AEC DevBlog

Getting Started with Revit 2014 API and Family Guide

Mikako Harada — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:54:33 -0700

Last year, I wrote about my handy "Getting Started with Revit API" document (sometime I called it "phase zero") as I get inquiries about Revit API every so often. Here it is the updated version: Download Getting Started with Revit 2014 API. The changes are very minor: version number update and pointing to newer recordings. Old recordings may be still valuable for learning basics as the newer ones tend to focus on more advanced and specific topics. So I'm not going to repeat it here; rather I refer to the last year's page for the majority of part.

Another inquiry I received recently is about learning materials about Family creation. I double-checked the content manager here and he confirms that the Family Guide posted here is still the most complete one you can refer to (although it was not updated for a few years.) This page include guides translated in various languages, such as Chinese, German, French, and Japanese. If you are new to Revit, this will be a good starting point to learn Family creation. If you are coming from Programing background, I must also emphasize that to master Revit API, you will need to understand how Revit works in UI.

Good luck!

Capture Escape key on Revit

Augusto Goncalves — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:54:10 -0700

By Augusto Goncalves

In some cases we need to hook to Revit to track some keys, for instance the ESCAPE key. This can be done with Win32 APIs with SetWindowsHookEx method. Below is the regular OnStartup and OnShutdown with calls to it.

public Result OnStartup(UIControlledApplication application)

{

// hook

HookMainApp();

return Result.Succeeded;

}

public Result OnShutdown(UIControlledApplication application)

{

// unhook

UnhookMainApp();

return Result.Succeeded;

}

private void KeyPressed(Keys keyPressed)

{

if (keyPressed == Keys.Escape)

{

TaskDialog.Show("Key was pressed", "Escape");

}

And to make this work, also include the following methods on the project:

#region "Windows Hook"

// **********

// Code based on the following post

// http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/user32.setwindowshookex

// **********

private void HookMainApp()

{

// initialize our delegate

this.myCallbackDelegate = new HookProc(this.MyCallbackFunction);

// get the process and set up the hook

using (Process process = Process.GetCurrentProcess())

using (ProcessModule module = process.MainModule)

{

hookId = SetWindowsHookEx(HookType.WH_KEYBOARD,

this.myCallbackDelegate, IntPtr.Zero,

(uint)AppDomain.GetCurrentThreadId());

}

private void UnhookMainApp()

{

UnhookWindowsHookEx(hookId);

}

private int MyCallbackFunction(int code,

IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)

{

if (code < 0)

{

//you need to call CallNextHookEx without

// further processing and return the value

// returned by CallNextHookEx

return CallNextHookEx(IntPtr.Zero, code,

wParam, lParam);

}

// we can convert the 2nd parameter (the key code)

// to a System.Windows.Forms.Keys enum constant

Keys keyPressed = (Keys)wParam.ToInt32();

KeyPressed(keyPressed);

//return the value returned by CallNextHookEx

return CallNextHookEx(IntPtr.Zero, code,

wParam, lParam);

}

// hook deleate

private HookProc myCallbackDelegate = null;

// hook id for unhook

IntPtr hookId;

[DllImport("user32.dll")]

static extern int CallNextHookEx(IntPtr hhk, int nCode,

IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]

static extern uint GetCurrentThreadId();

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]

[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]

static extern bool UnhookWindowsHookEx(IntPtr hhk);

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]

static extern IntPtr SetWindowsHookEx(

HookType hookType, HookProc lpfn, IntPtr hMod,

uint dwThreadId);

public enum HookType : int

{

WH_JOURNALRECORD = 0,

WH_JOURNALPLAYBACK = 1,

WH_KEYBOARD = 2,

WH_GETMESSAGE = 3,

WH_CALLWNDPROC = 4,

WH_CBT = 5,

WH_SYSMSGFILTER = 6,

WH_MOUSE = 7,

WH_HARDWARE = 8,

WH_DEBUG = 9,

WH_SHELL = 10,

WH_FOREGROUNDIDLE = 11,

WH_CALLWNDPROCRET = 12,

WH_KEYBOARD_LL = 13,

WH_MOUSE_LL = 14

}

delegate int HookProc(int code, IntPtr wParam,

IntPtr lParam);

#endregion

Navisworks 2014 API new feature - ToolPlugin

Xiaodong Liang — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:21:24 -0700

By Xiaodong Liang

ToolPlugin is actually a combination of InputPlugin and RenderPlugin. It allows you to customize the tool. Typically, it configures the behavior when mouse clicking the object. So you could switch between the native tool of Navisworks and your tools.

