Opne New family file via API

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I am currently trying to automatically open a family file from local folder (here is my code):

public void OpenFamily(ExternalCommandData commandData)
{
    UIApplication uiapp = commandData.Application;
    bool hasOpenedFile = this.HasOpenedFile(uiapp);
    string path = "";

    if (hasOpenedFile)
    {
        System.Windows.MessageBox.Show("Please close the current project before importing a family!");
    }
    else
    {
        string fileImportPath = "file path here"

        UIDocument doc = uiapp.OpenAndActivateDocument(fileImportPath);

    }

}

private bool HasOpenedFile(UIApplication uiapp)
{
    if (uiapp.ActiveUIDocument != null)
    {
       return true;
    }
    return false;
}

If I open a Revit and try to open the file, everything works fine. The problem occurs if before that I had another family/project opened and after closing it I try to open the current family (actually there is no longer an active document).

The exception thrown is here OpenAndActivateDocument(fileImportPath) with message : "An unhandled exception of type 'System.InvalidOperationException' occurred in PresentationFramework.dll
Additional information: BuildWindowCore failed to return the hosted child window handle.
"

Any ideas what may cause the problem and how can I fix it?

Thanks!

[jeremytammik]

You are probably doing something wrong.  🙂

Maybe it will work better if you open the new family before closing the old one.

When you close the last family, Revit has to move to a zero-document state.

That may change things more than when some document remains open.

We ran into a couple of issues in the past closing the last active document:

• http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2010/10/closing-the-active-document-and-why-not-to.html
• http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/closing-the-active-document.html

Cheers,

Jeremy

[Anonymous]

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for your replay 🙂 Actually now I simplified it to just having a family open and trying to open anotherone trough the API and the same problem accures... 

public Result Execute(ExternalCommandData commandData, ref string message, ElementSet elements)
{
    UIApplication uiapp = commandData.Application;
    UIDocument doc = uiapp.OpenAndActivateDocument("pathToFileHere");

    return Result.Succeeded;
}

Again if first thing when openig revit is loading the family trough the API, it works fine.