AEC DevBlog

RevitiAPI: CrossFitting creation problem - InvalidOperationException: failed to insert cross.

中文链接

By Aaron Lu

I was asked a problem about create Cross Fitting,

I remember that the cross fitting creation method Document.Create.NewCrossFitting needs 4 connectors as arguments, the order of those connectors is not arbitrary, as Jeremy said in this post http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2014/10/newcrossfitting-connection-order.html, it should be main-main-side-side rather than main-side-main-side.

But when I got the file and test it, it always throws InvalidOperationException: failed to insert cross, no matter what order I tried.

Autodesk.Revit.Exceptions.InvalidOperationException: failed to insert cross.

It is wired. But fortunately I found the cause: the Routing Preference is not set for Cross.

After setting it, the problem has gone!

Pick the pipe > Edit type > Routing Preferences > Cross > select "All"

as below:

 

Innovation Guatemala Meetup, Revit convert internal angle units.

By Jaime Rosales (@afrojme)

On Tuesday the 23rd I had the opportunity to present to an incredible variety of attendees at, a Meetup group called Innovation Guatemala, where different topics of Technology Innovation are discussed. I spent a couple of weeks talking to the organizers and had the chance to become the main speaker for that day, and show a bunch of Architects, Developers, Civil Engineers and Designers who code, what the Autodesk View and Data API is, and how cool would it be to start thinking in 3D for their mobile and web applications. The most interesting part was, even that I’m a native Spanish speaker, to give the presentation in Spanish was a bit challenging but they had such a great response to the technology I shared with them that night.

I started the presentation showing them who Autodesk was, since people don’t tend to be aware of all the great involvement Autodesk has in today’s technological industry. Their attention raised when I started showing what the capabilities the LMV (large model viewer) currently has. I showed and talked about the different uses of the API, from VR samples, Construction web applications, to real time collaboration using some of the attendees mobile devices so they can interact with it.

 

Filled of questions, the night went by so fast, after a talk that got carried away for 1 hour and a half, the networking with the different attendees started and after sharing a drink and some food the event was a wrap and a total success. Many thanks to the organizers of the Innovation Guatemala Meetup for making this possible.

Back to Revit API, I had a chance to work on a case a couple of weeks back and I wanted to share with you guys the solution for the developer.

Question: I'm trying to use the ConvertToInternalUnits() method in the Revit 2015 API to convert angles in degrees to internal units, which I assume are radians.

double degAngle = 45;
UnitType uType = UnitType.UT_Angle;
double intAngle = ConvertToInternalUnits(doc, degAngle, uType);
 

When I run the code above intAngle is set to 0.14763779527559054, but converting 45 degrees to radians should turn into 0.785398163. Where is this 0.14 number coming from?

Answer:Thank you for your query, For obtaining the Radians something like this will work better.

double degAngle = 45;
DisplayUnitType uType = DisplayUnitType.DUT_DECIMAL_DEGREES;
double intAngle = UnitUtils.ConvertToInternalUnits(degAngle, uType);

Let me know how it goes.

Response: Thanks a lot, that works perfect.

Thank for reading guys and until next time.

Reading Loss Methods available on Revit MEP

By Augusto Goncalves

At this previous blog post you can find how to read ASHRAE table of a specific element. Basically a GUID is stored at the Built in parameter as a string: RBS_DUCT_FITTING_LOSS_METHOD_SERVER_PARAM

But where can we get the list of Loss Methods available?

The following sample show the getLossMethods function that will read the ExternalServer that holds that information and create a list of names and guids of each loss method available. The most important is the guid of each method as this is the information required on the parameter.

For this sample, it will create a simple list of LossCoef data structure, that contains the value pair (and you may replace this with a hash list, or a winform that show the options, etc). Also note this sample is for Ducts (type of the server, see previous post for Pipes)

// temp structure to hold data
struct LossCoef{public Guid id; public string name;}

private List<LossCoef> getLossMethods(ExternalServiceId serviceId)
{
  MultiServerService service = ExternalServiceRegistry.
    GetService(serviceId) as MultiServerService;
  IList<Guid> serverIds = service.GetRegisteredServerIds();
  List<LossCoef> list = new List<LossCoef>();     
  foreach (Guid serverId in serverIds)
  {
    IExternalServer server = getServerById(serverId, serviceId);
    IDuctFittingAndAccessoryPressureDropServer ductServer =
      server as IDuctFittingAndAccessoryPressureDropServer;

    LossCoef lc = new LossCoef();
    lc.id = serverId;
    lc.name = ductServer.GetName();

    list.Add(lc);
  }
  return list;
}

private IExternalServer getServerById(Guid serverGUID,
  ExternalServiceId serviceId)
{
  //get the service first, and then get the server
  MultiServerService service = ExternalServiceRegistry.
    GetService(serviceId) as MultiServerService;
  if (service != null && serverGUID != null)
  {
    IExternalServer server = service.GetServer(serverGUID);
    if (server != null)
      return server;
  }
  return null;
}