Firstly, create a class deriving from ToolPlugin . It is a kind of implicit plugin which has no interface. So the attribute DisplayName could be ignored. Next, override the methods you want to use. e.g. the following code demo overrides MouseDown and OverlayRenderModel. When the mouse clicks, it records the selected object, next draws a custom graphics with the bounding box of the object. In another word, when the mouse clicks the object, it will not highlight the object anymore, it will draw a temporary cuboids.

// The ToolPlugin example.
[Plugin("ToolPluginTest", "ADSK")]
public class ToolPluginTest : ToolPlugin
{
    ModelItem clickedModel = null;
 
    public override bool MouseDown(View view,
                        KeyModifiers modifiers,
                        ushort button,
                        int x,
                        int y,
                        double timeOffset)
    {
        // get current selection        
        PickItemResult itemResult = 
            view.PickItemFromPoint(x, y);
        if (itemResult != null)
        {
            clickedModel = 
                itemResult.ModelItem;
            Application.ActiveDocument.ActiveView.
                           RequestDelayedRedraw(ViewRedrawRequests.Render);
        }
        return false;
    }
 
    public override void OverlayRenderModel(View view, Graphics graphics)
    {
        if (clickedModel != null)
        {
            //color for graphics
            Color yellow = Color.FromByteRGB(255, 255, 0);
            graphics.Color(yellow, 0.8);
 
            //boundingbox of the current selection
            BoundingBox3D boundingBox = clickedModel.BoundingBox();
 
            Point3D origin = boundingBox.Min;
            Vector3D xVector =
                new Vector3D((boundingBox.Max - 
                                boundingBox.Min).X, 0, 0);
            Vector3D yVector = 
                new Vector3D(0, (boundingBox.Max - 
                                boundingBox.Min).Y, 0);
            Vector3D zVector = 
                new Vector3D(0, 0, (boundingBox.Max -
                                boundingBox.Min).Z);
 
            //draw a cuboid
            graphics.Cuboid(origin, xVector, yVector, zVector, true);
        }
    }
} 

To let Navisworks know to use your tool, you will need to write some codes in your main workflow (e.g. main plugin). Find your tool plugin, and set it as a current tool by

Tool.SetCustomToolPlugin

To switch back to the native tool of Navisworks, you could just set the tool to any mode of navigation.

[Plugin("EnableToolPluginExample", "ADSK",        
         DisplayName = "EnableToolPlugin")]
public class EnableToolPluginExample : AddInPlugin
{
    static bool enable = false;
    public override int Execute(params string[] parameters)
    {
        if (enable)
        {                 
            //switch to the native tool       
             Application.MainDocument.Tool.Value = Tool.Select;         
        }
        else
        {
            //switch to custom tool
            ToolPluginRecord toolPluginRecord = 
                (ToolPluginRecord)Application.Plugins.FindPlugin(
                                                 "ToolPluginTest.ADSK");
            Application.MainDocument.Tool.
                SetCustomToolPlugin(toolPluginRecord.LoadPlugin());
        }
        enable = !enable;
        return 0;
    }
}
  

Copy family between documents via API

Joe Ye — Fri, 31 May 2013 00:14:31 -0700

By Joe Ye

Transferring standards and elements via API is hot API request before Revit 2014. Revit 2014 exposed the exciting API, copy element between documents. This give us the ability to do a lot of interesting jobs.

