topic Network-hosted .dll files in Revit API Forum

Network-hosted .dll files

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:10:33 GMT

I have been trying to host .dll files on our company network, and when I run the commands through the Revit interface, nothing happens. It appears that I just clicked the button and nothing was associated with it. I have already edited my revit.exe.config file for allowing external applications to run from remote locations. I have also right clicked the .dll file and tried to "unblock" it, but there was no option for it. If the .dll file is located on my local machine, the command runs fine. When it is located on the server (and my .addin file is pathed there) nothing happens. Has anyone had success with network hosted .dll files working in Revit? My thought is that it is a security/permissions issue, but I'm not sure where I should first look to properly diagnose. Thanks.

Re: Network-hosted .dll files

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:44:24 GMT

Which version of Revit are you trying to register your Add-ins with??

Re: Network-hosted .dll files

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:17:59 GMT

Originally, it was attempted with Revit 2011. I've now transitioned to trying it in Revit 2012.

Re: Network-hosted .dll files

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:29:19 GMT

There are different ways of doing this for different version of revit:

Refer to these blog for further details:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2010/08/network-access-to-add-in-manifest-and-icons.html

another blog that is helpful :

http://blog.rodhowarth.com/2011/05/revit-api-how-to-allow-add-ins-to-be.html

http://blog.rodhowarth.com/2011/04/revit-api-running-your-add-ins-from.html

Hope this helps

Re: Network-hosted .dll files

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:58:03 GMT

Yes, this helps a lot. I've been at a stand-still for a long time.

I'll post back here any updates as they come about.

Thank you.

Re: Network-hosted .dll files

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 20:41:55 GMT

I never was able to get this to work. After reading the posts, it seems very complicated. Individual deployments it will be.

Re: Network-hosted .dll files

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 01:27:14 GMT

Its not a hard as it looks.

From Rod Howart's blog, revit-api-running-your-add-ins-from-network,

(C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit Structure 2012\Program) and make the following change:

look for the <runtime> tag, and just after it’s opening, put:

<loadFromRemoteSources enabled="true" />
making it:

<runtime>  <loadFromRemoteSources enabled="true" />  <generatePublisherEvidence enabled="false"/></runtime>

This is what you will need to change in Revit.exe.config

This file can be found in your deployment at:

\AdminImage\x64\RAC2013\Program Files\Autodesk\Root\Program\Revit.exe.config

(I'm using Revit Architecture - this might be different for other flavours)

I hand edited the Revt.exe.config file after creating the deployment.

You also need to change your .addin files to point to the network path, then add those files to your deployment. The path in my deployment I added was:

\AdminImage\x64\RAC2013\DRIVE_C\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\2013\ADDIN_NAME.addin

Again I hand edited the .addin files to point to the correct UNC pathname for the addin, then I used the 'Additional Files' panel of the Modify Deployment Wizard.

I also did some hand-editing of a few other files to customise our deployment -

the MaterialUIConfig.xml file in

\AdminImage\x64\RAC2013\Program Files\Autodesk\Root\Program\Autodesk\RAC 2013\UserDataCache

was edited to load default company material libraries for each user.

Revit Deploy x64_Revit.ini in path

\AdminImage\CustomSettings

was edited to provide default custom colours, default paths, default setups copied from a clean install. I let the deployment create this file initially from a master revit.ini file, then added changes by had as required.

I found it very useful to keep a log of everything I did, and I created a seperate folder that contained masters of all my edited files in a folder structure that matches the deployment - I can just drag-and drop the entire folder tree to instantly customise a deployment.

This deployment succesfully worked on 35 machines - it was my first time using the deployment tool!

Re: Network-hosted .dll files

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:09:05 GMT

Do I need to do something special for modelless dll's? I keep getting "can't connect to object" when starting a modeless app.

Thanks,

Scott