programmer jokes – Season's greetings... Read more →

Modeless Form Keep Revit Focus and On Top

I am back from a nice break in Italy. Next, I am attending the European Autodesk University in Darmstadt, Germany. Meanwhile, solutions for two issues on keeping Revit focused and on top when working with a modeless form, and an important heads-up warning from the Revit development team on a future change coming. We here at Ideate Software are seeing what appears to be Revit add-in ownership issues with Revit's main window. The behavior has changed between Revit 2017 and Revit 2018 for modeless add-ins. For Revit 2018, when a modeless add-in is closed, Revit does not retain is focus; it is pushed behind another application... Read more →

Handling Third Party Library DLL Conflicts

A recurring question just came up again, on handling conflicts between DLLs loaded by Revit add-ins. For instance, this can be caused by a scenario in which add-ins A and B both make use of library DLL C, but specify different versions. A soon as the first add-in has loaded its version of C, the second add-in is prevented from loading the version it requires and cannot run... Read more →

New Visual Studio Templates for Revit Add-Ins

I have been maintaining a simple Visual Studio Revit add-in wizard for a number of years. Now Andrey Bushman implemented a set of more advanced and convenient Visual Studio templates for creation of Revit add-ins for his own use. The discussion of those led us to once more revisit the topic of the Visual Studio settings for debugging Revit add-ins – New Visual Studio 2015 templates for Revit add-ins – Use Managed Compatibility Mode or Enable Native Code Debugging? – Machine learning software engineer job in Switzerland – FreeCodeCamp... Read more →

UIView Windows Coordinate Ray Casting Tooltip

I revisited the custom tooltip implementation that I prepared to demonstrate the Revit 2013 API features including the View API and its UIView class. It class still provides the only possibility to convert back and forth between Revit model coordinates and Windows device screen points. That functionality can be combined with the ReferenceIntersector to shoot a ray through the model to determine what Revit database element is located under the current cursor position and display a custom tooltip presenting information about it or anything else you please... Read more →

Implementing the TrackChangesCloud External Event

Today, I'll discuss this morning's work – TrackChanges enhancement idea – The TrackChangesCloud add-in – The TrackChangesCloud external event – Creating and raising an external event – Raising the external event from a separate thread – First test run – Trigger immediate execution by setting Revit foreground window – Complete external application module – Next steps – Download... Read more →

Lunar Eclipse and Custom File Properties

Today, let's look at a Windows API question that can be of interest handling Revit documents as well, and mention my night out to watch the – Lunar Eclipse – Custom File Properties... Read more →

Clicks, DMU, Surfaces, FireRating Feedback, Vacation

Let me list some of the topics we discussed today in the Revit API discussion forum before I head off for vacation: Reacting to Windows mouse clicks in Revit. Reacting to changes and setting parameters using DMU or DocumentChanged. Creating a surface in Revit. FireRating in the Cloud feedback. Vacation Time Now. Summer has seriously arrived in Europe, and the weather is really good as well, for a change. I took advantage of it this weekend and climbed the Alphubel... Read more →

List and Switch Design Options Using UI Automation

Yesterday, we discussed a Revit add-in using .NET UI Automation to retrieve the current state of the Revit thin lines setting. Today, let's look at another application demonstrating use of that functionality to determine, list and set the Revit design options from a stand-alone executable application. Once again, this sample is presented by Revitalizer, aka Rudolf Honke of Mensch und Maschine acadGraph, who already contributed numerous other examples making use of the .NET UI Automation library to hack the Revit... Read more →

Thin Lines Add-in Using UI Automation

Revit add-in developers have repeatedly requested access to the Thin Lines setting provided in the Revit user interface, leading to Revit API discussion forum threads on view thin lines, exported image line weight (thin line) and rendering setting and a Revit API wish list item CF-192 – As an add-in developer, I need the API ability to detect and modify the "Thin lines" setting, so that the user can automatically get the environment configured in the way they like. Happily,... Read more →

New Text Note and Text Width Calculation

How can I determine the exact width of a Revit text note? This is the topic of the Revit API discussion thread on textnote width calculate minimum. We worked through a whole series of implementation attempts, mostly suggested by Scott Wilson, who also finally suggested the one that currently seems to be optimal and near perfect: Question: When creating a new TextNote I'm given the option to give the TextNote a LineWidth Property. I understand this is the 1:1 scale... Read more →

Using Balloon Tips in Revit

Here is another tip from Rudolf 'Revitalizer' Honke of Mensch und Maschine acadGraph, who provided most of the tips in the past making use of undocumented .NET and Autodesk API functionality provided by the UI Automation and AdWindows libraries, on using .NET Balloon Tips in a Revit add-in. First, however, let me mention some dates for the international AU events. International Autodesk University Event Locations and Dates Some Autodesk University international and AU Extension locations and dates for 2014 have... 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 →