And here is Execute method showing how to use it. In this case will change the Loss Method by setting the parameter value (as a GUID string value).

public Result Execute(
  ExternalCommandData commandData,
  ref string message,
  ElementSet elements)
{
  UIApplication uiapp = commandData.Application;
  UIDocument uidoc = uiapp.ActiveUIDocument;
  Application app = uiapp.Application;
  Document doc = uidoc.Document;
 
  foreach (ElementId eleId in uidoc.Selection.GetElementIds())
  {
    FamilyInstance fitting = doc.GetElement(eleId) as FamilyInstance;
    if (fitting == null) continue;
    Parameter param = fitting.get_Parameter(
      BuiltInParameter.RBS_DUCT_FITTING_LOSS_METHOD_SERVER_PARAM);
    if (param == null) continue;

 
    List<LossCoef> lc = getLossMethods(
      ExternalServices.BuiltInExternalServices.
      DuctFittingAndAccessoryPressureDropService);

    // the 4th item should be "Specific Loss"
    // but you may double check
    param.Set(lc[3].id.ToString()); 
  }
 
  return Result.Succeeded;
}

Where is OMF SDK?

Q. Where can find OMF SDK?  

A. OMF SDK is posted on the ADN extranet http://adn.autodesk.com, the members only site.  

After logged into the ADN extranet, go to "Software & Support" >> AutoCAD Architecture >> Download >> Object Modeling Framework (OMF). Follow the link and accept the license agreement. It will take you to the download page.

Note: OMF requires a separate license agreement and is provided to the member of ADN only.  

Mikako

RevitiAPI: NewExtrusion throws ArgumentException: One of the conditions for the inputs was not satisfied

中文链接

By Aaron Lu

Sometimes calling Document.FamilyCreate.NewExtrusion will throw:

Autodesk.Revit.Exceptions.ArgumentException: One of the conditions for the inputs was not satisfied. Consult the documentation for requirements for each argument.

This is probably caused by the profile and normal of sketch plane is not perpendicular.

For example:

// Create a rectangle profile
CurveArrArray profile = new CurveArrArray();
CurveArray ca = new CurveArray();
XYZ[] points = new XYZ[] {
    new XYZ(10, 0, 0),
    new XYZ(20, 0, 0),
    new XYZ(20, 0, 10),
    new XYZ(10, 0, 10)
};
for (int ii = 0; ii < points.Length; ii++)
{
    var point = points[ii];
    var point2 = points[ii == points.Length - 1 ? 0 : ii + 1];
    ca.Append(Line.CreateBound(point, point2));
}
profile.Append(ca);

// create the plane normal is perpendicular with profile
SketchPlane sketchplane = SketchPlane.Create(doc,
    new Plane(XYZ.BasisZ, XYZ.Zero));
Extrusion solid = doc.FamilyCreate.NewExtrusion(
    true, profile, sketchplane, 20);

This will throw, and notice that the normal of SketchPlane is the same as Z axis, but the profile is perpendicular to Y axis,

So the correct code of creating SketchPlane should be something like this:

SketchPlane sketchplane = SketchPlane.Create(doc,
    new Plane(XYZ.BasisY, XYZ.Zero));

 

RevitiAPI: How to create revision cloud?

中文链接

By Aaron Lu

Again, use RevitLookup, we can see the related class is RevisionCloud, so the creation method is either in Document.Create or in the static methods of the class itself.

Fortunately, there is a static method called Create:

public static RevisionCloud Create(Document document, View view, ElementId revisionId, IList<Curve> curves)

We should know the meaning of most of the arguments, except revisionId, where can we get it?

 

I tried to pass ElementId.InvalidElementId, it throws:

Autodesk.Revit.Exceptions.ArgumentException: revisionId is not a valid Revision.  Parameter name: revisionId

So we have to pass something meaningful.

At this moment, I found there is a property RevisionCloud.RevisionId which should be relevant, and that id is a Revision.

Inspect Revision, it also has a static Create method, now the solution is obvious, and simple:

var revision = Revision.Create(RevitDoc);
var revisionCloud = RevisionCloud.Create(RevitDoc,
    RevitDoc.ActiveView, ElementId.InvalidElementId,
    new List<Curve>() {
    Line.CreateBound(XYZ.Zero, new XYZ(10,0,0))
});

 

RevitiAPI: How to create a colored detail line in family?

中文链接

By Aaron Lu

As we know, to create a colored detail line in family, we have to:

1. Create a new family project, e.g. based on "Generic Annotation.rft"
2. Click "Create" > "Line", draw a line
3. Select the new line, click "Manage" > "Object Styles", you will see a list of categories and patterns like this:
   
   
4. Select "Generic Annotations", "Modify Subcategories" > "New" is available now, click it and create a new sub-category, and set color and weight
5. Close all dialogs, and select the line again
6. Under "Modify | Lines", you can see the new category appears under the combobox in "Subcategory" group. We've done the job :)

 

So how to do that via API?

