Need support in exporting database

[Anonymous]

Dear Sir,

We are building a plugin in c# using API, which exports project data to our sql server. DBLink has been good so far but now we need to enhance and make it feature rich for our users. 

Can you give provide source code for DBLink please?  If it's an open source or guide us in right direction. Or some method in which we are able to transfer all the project data direct to our sql server.

Basically what we are looking is a simple UI that users can export Revit project data into our SQL server; we are making certain reports based on this export.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Regards

Arvind Pandey

[jeremytammik]

Dear Arvind,

Thank you for your query.

That sounds like an interesting project.

RDBLink was once upon a time a Revit API SDK sample, and therefore obviously its source code was provided at that time. The source code was no longer published after it was upgraded to a subscription package. Whether or not an updated current version is still available is not an API issue and beyond my ken. You would have to ask product support about that.

Anyway, looking at the old RDBLink source code might give you some hints on haw to set up the database side of things.

The last version source code version that I am aware of was included in the Revit 2010 SDK.

For your convenience, I have attached it to this message in RDBLink_2010.zip.

Here are some articles discussing various uses of RDBLink:

Integration with a Database or ERP System -- http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2009/07/integration-with-a-database-or-erp-system.html
Adding a Column to RDBLink Export -- http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2009/11/adding-a-column-to-rdblink-export.html
Retrieving Project Parameters -- http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2010/01/retrieving-project-parameters.html
Parameter Access and Scheduling -- http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2010/05/parameter-access-and-scheduling.html
Exporting Parameter Data to Excel, and Re-importing -- http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2012/09/exporting-parameter-data-to-excel.html
Survey and Project Base Point -- http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/survey-and-project-base-point.html

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Jeremy

[jeremytammik]

I now summarirised this discussion here:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2016/02/reorg-fomt-devcon-ted-qr-custom-exporter-quality.ht...

[CoderBoy]

> Basically what we are looking is a simple UI that users can export Revit project data into our SQL server; we are making certain reports based on this export.

FYI, this product was designed to do exactly that:

https://ctcexpresstools.com/product/bim-data-suite-2016/

[jeremytammik]

Dear CoderBoy,

Thank you for the interesting pointer.

That seven kilobuck price tag is pretty cool, hefty, nice and round.

Is it your own project?

I assume that is running on SQL?

I assume you can combine any number of projects, and even evaluate data across multiple clients?

Can it be accessed in a cloud-based manner as well, from any mobile device?

Can you confirm these assumptions?

Can you say anything more about the underlying archietcture, and how it connects to Revit data?

Thank you!

Are you aware of my experiments connecting the desktop and the cloud, in a very simple manner with the FireRatingCloud sample, and more interestingly but still in the starting phases with the CompHound component tracker?

I would be interested in discussing these kind of things further and learning what kind of functionality is important for real-world projects and BIM data management and analysis solutions.

Thank you!

Cheers,

Jeremy

[CoderBoy]

Yes, I worked on that project.  It is currently targeted at large clients who have their own MS SQL server teams (thus the price).  It's a fairly young product.

It consists of two installers, one for the Revit add-in and one for a Windows WCF service.  The Revit add-in extracts (potentially LOTS of) data from a Revit project and sends it to the Windows service.  The add-in lets you filter out things in which you're not interested (e.g. by category, view, level, etc.) so you can fine tune what data is extracted, to speed up extraction time and reduce the amount of data that would need to be stored in SQL server.  It uses the same data snapshotting engine that our "Model Compare" tool uses.

The Windows Service will then write the data to a Microsoft SQL Server database to which the client points it.  We provide a highly normalized blank database which consists of the required schema (some 60 or so tables, I think) which represent our best guess at what the underlying Revit database structure might look like (for those things we go after).  It focuses on the "I" in BIM, so it does not pull things like geometric information, but does pull information about families, types, instances, parameters, schedules, groups and more.

Yes, multiple data "snapshots" from multiple projects can all get stored into a single database, which can then have queries written by the client's SQL team to compare data over time for one project, or compare data between any number of projects, or some combination of both.

Currently there isn't any cloud-based support per se, but it wouldn't be difficult to extend the service to support hosting it offsite.  Currently the service only pushes data into MS SQL server, so it's up to the client to *use* that data in whatever manner they see fit.  So the client themselves would have to write a cloud-based app to consume the data for use on mobile devices.

It's focus is to simply extract data and push it into a SQL database and let the client do with it what they will.  Nothing more.  We experimented for a while with trying to create "stock" reports, but every client we talked to wanted something different, so we chose to keep it simpler.  

The add-in can also extract the data to a (.NET DataSet) XML file.  We could probably add JSON file support fairly easily, I think.  

I'm vaguely aware of FireRatingCloud, and haven't heard of the CompHound component tracker before.  I'll have to check that out.

[jeremytammik]

Dear CoderBoy,

Thank you very much for your interesting background information.

I hope whoever owns the product is interested in looking at cloud-based solutions as well.

If not, somebody else is sure to do so  🙂

I would very much appreciate any feedback you have on the simple sample projects I mentioned above, if you do take a look at them.

They are obviously completely and absolutely trivial in scope and complexity compared to the real thing!

They do highlight the simplicity of the basics, though, especially how totally unneccessary any and all complexity involving the database setup and communication between Revt and the db is.

Thank you!

Good luck!

Cheers,

Jeremy