Processor Architecture Mismatch Warning and Key Hook

In the past ten days, I migrated The Building Coder samples, ADN training labs, MEP and Structural sample material from Revit 2013 to 2014. In all of these migrations, I lamented the processor architecture mismatch warning MSB3270 saying There was a mismatch between the processor architecture of the project being built "MSIL" and the processor architecture of the reference "RevitAPI, Version=2014.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=x86", "AMD64". This mismatch may cause runtime failures. Please consider changing the targeted processor architecture of your project... Read more →

Determine Revit Demo Mode and Serial Number

Last week's updated Revit demo mode determination prompted a lively discussion between two strong Revit API experts and blog contributors, Victor Chekalin and Rudolf Honke the Revitalizer, partly on how to further improve the demo mode detection, and mainly on the value and risks of using unsupported features in your products. The thread is well worth a read, and I like Victor's final suggestion of reading the Revit serial number instead of using the language dependent title bar caption enough... Read more →

Determine Revit Demo Mode Revisited

Almost a year back, we talked about how to determine whether the current running Revit application is a demo version or not. The initial suggestion was to test this by trying to execute real functionality modifying the model and then save it. That obviously incurs significant overhead and may cause other problems as well. Rudolf Honke suggested simply reading and evaluating the Revit main window title text instead. Now Madmed created and posted an implementation of Rudolf's idea. I took... Read more →

AU Classes on Python, UI, Server and Framework APIs

Thursday was another very full and fruitful day at AU. I gave my third and last class, the most exciting one in my eyes, on some UI and integration aspects. I was unable to attend Iffat May's class introducing Python and using it in Revit and Vasari via RevitPythonShell, but I love her material so much I am including it anyway. Adam Nagy presented a class addressing cloud and mobile development and the Revit Server API. Finally, Arnošt Löbel provided... Read more →

Ensure WPF Add-in Remains in Foreground

Autumn arrived and passed in a flash. The woods are beautifully coloured, and, unusually, the first snow is already lying on the surrounding hills. Here are some items of interest from cases we looked at last week: Ensure WPF add-in remains in foreground Retrieve all model lines Set linked file visibility Access linked file elements and data Visual Studio 2012 Model Editor Supports OBJ and FBX Sie Mögen Sich Ensure WPF Add-in Remains in Foreground Here is an issue concerning... Read more →

Slab Boundary Revisited

After yesterday's rejuvenation of the old wall footing host reference relationship detection, today raises another old question prompting me to update and retest The Building Coder samples yet again: Question: How can I obtain the boundary of a floor slab using the Revit API, please? Answer: I implemented a CmdSlabBoundary external command to determine the slab boundary back in the dawn of time, in 2008, in one of the first posts on this blog. It determines the boundary edges of... Read more →

UIView and Windows Device Coordinates

As I pointed out in the discussion of the new Revit 2013 API features, the add-in integration enhancements include a new View API, and it provides a new UIView class. The UIView class represents a view window, enables you to pan, zoom and determine its size for tiling etc., and may be useful for switchback functionality from other visualization environments, for example. I am very surprised that I have not heard anything more from the developer community about this class... Read more →

Synchronize with Central

Developers have often asked how to programmatically synchronise with central, which is currently not supported by the Revit API. I discussed this issue once again recently with Erik Eriksson of White Arkitketer AB, and he tested and verified that yet another risky workaround can be used to achieve this, as always at your own peril. Question: I have a worksharing project in which I am trying to open a file, make changes, synchronize the changes to the central file and... Read more →

Drag and Drop to Revit

Tim Hoffeller of CAD-Development Tim Hoffeller presents DragDropRevitExample, a nice little stand-alone sample application which prompted us to document how to populate the suitable drag and drop data to cause Revit to load a family and prompt the user to place instances of it. It has one limitation, unfortunately, or rather the Revit behaviour is currently limited in one respect: it only loads and prompts for instance placement if the family has not previously been loaded. Not reloading an already... Read more →

No Multithreading in Revit

I repeatedly hear from developers asking whether multithreading can be used in conjunction with the Revit API. The short answer is no. To our surprise, we just noticed that the Truss SDK sample does demonstrate a use of multithreading. That is an oversight and you should not rely on this working properly. Here is the considered statement of Scott Conover, Software Development Manager of the Revit API, on the current state of multithreading and Revit: "Revit's internals make use of... Read more →

Status Bar Text

The ski tour season in the alps has opened again, and I went on my first tour of the year last weekend, to the Ramoz hut and the Arosa Rothorn: Many thanks to Chris for the beautiful pictures! Here is another idea from Rudolf Honke of acadGraph CADstudio GmbH. He says: I previously explained how you can use UIAutomation event handlers in Revit. When playing around a bit further with this, I thought about how to display the events. Using... Read more →

