Shared Parameter in formula, has - in name

[dtiemeyer]

I have a shared parameter with a hyphen in the name. When I try to make a formula to strip the units out of it and have that become a number, the hypen in the name gets interpreted as a 'minus operation' and the formula fails. I tried putting quotes around the shared parameter name, but that did not fix the issue.  Is there any way to mitigate the hypen in the name of the Shared Parameter so it doesnt get treated like a minus within the context of a formula?

[RLY_15]

Unfortunately, this is the explicit use case why it's recommended that Shared Parameters do not use operators in naming convention (use underscore instead if you need to use special characters).

I'd love to push this to Revit Ideas (disallow operators in Shared Parameter permitted characters), except the implementation would break legacy shared parameter files and force a jump-off point in files (like when Type Catalogs got modified for forge data types)

[dtiemeyer]

Thanks. That's what I thought, but I was hopeful there was a workaround. Unfortunately I cannot find anywhere that Autodesk has published this 'recommendation', wish I would've been aware of it 15 years ago when creating my families/parameters/etc.

[GaryOrrMBI · Accepted solution]

Enclose the parameter with the minus sign in square brackets [Something - Else]

-Gary

[dtiemeyer]

@GaryOrrMBI 

Thank you VERY much. You just saved me many hours. Cheers sir.

[RDAOU]

bump...

window has been open for a very long time while the question was already answered

[mari.shimode]

Hi @dtiemeyer, it seems you found @GaryOrrMBI's reply useful. Although it's a workaround, I have marked it as an accepted solution so others who have the same question can also benefit from it. Please visit us again whenever you have any other questions. 

[Mike.FORM]

@mari.shimode using the [] brackets is not a workaround, it is specifically what they meant to do, they indicate that everything within them should be treated as one parameter name.

It is why certain characters cannot be used in parameter names as they have specific functions as a standard within operating systems and within Revit the [] brackets have been set to perform this function in parameter formulas.

[Mike.FORM]

Also, if you have a parameter named "something" and it is being used in a formula and you decide to change the parameter name to be "something - else" the formula will be updated to include the [] brackets around that parameter name so the formula doesn't break.

[mari.shimode]

Hi @Mike.FORM, thank you for the correction and apologies for my misunderstanding.

[GaryOrrMBI]

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@Mike.FORM wrote:

Also, if you have a parameter named "something" and it is being used in a formula and you decide to change the parameter name to be "something - else" the formula will be updated to include the [] brackets around that parameter name so the formula doesn't break.

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This is actually how most people (myself included) learn about the square bracket usage... accidentally. It is not covered in the help under formulas as it should be. @mari.shimode Perhaps, if that omission was corrected, there would be less need for these questions to be asked 🙂

-G

[mari.shimode]

Hi @GaryOrrMBI, thank you for the feedback! I'll share it with a relevant team.

[harrimanevan]

Just came to this thread to figure out why an rfa I downloaded from a vendor had the parameter name in brackets in a formula : )