place a family in a family-file / assembly a family out of multiple families

[Anonymous]

hey there,

few days ago I started to develop a small project for my company. The goal is it to assemble automatically a REVIT-family out of multiple existing REVIT-families by placing them in a family-document. After that I want to provide that document as a download.

Right now I can open documents and place family instances (in a project file by coordinates) by using an WCF, so I can run it later on the server an call the functions from outside. I tried that to test the API in general. So far I didn't have any problems. But know I tried to place and move the instances in a family-file by simply using the document.Create.NewFamilyInstance function. But it doesn't work in a family-file for me. Right now it's hard to debug because of the WCF. 

So my question now, is it in principle possible to "assemble" REVIT families in a family-document? Or do you have any other ideas how I can realize my plans?

Thanks, Marco

[Revitalizer]

Hi,

in Family context, use document.FamilyCreate instead of document.Create.

Best regards,

Revitalizer

[Anonymous]

Hey Revitalizer,

thanks for your answer. My fault, I used document.FamilyCreate.NewFamilyInstance already, but it doesn't work.

So to make it clear, I want to place a existing Family within a opened .rfa-file. I think we have some issues with the WCF an it's not a problem of the REVIT-API. But again the question is it in general possible to place a existing family within a family-file by using the API?

Thanks, Marco

[Revitalizer]

Dear Mail,

do you use the correct overload of the NewFamilyInstance method ?

Since Families can have a different insertion behaviour, it is necessary to use the right one:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2013/09/family-instance-placement.html

Cheers,

Revitalizer

[Anonymous]

Hey Revitalizer,

it seems like I have another problem. I just cleared up my code to the basics and left out the WCF. I'm still not able to simply load a Family. Here my code:

 String FamilyPath = @"C:\Module_800_SEG.rfa";
                Family family = null;

                if (null == family)
                {
                    // It is not present, so check for 
                    // the file to load it from:

                    if (!File.Exists(FamilyPath))
                    {
                        throw new Exception("File not found " + FamilyPath);
                    }

                    // Load family from file:

                    using (Transaction tx = new Transaction(doc))
                    {
                        tx.Start("Load Family");
                        doc.LoadFamily(FamilyPath, out family);
                        tx.Commit();
                    }
                }

Any Ideas? Evertime I call it, I get a "System.Runtime.InteropServices.SEHException" in RevitAPI.dll. Is it possible to get additonal Information about the error.

Thanks, Marco

[Anonymous]

Hey there,

I solved a lot of problems over the weekend and now biggest parts of the code do their job. But I habe still one last problem left.

After I placed a family into a new FamilyDocument I want to place the next block right next to the first, the third right next to the second and so on. The width of the blocks can be different, so I decided to use planes in families I place, to find the Point for the next block. But I don't find a way to access the planes via the API.

To make it clear. I want to open an emtpy FamilyDocument(FamilyHost) (check). After that I want to place a existing family (Element1) into it (check). Then I try to place a second family(Element2) right next to the first(looking for a solution). All blocks can have the same y- and z-coordinates, only the x-part is different. Now I modified the Element1-Family, so that it has a plane at its end named RIGHT. After placing the familyInstance the plane is not visible int he Document, but i want to know the x-coordinate of the plane "RIGHT".

Any ideas?

Thanks, Marco