Here is an sample to transfer family between documents. This command copy family to another opened document in the same Revit session. It copies all the types of the picked family instance’s family.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
 
using  Autodesk.Revit .DB;
using Autodesk.Revit.UI;
using Autodesk.Revit .ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.Revit.Attributes ;
using Autodesk.Revit.UI.Selection;
 
 
  [TransactionAttribute(TransactionMode.Manual)]
public class RevitCommand : IExternalCommand
{
    public Result Execute(ExternalCommandData commandData, 
      ref string messages, ElementSet elements)
    {
 
      UIApplication app = commandData.Application;
      Document doc = app.ActiveUIDocument.Document;
 
      Selection sel = app.ActiveUIDocument.Selection;
 
      Reference ref1 = sel.PickObject(ObjectType.Element, 
        "pick a family instance");
 
      FamilyInstance inst = doc.GetElement(ref1) as FamilyInstance;
      if(inst == null)
      {
        messages = "No family instance was picked";
        return Result.Failed;
      }
 
      FamilySymbol sym = inst.Symbol;      
      Document targetDoc = null;
      foreach (Document doc1 in app.Application.Documents)
      {
        if (doc.Title != doc1.Title)
        {
          targetDoc = doc1;
          break;
        }
      }
 
      IList<ElementId> ids = new List<ElementId>();
      foreach (FamilySymbol symbol in sym.Family.Symbols)
      {
        ids.Add(symbol.Id);
      }
 
      Transaction targetTrans = new Transaction(targetDoc);
      targetTrans.Start("copyFamily");
 
      ElementTransformUtils.CopyElements(doc, ids, targetDoc, null, 
        new CopyPasteOptions());
      targetTrans.Commit();
 
      return Result.Succeeded ;
    }
}

Webinar announcement

Stephen Preston — Wed, 29 May 2013 14:09:55 -0700

By Stephen Preston

Register and mark your calendars now for this upcoming webcast on making the most of the Autodesk Exchange Apps store ...

"How developers can ride and profit from the adoption wave of Autodesk Exchange Apps"

The Autodesk Exchange Apps stores (currently there are 15 stores) are a huge opportunity for developers to gain direct access to the growing number of Autodesk customers using Exchange Apps. In just one year there’s been over one million visits and over 250,000 downloads. With comments like “one of my most useful tools”, “love this app, saved me hours of work” there’s no doubt that Exchange Apps has become a resource that Autodesk customers rely on to find useful apps of all types.

If you develop apps and want to reach more customers quickly, easily and inexpensively but haven’t yet put your toe in the water with Exchange Apps, the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) team is ready to help you. You’re invited to attend a webinar on June 13^th hosted by Jim Quanci and Stephen Preston to learn how you can catch the wave and accelerating growth of Exchange Apps.

You’ll learn the tricks of the trade when publishing on Exchange Apps, get ideas on how to be successful and learn about the ability to publish localized apps. Here’s what you need to know:

Webinar details:

Date: Thursday, June 13^th, 2013
Time: 8 a.m. PDT (4 p.m. BST; 5 p.m. CET; 11 a.m. EDT)
Duration: Approximately one hour

Open to anyone interested in publishing apps on Autodesk Exchange Apps (i.e. ADN membership is not required :-).

Registration: Reserve your place by June 11 by sending an email to adn-training-worldwide@autodesk.com with Exchange Apps webinar as the subject. Please make sure you include your full name, company name and email address.

And visit www.autodesk.com/developapps now if you want a head start in learning how to publish apps.

API Wishlist Survey for Revit

Mikako Harada — Sat, 25 May 2013 13:53:59 -0700

Once again, the time for another round of API wishlist survey. This year's API wishlist survey is open for Revit from the link:

Revit API Wishlist Survey 2013

Please take a moment to participate and complete this survey and let us hear your feedback. It will take less than 5 minutes to complete. Revit engineering team will use the results to understand your needs and help prioritize the areas of API enhancements in future planning. If you leave your e-mail address, we will send you the final result after it is concluded. (e-mail address you leave will be used solely for this purpose. We do not share or use for any other purposes).

The survey will open for three weeks till June 15th, 2013. We look forward to receiving your feedback!

