adding consultant parameters to a titleblock?

[Anonymous]

I want to add parameters to my projects for consultants (type, name, company name, address, etc.) in a way that isn't deleted by updating a titleblock.

Currently my consultants are just text objects in the titleblock family that are not saved back to a default titleblock.  If I reload the titleblock they get replaced by whatever default text was part of the default titleblock.  I also have different titleblocks for different sheet types within the project, for example cover sheet, sheet, sketch, etc.  

What I want is for this information to be part of the Project Information so I can make changes there without editing the titleblock family.  I want them to function like the parameters for Client Name, Project Address, etc. and catagorize them in some generic way like Consultant A, Consultant B, etc. because not every project will have civil engineer or sprinkler designer.  

I got as far as trying to create a lable in my titleblock family but when I tried to add a Category Parameter for the first lable, let's call it Consultant A Type, I get a mostly grayed out Parameter Properties dialog where the only clickable option is to select a Parameter Type, all of which are grouped under IFC Propertires and non of which seem to apply.  There's no Project Information group.  How do I create these lables and parameters?

[Alfredo_Medina · Accepted solution]

First, create shared parameters (as text). Then add labels to the titleblock family using those shared parameters. In your projects, create Project Parameters based on those shared parameters; make them by type, applying to the Project Information category. Finally, to enter the information in the labels, either enter the information directly in the titleblock itself, or go to Manage > Project Information.

[Anonymous]

Ok. Next question, how do I make a text parameter multiline? I don't mean by hitting Ctrl Enter when entering the text.

How do you make it multiline the way the Address parameter is in the Project Parameter dialog (Grey button that says Edit)?

[Alfredo_Medina]

That window for typing the Project Address is a feature of the Project Information dialog box. It's not a setting that we can "apply" to other labels.

[Anonymous]

But these are Project Information fields.  Nevermind, there's a more important problem.

Why am I getting two different orders for the same set of parameters?

Under Project Parameters they are organized alphabetically.

But in the Project Properties consultant B's parameters are reversed from the order I entered them in.

Also, you said 

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@Alfredo_Medina wrote:

make them by type, applying to the Project Information category.

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When set to 'Type' there is no Project Information category.  That category only appears when Instance is selected.

[Alfredo_Medina]

Do not ever worry about the sorting of parameters in Revit. It has never been right. 🙂

About type or instance for Project Information,  you are correct. What I typed above "by heart", was incorrect. It is by instance.

[Anonymous]

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@Alfredo_Medina wrote:

Do not ever worry about the sorting of parameters in Revit. It has never been right. 

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Well that's just going to mess me up.  Sometimes I have up to five consultants on a job.  Is there really no way to fix it?

[lostagain]

I just ran across this old thread and see no answer to your last question. I'm far from an expert on this, but here's my solution when this came up in the past for me: I've abandoned parameters for consultants on title block sheets and instead customize the title block for each project, adding instances of a consultant information family (attached for reference) as appropriate for the project. Once a consultant's information is added to one of these families, I save it as a new family in a central location for future projects.

A crude solution, but it avoids the whole sorting ridiculousness and allows including whatever information is relevant for however many consultants.

[MS_jkimc65]

Alfred,

I have re-vamped our cover sheet title block in our firm, on our cover sheet we typically had 6 consultants (which included type of consultant, name, address1, address2, phone, fax, contact name and email, for each consultant we had 8 shared parameters multiply that by 6 consultants for a total of 48 shared parameters (which were organized in a Parameter Group).  Each of those type of parameters were text.  We found that on many projects we needed to show additional consultants.  On our cover sheet I'VE created shared parameters for up to 10 consultants, however, I stream-lined the amount of shared parameters down to 20.  Consult01-A_Type (shared parameter, see Para-01.jpg), Consult01-B_Info (shared parameter, see Para-02.jpg), rather than having 8 parameters for each consultant I created the two and the Consult0X-B_Info is a Multiline Text type of parameter.  I did this because it is simpler to add 20 parameters versus 80 project parameters using the shared parameters.  The reason I named them is so they would be organized and in alphabetic order.  In my standard office template file I have added project parameters from the shared parameters.  My understanding is that these project parameters should be in the order that I have added them into the template.  When I tested this I began a new project based on my template with the new title block loaded into the template file.  Once I went to Project Information ( oh, I forgot to mention that when these were created as project parameters in the template file, I assigned them to Project Information, see Para-03.jpg) the majority of the parameters are in order with the exception of my Consult03-B_Info, Consult03-A_Type and Consult05-B_Info, Consult05-A_Type.  Everything seems to be in chronological order with the exception of those two.  I am a bit stumped why these are not in the correct order.  Any input would greatly be appreciated. 

[ToanDN]

Everything looks to be in order from your screenshots.  Can you show where they are off?

[MS_jkimc65]

In my previous post I was going to include another screen shot and my sample file, attached is the Project Info dialogue box, as you can see, my third consultant is at the top of the list and reversed, all other parameters seem to be in chronological order with the exception of my Consult05-A_Type and Consult05-B_Info are reversed.  I've included the screen shot of the project information, my test file and the shared parameter file.

It seems that whenever I come into a glitch with Revit, it seems to be something very simple and I'm able to figure it out within minutes.  In this case all parameters whether shared or project were created with similarities with the exception of the name itself.  My understanding from a post in the Forum the project parameters need to be added in the sequence order that you want them in the Project Information.

Thanks for your quick reply.

Kim Candelario, Associate - BIM Manager

Method Studio

[ToanDN]

If I created all the shared parameters in one go (the order doesn't matter), load them in the project (again the order doesn't matter), then they will sit orderly in Project Info.  It is really screwy if I created some shared parameters, closed, and opened it up again to created some more.

With that said, I don't know how to re-order what you already created without redo the whole thing.  Maybe look into some add-in that has the capability to force order of loaded parameters.