 

1. First, what we've drawn is a DetailLine, so we should use Document.FamilyCreate.NewDetailCurve to create it.
2. To set the line style, use DetailLine.LineStyle property.
3. Create a new subcategory, use method Categories.NewSubcategory(Category parentCategory, string name)
4. So the only question left is how to get the parentCategory argument in the above method.

Now we can make use of RevitLookup tool, as the line has the LineStyle property, we can inspect what its category is, let's select it, and run "RevitLookup" > "Snoop Current Selection..."

 

 

As we can see, OST_GenericAnnotation is the "Generic Annotations" listed in the first image, we can use Categories.get_Item(BuiltInCategory.OST_GenericAnnotation) to get the category.

 

Here comes the code, remember put it in a transaction:

public void CreateSubCategoryAndDetailLine(Document doc)
{
    var categories = doc.Settings.Categories;
    var subCategoryName = "MySubCategory";
    Category category = doc.Settings.Categories.
        get_Item(BuiltInCategory.OST_GenericAnnotation);
    Category subCategory = null;
    if (!category.SubCategories.Contains(subCategoryName))
    {
        subCategory = categories.NewSubcategory(category, 
            subCategoryName);
        var newcolor = new Color(250, 10, 0);
        subCategory.LineColor = newcolor;
        subCategory.SetLineWeight(10, GraphicsStyleType.Projection);
    }
    else
        subCategory = category.SubCategories.get_Item(subCategoryName);

    Line newLine = Line.CreateBound(
        new XYZ(0, 1, 0), new XYZ(-1, 0, 0));
    var detailLine = doc.FamilyCreate.NewDetailCurve(
        doc.ActiveView, newLine);
    detailLine.LineStyle = subCategory.GetGraphicsStyle(
        GraphicsStyleType.Projection);
}

Result:

RevitAPI: Create FamilyInstance on a wall face

中文链接

By Aaron Lu

A customer has a headache to create family instance on wall, he tried several combinations of Document.Create.NewFamilyInstance but got nothing.

Here is what he wants, place a light fixture on wall:

I found when we place them by manual, it is always on a face of the wall, so we can get rid of other overloads, but focus only on the following:

NewFamilyInstance(Reference, Line position, FamilySymbol)
NewFamilyInstance(Reference, XYZ location, XYZ referenceDirection, FamilySymbol)
NewFamilyInstance(Face, Line position, FamilySymbol)
NewFamilyInstance(Face, XYZ location, XYZ referenceDirection, FamilySymbol)

And since it is placed by point, so I decided to use this method:

NewFamilyInstance(Reference, XYZ location, XYZ referenceDirection, FamilySymbol)

As you can see, the first argument Reference should be the reference of a face on the wall, the second is the location, the third referenceDirection is the rotation of the instance, and last one FamilySymbol is the symbol.

But how to get face reference?

Fortunately, there is a class named HostObjectUtils, which has several convinient methods to get faces of host objects, for example, GetSideFaces is used to get side faces of Wall:

var reference = HostObjectUtils.GetSideFaces(wall, 
    ShellLayerType.Interior).First();

ShellLayerType is to designate whethere it is exterior face or interior face. Call .First() is to get the first face, I believe there is only one face in one side :).

Now it is simple, whole code looks like this:

FamilySymbol familySymbol = GetFamilySymbol("Switch board");
ElementId elementId = new ElementId(308696);
Wall wall = RevitDoc.GetElement(elementId) as Wall;
var reference = HostObjectUtils.GetSideFaces(wall, 
    ShellLayerType.Interior).First();
if (wall != null)
{
    var instance = RevitDoc.Create.NewFamilyInstance(reference, 
        new XYZ(13.3997604933275,-1.35161192601243,9.0571329707487),
        new XYZ(0,0,0),
        familySymbol);
    if (instance == null)
        TaskDialog.Show("ERROR", "Instance is null!");
}

We don't want to rotate the instance, so referenceDirection is set to (0,0,0).

But new problem comes out, we found difference between the one created by API and the one by manual

Here is the one by manual:

And here is the one by API:

You should find that the elevation parameter is disabled in the second image but not in the first one.

So how to solve it?

Inspecting again, I found there is another difference, the "Schedule Level", the one created manually has a "Schedule Level" by default, but API created one has nothing set.

So now, we've got a solution: change the parameter "Schedule Level" to a real level after the instance is created. Cheers!

Parameter parameter = instance.get_Parameter(
    BuiltInParameter.INSTANCE_SCHEDULE_ONLY_LEVEL_PARAM);
if (parameter != null)
{
    parameter.Set(new ElementId(311));
}