Navisworks 2014 API new feature - RenderPlugin

Xiaodong Liang — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:36:00 -0700

By Xiaodong Liang

I have frequently heard the voice that the developers want to draw some custom graphics in Naivsworks e.g. the custom red line. Now it came true. The new plugin type provides methods to render user-graphics. It can render in 3D model space or 2D screen space. The new class Graphics is used to create the 2D/3D primitives.

Firstly, create a class deriving from RenderPlugin. It is a kind of implicit plugin which has no interface. So the attribute DisplayName is useless.

[Plugin("RenderPluginTest", 
            "ADSK")]
    public class RenderPluginTest : RenderPlugin
    {
    }
 
 
 

Next, override the methods you want to use.

public virtual void OverlayRenderModel(View view,Graphics graphics)

This method renders the graphics in the overlay buffer.By default it’s set up for you to call graphics methods that take 3D model space coordinates. You can call graphics methods that take 2D model space coordinates from inside a BeginWindowContext-EndWindowContext block.

public virtual void OverlayRenderWindow(View view,Graphics graphics)

This method renders the graphics in the overlay buffer. By default it’s set up for you to call graphics methods that take 2D window space coordinates. You can also call graphics methods that take 3D model space coordinates from inside a BeginModelContext-EndModelContext block

public virtual void RenderModel(View view,Graphics graphics)

Similar to OverlayRenderModel, but renders in the main buffer.

public virtual void RenderWindow(View view,Graphics graphics)

Similar to OverlayRenderWindow but renders in the main buffer.

Where possible, it is recommended that you should be using Overlay*** to do ‘overly graphics’ rather than using ‘Render***’.

The code below draws a triangle and two lines.

public override void OverlayRenderWindow(View view,
                                Graphics graphics)
{   
    // the color for the graphics
    Color colorRed = Color.FromByteRGB(255, 0, 0);
    // color and alpha value 
    graphics.Color(colorRed, 0.7);
 
    //set line width
    graphics.LineWidth(5);
 
    Point2D p1 = new Point2D(20, 20);
    Point2D p2 = new Point2D(view.Width - 20, 20);
    Point2D p3 = new Point2D(view.Width /2.0, view.Height - 20);
 
    // draw triangle, fill in it
    graphics.Triangle(p1,p2,p3,true);
 
    // the color for the graphics
    Color colorGreen = Color.FromByteRGB(0, 255, 0);
    // color and alpha value 
    graphics.Color(colorGreen, 0.7);
 
    Point2D p4 = new Point2D(20, 20);
    Point2D p5 = new Point2D(view.Width / 2.0, (view.Height - 20) / 2.0);
    Point2D p6 = new Point2D(view.Width - 20, 20);
 
    //draw two lines
    graphics.Line(p4, p5);
    graphics.Line(p5, p6);
} 
 

Since the 2D is in window space coordinates, the graphics will update with the view size changing.

The code below draws a cylinder.

public override void OverlayRenderModel(View view, Graphics graphics)
{ 
    // the color for the graphics
    Color colorBlue = Color.FromByteRGB(0, 0, 255);
    // color and alpha value 
    graphics.Color(colorBlue, 1); 
 
    Point3D p1 = new Point3D(0, 0,0);
    Point3D p2 = new Point3D(0, 0,10);     
 
    // draw Cylinder 
    graphics.Cylinder(p1,p2,10);
 
    // the color for the graphics
    Color colorGrey = Color.FromByteRGB(128, 128, 128);
    // color and alpha value 
    graphics.Color(colorGrey, 1);
 
    Point3D p3 = new Point3D(20, 20,0);     
 
