Paramter in Family with drop-down options

[HVAC-Novice]

I want to create families that have drop-down parameters. For example, for a window i want to be able o select if it is fiberglass, aluminum or wood etc. then i want to change the thermal values or other parameters based on that. I guess my main goal is to use fewer families for different types (i.e. I use windows with low U-value for inside, but don't care about U-value inside etc.)

I created a key schedule and am able to select that property for the single elements. But for some reason the key schedule can't add shared parameters, or any other parameters I have in that family. Like in this case where I was able to add the "Finish" parameter to the key schedule, how would I incorporate that into the actual family?

I googeld a lot, but most examples talk about rooms and selecting the finish. That seems doable. My goal is to select more complex things, like the type of window would have impact on manufacturer, U-value etc.

[HVAC-Novice · Accepted solution]

I kind of found a solution. Instead of having that drop-down in the family itself, I don't include that information in the family, but in the schedule and with a key-schedule I can manipulate each type of window (or anything else). There is enough information how to use the key schedule, so I won't repeat here how to do that.

that also makes me re-rhink how i treat my family library. All visible family elements (ie. size, if it  a door has side window etc.) will be part of the family. All other information (i.e. manufacturer, R-value, material, comments) will be part of the key schedule. that has the additional advantage that I if change manufacturer, I can simply change that in the key schedule. And I can add dozens of new window types (i.e. different SHGC) easily without adding families. That also helps me to use more of the generic oob families without manipulating them.  

So I didn't resolve my original problem, but the workaround is much better and resolves many issues beyond that.

[BIMgirl]

The only option that comes into my mind is using nested families:
1. create general model families called fiberglass / aluminum / wood (the families itself can even be empty, what matters is the name and you can also work with type names)
2. load these families into the main family (no need to place them, they should just appear in the project browser)
3. create a family parameter inside of the main family and configure its type as "Generic Models" in order to correspond the category of the family you created above
-> the parameter will pull all family / type names from the category "Generic Model" into a drop down menu automatically and you can use formulas to drive other parameters like U-value etc.

This works pretty well however it's not a very elegant solution, your family file size suffers and if you need more of such dropdowns, you will need to use a different category for each one of them.
I prefer the keynotes solution you posted, however there the user can change the values more easily by typing directly into the field (instead of chosing a value from the dropdown; this often happens by mistake, but can be corrected easily). It would be a great feature if keynotes could be embedded directly into the family!