Managed Windows API

This useful library was pointed out by Augusto Gonçalves to Kean and by Kean on his blog, and seems too good to be missed, so I'll reproduce the pointer here as well: The Managed Windows API library: Here are excerpts from this site regarding the problem: If you want use Windows functionality in a .NET application which is not covered by the .NET framework (there is no "managed API" available for it), you usually have to use PInvoke, an interface... Read more →

Launching a Revit Command

One question that I frequently hear is how to launch a built-in Revit command programmatically. We recently discussed a specific case related to this issue in some depth, how to close the active document and especially pointed out why this is risky, undesirable and not supported. To close the active document, we used the SendKeys.SendWait method provided in the .NET framework System.Windows.Forms namespace. Many of the other attempts that I have seen in the past to launch a Revit command... Read more →

Closing the Active Document and Why Not To

Here is a question raised and solved by René Gerlach of CIDEON Software GmbH in collaboration with Joe Ye, and an explanation by Arnošt Löbel explaining the associated dangers: Question: The documentation says that the overloads of the Document.Close method cannot close the active document. How can this be handled anyway? I really do want to programmatically close the active document. Answer: Revit does not currently expose any API to close the active document programmatically. I think an alternative possible... Read more →

Modeless Form and Shared Parameter Disappearance

I am still acclimatising to Europe after four weeks in Thailand and Cambodia. So many differences: time zone, temperature, food, health, people... Yesterday I was able to join some colleagues in Neuchâtel for a game of hockey, which is generally the most exhausting sportive event I participate in on a regular basis. I managed to keep up in spite of feeling a bit weak, and was saved by the rain which stopped us from going for the full customary hour... Read more →

Revit Parent Window

Today is the last day of the Munich AEC DevLab. It has been a great week here, both meeting with developers to discuss their issues, find quite a few solutions, and connect again with many old friends here in the Munich Autodesk office. One issue that came up repeatedly was also a topic in the Waltham DevLab, so it is well worth exploring here in more detail: People have repeatedly asked how to properly hook up their .NET forms to... Read more →

Open Revit OLE Storage

One of the valuable spoils of the AEC DevCamp last week in Waltham is the following stand-alone utility created by David S. Echols of H&A Architects & Engineers for opening and analysing the contents of the Revit structured OLE storage file streams. We initially discussed this internal RVT and RFA file structure when presenting the Python utility to read the RVT or RFA file version without starting up and loading the file into Revit. It is also of interest to... Read more →

Modeless Dialogues in Revit

Here is an overview and summary of a number of discussions that we have already presented previously on driving Revit from outside and interacting with modeless dialogues, which hopefully will help to further clarify the issues involved. Question: How can I use a modeless dialogue in Revit? I need to display a modeless dialogue in Revit. On clicking a button in it, an element should be added to the Revit model. The button can be clicked multiple times and elements... Read more →

Ribbon Embed Image

Previous posts discussed the Revit 2010 Ribbon API, the associated Ribbon SDK Ribbon sample, and my use of it for the MEP sample ribbon panel. Krispy5 very friendlily posted a series of comments to the latter describing a detailed solution to embed the images used in the ribbon buttons into the Revit external application executable assembly. I implemented a sample application RibbonEmbedImage to make Krispy's solution more readable and readily available. This sample is obviously less a demonstration of any... Read more →

Revit 2010 Subscription Pack

The Autodesk Subscription Advantage Packs have been released, including ones for Autodesk Revit Architecture, MEP and Structure 2010. English versions are now available for download on Subscription Center. ADN members also have access to the subscription center by going to the ADN home page and selecting Autodesk Subscription Center. The subscription pack is also available directly from the ADN Revit download page. Look there for the Autodesk Revit 2010 September/October update. The Revit 2010 subscription packs provide the same minor... Read more →

Modeless Pressure Drop Tool

This weekend I went with a couple of men friends to spend two days together in Arcegno near Locarno. One afternoon we went climbing together in Ponte Brolla at the end of the Maggia Valley. We did some very easy climbs, because some of us were absolute beginners, Jimmy (4b), Ostro (5a), Mekka (4c), and Muckel (5b), wonderful slab climbing on the big, clean, warm sloping rock face. The next day we went on a hike from Aurigeno, a few... Read more →

Dismiss Dialogue using Windows API

I am often confronted with unwanted dialogues popping up when I am trying to drive some application programmatically. In Revit, many dialogues raise an event when they are displayed and allow us to implement an add-in application to handle them automatically. Unfortunately, as noted in the discussion on using the DialogBoxShowing event, some of the Revit dialogues do not raise such an event when displayed, so we cannot use the standard Revit API to handle or dismiss them. Also, there... Read more →