Adding analytic cconstruction options via an additional .xml

[fred2193]

I want to make custom analytic construction options available, by adding an additional .xml, and not by editing the existing constructions.xml. Is there someway i can write a manifest that makes my own code interpreted the right way, or is this not possible?

[jeremytammik]

I asked the development team for you. However, they may not even know. I hope someone does.  🙂

[fred2193]

Thanks a lot Jeremy!

I appreciate it your help 🙂

[jeremytammik · Accepted solution]

The devteam say:

Currently there is no API for Analytical or Schematic Constructions. Having an API and managing Constructions as types in Revit would be the optimal, I will bring it up to the team. We have other similar requests for this.

Adding to or changing the system file Constructions.xml is not a good idea. It might work for the moment, but you can lose your construction data when you upgrade to a newer version of Revit.

You can specify analytical thermal properties on the building elements (like Walls, Roofs etc) and they can be transformed to construction data in analysis or calculations. Can that be a solution for now? It depends a bit on the use case there?

Fredrik, do you use Export to gbXML, Energy Analysis, Heating and Cooling Loads?

Fredrik, I would also recommend searching for a corresponding wish list for this in the Revit Idea Station, and adding your comments there, or creating a new entry, if there is none already present there yet for the suggested functionality:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/idb-p/302

Tag it as an API wish:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/idb-p/302/tab/most-recent/label-name/api

Ensure it gets as many votes as possible to underline its importance to you and the rest of the developer community.

The Revit Idea Station is currently one of the main driving input forces for Revit API enhancements.

The Revit development team look there. Your comment here in the discussion forum might be overlooked.

Thank you!

Cheers,

Jeremy

[fred2193]

Hi Jeremy,

thank you so much for your help!

I really appreciate it. I will post in the Revit ideas forum.

I don't use Export to gbXML, Energy Analysis, Heating and Cooling Loads. The reason i was trying to solve this, was so that the company I work for, could make their glazing units available to users in Revit, instead of having the user manually typing in the technical values of a window.

Cheers! 😊

[jeremytammik]

Thank you for the clarification. I passed it on to the devteam.

[jeremytammik]

They reply:

Thanks for the info. So as I understand, Fredrik want to add his own Analytical Constructions to be available for selection in Revit Window and Door Types. I will forward the request.We did, however, opened up Analytical Properties to be user defined for Window and Door Types in Revit 2020. Maybe that can help? Fredrik could provide a set of predefined types in a Revit template?