Hi Steve,
I think that probably works in Python because python will do some implicit type conversions (automatically convert the Element into a MEPCurve if possible). I’m not a huge fan of that because I like to know what I am working with, it makes the code easier to read.
https://github.com/jeremytammik/RevitLookup and https://www.revitapidocs.com/ will be helpful as you convert from python to C#.
If you look at https://www.revitapidocs.com/ and type MEPSystem into the search bar you’ll see that only the MEPCurve and Connector class have the property MEPsystem. That means you need to convert your element into a MEPCurve or get its Connector before calling the MEPSystem property.
So your solution will work as long as the selection can be converted to an MEPCurve, if the user selects a fitting, or a piece of mechanical equipment, your plugin will throw an error. So first you can check if it’s an MEPcurve and if it is, convert it and get the system.
If you us RevitLookup to “Snoop” a fitting or a piece of mechanical equipment, you can see that fittings are FamilyInstances and if you click around the properties of a fitting you’ll be able to find how to get to the connectors through the MEPModel and ConnectionManager.
This is a lot of code to put inline with your main method, so you’ll probably want to make a second method that returns an MEPSystem given an Element. This way you get the MEPSystem from and element anywhere in your code you need to without having to copy and paste.
Even after all that work, the user might make a selection that doesn’t have an MEPSystem, so you’ll still want to check for null.
public static void MainFunction(Document doc, ElementId selection1)
{
Element element1 = doc.GetElement(selection1);
MEPSystem mepSystem = FindFirstMEPSystem(element1);
if(mepSystem == null)
{
MessageBox.Show("Select a pipe!", "Warning");
return;
}
else
{
//complete your transaction.
}
}
public static MEPSystem FindFirstMEPSystem(Element element)
{
MEPSystem mepSystem = null; //initialize an MEPSystem variable to return.
if(element is MEPCurve) //check if the element is an MEPCurve
{
MEPCurve mepCurve = element as MEPCurve; //convert element to MEP curve
mepSystem = mepCurve.MEPSystem; //get MEPSystem
return mepSystem; //return MEPSystem.
}
else if(element is FamilyInstance) //else check if the element is a family instance
{
FamilyInstance familyInstance = element as FamilyInstance;
//a family instance may not have and MEPModel or a connector manager, so check those
if(familyInstance.MEPModel != null && familyInstance.MEPModel.ConnectorManager!= null)
{
ConnectorSet connectorSet = familyInstance.MEPModel.ConnectorManager.Connectors;
//cycle through each connector and return the first MEPSystem
foreach (Connector connector in connectorSet)
{
mepSystem = connector.MEPSystem;
return mepSystem;
//if you're looking for a specific type of connector, you can check here.
//for example if you want the first connector that is DomesticColdWater do:
//if(connector.PipeSystemType == Autodesk.Revit.DB.Plumbing.PipeSystemType.DomesticColdWater)
//{
// mepSystem = connector.MEPSystem;
// return mepSystem;
//}
}
}
}
//If the element wasn't an MEPCurve or a FamilyInstance, or the family Instance didn't have connectors
//we will return mepSystem which is still null.
return mepSystem;
}
Hopefully this helps makes up for the fact that you can’t debug your software while our software is installed 😊 We’re still working on that by the way!
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