Calculated Parameter to make substring

[danbuckinghamCA67E]

Hi, my practice use door type marks such as IDT-001A and IDT-001B to distinguish between different variations of the same door "type" (eg different sizes of a single internal door), but we've been asked when tagging the doors on plan, to only show the "type" (the IDT-001 part, not the variation suffix).

Is there a way I can use the calculated parameter feature to create a substring of the Type Mark parameter?

The excel equivelent would be =LEFT(Type Mark, 7)

I know I can just create a Dynamo script to populate a new parameter with a substring of the type mark, but I'd much rather this was a live updating data, rather than relying on the run of a script everytime a new door type is introduced.

[vitorbortoncello]

Use the DiRoots ReOrdering plug-in renumber the doors using another parameter.

[danbuckinghamCA67E]

From what I know of that plug-in, it would function in a similar manner to the Dynamo script I mentioned; it would update the relevant parameters at a point in time (when the tool is used), and would need to be rerun each time there is a change?

What I'm after is essentially a passively updating parameter.

[barthbradley]

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@danbuckinghamCA67E wrote:

Hi, my practice use door type marks such as IDT-001A and IDT-001B to distinguish between different variations of the same door "type" (eg different sizes of a single internal door), but we've been asked when tagging the doors on plan, to only show the "type" (the IDT-001 part, not the variation suffix).

Is there a way I can use the calculated parameter feature to create a substring of the Type Mark parameter?

The excel equivelent would be =LEFT(Type Mark, 7)

I know I can just create a Dynamo script to populate a new parameter with a substring of the type mark, but I'd much rather this was a live updating data, rather than relying on the run of a script everytime a new door type is introduced.

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I'd probably pivot this way if I were in your shoes:  

1. Create a Door Schedule

2. Add Type Mark Parameter

3. Filter to show only  IDT-001A and IDT-001B Doors.

4. Uncheck "Itemize every Instance". 

5. Option 1: Select "varies" Type Mark value and overwrite it with "IDT-001". 

5. Option 2: Create a Project Parameter which uses a Text-type Shared Parameter

6. Enter " IDT-001" into the blank cell in the newly created Shared/Project Parameter Column.  

7. Edit Tag, select Label and replace "Type Mark" with the Shared Parameter used to created the Project Parameter above. 

8. Reload and Override old Tag.  

...instead of creating a custom Shared Parameter, I probably purpose an existing in-built Identity Data Type Parameter if you have one available that isn't being used. 

[danbuckinghamCA67E]

Thanks, I suppose this would be a schedule-based way of handling it similar to the Dynamo approach.

My issue however is that if any changes/updates occur, the process would need to be repeated, instead of passively updating to suit. I just know some people will miss this second step.

It would seem that Revit doesn't provide a way of having a calculated parameter to handle anything other than numerical data.

[barthbradley]

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@danbuckinghamCA67E wrote:

Thanks, I suppose this would be a schedule-based way of handling it similar to the Dynamo approach.

My issue however is that if any changes/updates occur, the process would need to be repeated, instead of passively updating to suit. I just know some people will miss this second step.

It would seem that Revit doesn't provide a way of having a calculated parameter to handle anything other than numerical data.

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I don't understand what would need to be repeated, or what Revit can't do. I mean, if the Type Mark is wrong in general, then change the Type Mark.  Problem solved.    

[danbuckinghamCA67E]

The problem isn't solved as you are not understanding the problem.

The type mark isn't wrong, it has an extra level of information in order to distinguish variations, to avoid having the same Type Mark for multiple family types. I'm not sure how else I can explain it but I'll try.

A selection of type marks in the project (which are correct):
- IDT001A
- IDT001B
- IDT002A
- IDT003A
- IDT003B

There has been a request that the tagged information simply shows the first 6 characters instead of the alphanumeric suffix, therefore the information for each family type would need to be:
- IDT001
- IDT001
- IDT002
- IDT003
- IDT003

Of course I can't do this with type marks as multiple families would have the same type mark, so I was after a passive way of populating a new parameter with the first 6 characters of the Type Mark.

Dynamo can obviously handle this easily, but it would still require my users to run a script after every new door/update, which is a step that can be missed, hence the desire for a passive method.

Hope that better explains the issue.

[ToanDN]

Don't use type mark for tag, use type comments for tag label so that you can have multiple types with idt-001.

[danbuckinghamCA67E]

OK, clearly I'm not explaining this well enough for you to understand, either that or you aren't reading the full post.

I shall look elsewhere for a solution.