    // draw sphere
    graphics.Sphere(p3, 10);
} 
 

Create stirrup rebar by given model curves via Revit API

Joe Ye — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:47:04 -0700

By Joe Ye

As creating a stirrup rebar shape family is not so easy. Users would like to sketch up the shape of the stirrup within a column. This article introduce how to create a stirrup by several model curves within a column.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
 
using Autodesk.Revit.ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.Revit.UI;
using Autodesk.Revit.DB.Structure;
using Autodesk.Revit.DB;
using Autodesk.Revit.UI.Selection;
 
namespace MyCreateRebar
{
  [Autodesk.Revit.Attributes.Transaction(Autodesk.Revit.Attributes.TransactionMode.Manual)]
  [Autodesk.Revit.Attributes.Regeneration(Autodesk.Revit.Attributes.RegenerationOption.Manual)]
  public class Command1 : IExternalCommand
  {
    public Result Execute(ExternalCommandData commandData, ref string message, ElementSet elements)
    {
      UIApplication uiApp = commandData.Application;
      Selection sel = uiApp.ActiveUIDocument.Selection;
      Application app = uiApp.Application;
      Document doc = uiApp.ActiveUIDocument.Document;
 
      RebarBarType barType = null;
      RebarHookType hookType = null;
 
      Transaction transaction = new Transaction(doc, "CreateRebar Tool");
      try
      {
        transaction.Start();
 
        IList<Curve> curves1 = new List<Curve>();
        ElementSet eleset = sel.Elements;
        foreach (Element e in eleset)
        {
          if (e is ModelLine)
          {
            Line l = (e as ModelLine).GeometryCurve as Line;
            Line line = app.Create.NewLineBound(l.get_EndPoint(0), l.get_EndPoint(1));
            curves1.Add(line);
          }
        }
 
        foreach (RebarBarType bt in doc.RebarBarTypes)
        {
          barType = bt;
          break;
        }
        foreach (RebarHookType ht in doc.RebarHookTypes)
        {
          hookType = ht;
        }
 
        {
 
          Reference hasPickOne = sel.PickObject(ObjectType.Element);
          FamilyInstance hostFi = doc.get_Element(hasPickOne.ElementId) as FamilyInstance;
          Rebar rebar = CreateRebar1(uidoc, curves1, hostFi, barType, hookType);
        }
      }
      catch (Exception ex)
      {
        message += ex.Message;
        return Autodesk.Revit.UI.Result.Failed;
      }
      finally
      {
        transaction.Commit();
      }
 
      return Result.Succeeded;
    }
 
    Rebar CreateRebar1(
        Autodesk.Revit.UI.UIDocument uidoc,
        IList<Curve> curves,
        FamilyInstance column,
        RebarBarType barType,
        RebarHookType hookType)
    {
 
      LocationPoint location = column.Location as LocationPoint;
      XYZ origin = location.Point;
 
      Rebar rebar = Rebar.CreateFromCurves(uidoc.Document, 
        RebarStyle.StirrupTie, barType, hookType, hookType,
        column, new XYZ(0, 0, 1), curves, 
        RebarHookOrientation.Left, RebarHookOrientation.Left, true, true);
 
      return rebar;
    }
  }

Navisworks 2014 API new feature – Dynamic Loading of Plugin

Xiaodong Liang — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:43:49 -0700

By Xiaodong Liang

In the past, Navisworks will load all valid plugins in the folder \Plugins. Of course, as indicated in Navisworks 2014 API new feature – One more path to load plugin, Navisworks will also load the plugins in the new folder automatically as well.

In some situations, we may need to demand loading the plugin when necessary. 2014 provides such mechanism.

ApplicationParts.ApplicationPlugins.AddPluginAssembly(absolute path name of the plugin)

Following is a small experiment. It self explains the usage which is very straightforward.

1. create a simple AddinPlugin and put the binary to any folder such as c:\temp

   [PluginAttribute("BasicPlugIn_LoadTest",       
                    "ADSK",       
                    DisplayName = "BasicPlugIn_LoadTest")]           
 
    public class BasicPlugIn_LoadTest :       
                   AddInPlugin                      
   {
      public override int Execute(params string[] parameters)
      {
          MessageBox.Show("BasicPlugIn_LoadTest is executed!");
         return 0;
      }
   } 

2. create a plugin which is put in the two folders where Navisworks will load the plugin automatically. e.g. \Plugins

