General API Guidance help

[kmiller]

Hi there,

I am currently diving into doing some Revit API work.  We have a project here we built with our custom in-house families.  These families are basically modeled squares that are put in a file.  Probably about 150,000 of them when said and done.  Within these families we have a bunch of custom parameters holding information we need.  That aside.  We have to take an area of these (say about 50-75 pieces), create an assembly view of the area.  Tag each piece with a number (assigned in the family), create a custom schedule of the pieces from the assembly view, then place the schedule and the assembly view on a drawing sheet.  When it's said and done we are going to have 1000's of these things.

Question for you - If the user creates the assembly view can the rest be automated?
If we automate all of this, I am worried that having all these views, schedules, sheets within our working model might create a havoc and mess of our file.  However we want to keep things linked together so if the drafter updates the model the rest of our information will update as well.  Other than going through and putting everything within one file, is there anyway to do this and still have the information linked? 

Then, can someone give me some guidance as far as what type of application I should use:  external command, macros, external application, extension?? 

I do have some background in .net programming.  Have done a handful of inventor addin's already.  Currently I use VB.net but am going to attempt to use C# for this project.  I have visual studio 2012 express already loaded and am currently going through the help files, online documents and SDK documentation. 

Can someone give me any guidance please?

I  did open a support request as well to see if someone could answer through there.

Thanks in advance!

[jeremytammik]

Dear Kmiller,

Congratulations on embarking on such a cool project.

Yes, I see your support request 10557049 [General Revit API Functionality Question].

Please do not submit both in future.

A forum thread is preferred and will be automatically escalated to an ADN case if needed.

I cannot comment on the workflow. For that, I would suggest asking an application engineer, product usage expert, or product support for help on finding a suitable optimal workflow and laying down best practices.

Maximum Revit product understanding will definitely help your API efforts tremendously:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/about-the-author.html#5.41

Here are pointers to the getting started material:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/about-the-author.html#2

Installing the SDK, help file, SDK samples (much simplified using the RvtSamples external application) and RevitLookup is an absolute must.

Have you gone through the DevTV and My First Revit Plugin tutorials?

Do that even before installing the list above, since these tutorials explain how to do so.

What is an extension?

An external application defines a user interface and handles certain application level events, so you don't need that to begin with.

You normally start off with an external command.

A macro is similar to an external command, but more interactive, using the built-in IDE. You can easily convert a macro to an external command and vice versa. You may want to play with macros and the macro IDE to simplify debugging.

You might also want to install the Revit Python or Ruby shell to have an even more interactive and immersive command line environment for experimenting and exploring.

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2013/11/intimate-revit-database-exploration-with-the-python...

I installed the Python shell once again only a few days ago, just to exercise a handful of lines of code interactively:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-api/how-to-get-the-file-location-of-a-pointcloud-file/td-p/55293...

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Jeremy

[kmiller]

Thank you so much for the guidance and quick response!  At this point anything is helpful.  It can get overwhelming, but I just try to keep plugging away. 

I have the SDK installed and am reading through some of the getting started information.  I also read part of the my first plugin series and will continue to work through that.  Thank you for your links.  I am thinking I have been to that specific page, just didn't go through it enough.  So will use that as a resource. 

As far as me knowing Revit.  I know the basics, can do some work in it if needed.  Am working with our drafting department and the "revit experts" at our company to get what I need from that side of things. 

In regards to asking product support for best practices... can my case get moved over there??  Or should I submit a new one?

Also - note taken about the dual submission.  Appreciate the heads up. 

PS - I wanted to tell you I have taken a couple of your classes at AU and probably have talked to you before in person.  Thank you for all the work you do, as well as Brian Ekins, and all the API Support Team.  Always a pleasure to work with.