Plugin compatibility with different Revit 2020 updates

[SwainStrain]

Hello everybody, 

a client asked me a plugin for Revit 2020. I have the 2020.2.5 Hotfix installed and the plugin works fine on my computer. The client, though, has the 2020.2 version and the plugin doesn't work on his computer. We tested it on the same file with no results. I asked him to send me this two dll files he has in its Program folder and i tried to replace them in the Visual Studio solution but it gave me no errors. 

I have no idea how to solve the problem, it's the first time that this happens to me, has anything like this ever happened to you?

Thank you very much for your help!

[RPTHOMAS108]

After what you've already done I would review the documentation for the hotfix to see if anything stands out in terms of the functionality you are using in your add-in. However since it is a fix you may find there is no real solution other than for the customer to update their Revit. Obviously you could set up a virtual PC with an unfixed version of Revit, depends what lengths you want to go to.

You probably don't get the errors in the solution because the hot fix is changing not those dll's or not those alone.

Help | 2022.0.1 Hotfix | Autodesk

There may be other issues beyond the hotfix such as the file permissions they have on their system compared to you (permissions to write/execute) etc.

Did you develop the add-in with the hotfix, if not then you would have seen the errors during development if it were related to not having it?

Other questions:

What kind of failure with exception or without? Stack trace available from customer? Or absolutely nothing when it's run?

[SwainStrain]

Thank you @RPTHOMAS108 for your answer, i read the documentation for the 2.2.5 hotfix but it says nothing about the functionalities i use in my plugin. I think my only chance is to revert Revit to its pre-update state and see in detail where the problem is.

[stever66]

It just seems more likely to be a computer difference than a problem caused by slightly different versions of Revit.   Have you made any assumptions about the drive letter being used, or the install path?    How is this plugin being installed, and exactly what kind of error are you getting?

Also, is it possible windows security is disabling the dll files you are sending?   Your client can check this by right clicking the dll files, selecting properties, and seeing if there is a message about windows disabling the dll files.

[RPTHOMAS108]

Sorry my link was for the wrong year below is actual link for update in question.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2020/ENU/?guid=RevitReleaseNotes_2020updates_2020_2_Enhancements_... 

Note that latest version in 2020 was 2020.2.6, so client Revit missing a few updates. In the end we just call methods to interact with Revit. So if there are errors within previous versions of Revit we are calling such methods on there is little that can be done about that from the add-in side. Different if latest fix causes issues. i.e. the only way you'll be able to fix it on an historic version is if the call can be replaced with a non-Revit alternative.

As @stever66 notes I wouldn't rule out machine differences. You seem confident it is related to the hotfix so you have information we don't perhaps?

[SwainStrain]

Hi @RPTHOMAS108 and @stever66 , thank you very much for your help. After having set up a virtual machine with an unfixed version of Revit (as @RPTHOMAS108  suggested 🙏) and spent a lot of time testing the code, i found out that the client was using an older version of the plugin 😫 The plugin worked also on the unfixed version of course... I’m sorry I wasted your time!

Personally I'm happy i learned something about virtual PC, though!

Thank you so much again!