   [PluginAttribute("BasicPlugIn",                  
                    "ADSK",                                       
                    ToolTip = "BasicPlugIn tool tip", 
                    DisplayName = "Hello World Plugin")]          
 
   public class ABasicPlugin : AddInPlugin                       
   {
      public override int Execute(params string[] parameters)
      {  
          //the name of the plugin which is to be loaded dynamically
          string plugin_name_to_load = "BasicPlugIn_LoadTest.ADSK";
 
          // plugin record
          PluginRecord dotest = null;
          try
          { 
              dotest = Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Application.Plugins.       
                                         FindPlugin(plugin_name_to_load);
              if (dotest != null)
              {
                  // the plugin has been loaded. exit.
                  MessageBox.Show("the plugin " +        
                                  plugin_name_to_load +        
                                  " has been loaded!");
                  return 0;
              }
              else
              {
                  // load the plugin assembly
                  Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Application.Plugins.AddPluginAssembly(       
                                 @"C:\temp\BasicPlugIn_LoadTest.ADSK.dll");
 
                  // get the plugin record. 
                  PluginRecord otherpluginrecord =
                      Autodesk.Navisworks.Api.Application.Plugins.       
                                       FindPlugin(plugin_name_to_load);
                  if (otherpluginrecord != null)
                  {
                      //loaded                      
                      if (!otherpluginrecord.IsLoaded)
                      {
                          //load the plugin
                          otherpluginrecord.LoadPlugin();
                          MessageBox.Show("the plugin " + 
                                            plugin_name_to_load + 
                                   " has been loaded by AddPluginAssembly!");
 
                          //get the plugin of the record
                          Plugin otherplugin =        
                               otherpluginrecord.LoadedPlugin;
 
                          //call one method of the plugin
                          //since we do not know the type of the other plugin,
                          //use InvokeMember
                          string[] pa = { "dummy"};
                          otherplugin.GetType().InvokeMember("Execute",       
                                    System.Reflection.BindingFlags.InvokeMethod,       
                                     null, otherplugin,pa);                       
 
                      }
                  }
                  else
                  {
                      // any other problems
                      MessageBox.Show(       
                          "Navisworks has tried to load the plugin " + 
                           plugin_name_to_load + 
                          " but it is still null. Please check the path name!");
                  }
              }
          }
          catch (Exception ex)
          {
              // any exception
              System.Diagnostics.Debug.Write(ex.ToString());
          } 
         return 0;
      }
   } 

When you click the button of BasicPlugIn, it will try to load the other plugin BasicPlugIn_LoadTest.ADSK and call its method Execute. From this experiment, you could also find the binary dll of other plugin could be within any folder. It would be a convenience for you to deploy your application.

A New Glue, New Look, and 30-day Free Trial!

Mikako Harada — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:38:58 -0700

By Mikako Harada

We are excited to let you know that a major new release of Autodesk® BIM 360™ Glue® is available now:

http://www.autodesk.com/bim360glue

BIM 360 Glue (the Glue) is a cloud-based, BIM Management solution that facilitates multidiscipline model coordination and collaboration. It provides all project members with access to the most up-to-date project models and data from anywhere anytime. You can upload models from Autodesk Navisworks®, Revit®, AutoCAD® and Civil 3D®, and literally “glue” them together up in the cloud. Now with the new UI, it will be more intuitive for you to use. For more detail, please refere to the BIM 360 Glue product page.

If you haven’t had a chance to try it, now is the chance; there is 30-day free trial version available for you to try it. Please follow the link below, and simply sign up:

www.autodesk.com/bim360gluetrial

I must also add; if you haven’t tried iPad app, please make sure you try “Immersive View”, too. The walk through experience using iPad app is just a different user experience that you must know.

Note: Access to the Glue platform through the API, or a development environment, is not a part of this product trial environment at this stage. In order to use the API, you will first need to a member of ADN (ADN Professional or Standard) and need to be a part of a Glue API ADN pilot program. Autodesk is actively working on a way to widen the accessibility. In a mean time, if you are interested developing a cloud and mobile solution using the Glue API, please contact ADN: www.autodesk.com/joinadn