View filter based on shared parameter

[MuirEng]

Hello, I thought this would be simple but I'm hitting a roadblock. We are constantly manually hiding objects in our site plans that are part of the building model but not relevant to the site plan.

I made a shared parameter yes/no "Show on Site Plan" and loaded into the relevant families, of many types (electrical equipment, light fixtures, mechanical equipment), with an idea to make a view filter that would hide any item without this parameter in a checked state. So the filter would catch instances where the parameter is not assigned as well. 

The problem is that this shared parameter is not available for selection in the filter rule dialog when I select any of these family types, let alone all of them. There is no "more parameters" option. The documentation says view filters can act on shared parameters but I'm not seeing this working. 

is there a way forward here? I could consider making site plans "coarse" and editing all of our content appropriately. Is that a better route?

thanks

[barthbradley]

Are you saying that you don't find the Shared Parameters available in the Filter Rules?  

@MuirEng wrote:

...with an idea to make a view filter that would hide any item without this parameter

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Works for me.  

[MuirEng]

Yes, exactly.

[barthbradley]

Boy, I just tested and can't replicate the issue. I can add a Yes/No Shared Parameter and write a filter rule based on "Parameter Exists". 

...View Templates, Brian? 

[ToanDN]

1 - It needs not to a shared parameter for what you are doing.  Shared parameters only needed when you need to tag elements.

2 - Assign the parameter multiple categories via the Project parameter dialog, either Instance or Type.  If you want some it to be Instance parameter for some categories and Type parameter for some others then you need two parameters, and subsequently, two different filters.

3 - Filters should work regardless the parameter is shared or not.  Make sure you only filter categories that associated with that parameter.

[barthbradley]

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@MuirEng wrote:

I made a shared parameter yes/no "Show on Site Plan" and loaded into the relevant families

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Parameters need to be Shared. 

[MuirEng]

Thank you. But no matter what I do I cannot make my parameter show up in the filter dialog.

I imagined my problem could be that the parameter needs to exist in all loaded families of all categories selected (is this true?) , so as a test checked only one category (mechanical) and then I deleted every loaded mechanical family except one I modified with a new (non shared) type parameter. 

The parameter is not available in the filter rules dropdown. 

I then tried making that parameter instance. Same result. 

I tried once again, using a shared parameter, as instance. Once again, not available in the filter rules dropdown, and I realize now that none of my custom parameters are visible in this dialog. Every option is a stock parameter. 

Then I tried making a new project with no template. Loaded in just a single family. 

Still cannot see any custom parameters in the filter dialog

Yikes, very frustrating. Any ideas guys? 

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

How did you add the parameter?  It should be added in the project, not in families.  That way, it is automatically assigned to every elements of those categories.

[MuirEng]

aha!

Thank you! Case closed!

[barthbradley]

Happy you got it resolved @MuirEng; Wish I could have stayed on and participated in a more productive way. Could have used that lil' green cheek mark that you gave to my arch nemesis . he, he. Still, a challenging thread - as your posts always are . Thanks for the posting it here on this forum. Thanks for being a member.

Cheers

[psubink]

Thanks Toan, your solution was the what I was looking for today as I had a similar problem as the OP.  

I was able to add a Project Parameter, assign it to the Light Fixtures category and successfully filter my lights.  So I don't have any problem, but I am curious about something.  When I added that project parameter (a yes/no in the Graphics category) it is "checked" but greyed out by default in all of my light fixtures.  So by default, its acting as if its value is "no".  By clicking on it once, I'm able to clear the greyed out appearance and it then takes on the "yes" value. Keep in mind, I only have once family selected.  Its acting as if I have multiple families selected with different values.  More to solve my curiosity, why would it do this?  

[ToanDN]

The default state of a Yes/No parameter neither Yes or No, but Null . If you don't want to click a lot then only check (uncheck) the ones you DON'T need, then use a formula Not Equal Yes (No).

[david.j.foreman]

I understand your solution, but I'm just curious if there isn't a way to add the parameter in the family instead of overall. For example say that I have two doors one is solid wood and one is metal with a glass insert. The one with the glass insert I'm going to want more information on the glass (size, thickness, finish, etc). This isn't needed for the solid wood door. 

I would still like to be able to filter by the glass information though. 

According to this link:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/learn-explore/caas/simplecontent/content/share...

Shared parameters should appear in filters. So I don't know if the issue is that the shared parameter is a family parameter.

I'm just curious if there is a work around to this to add a shared parameter to only select families, but not all of them in a category. 

[ToanDN]

The link does not clarify that only parameters (shared or not) added in project can be used to create Filters, those added in families cannot.

[whp.m.owens]

Yes, that's true that it doesn't specify if it can be used in a view-filter...but even if i add a project parameters using text, I can still access that parameter within revit-schedules and view filters.

I have also run into this issue. Sometimes the parameter is there, sometimes it isn't.

The program-behavior is inconsistent.

Adding shared-parameters to families and not to projects helps keep the data-structure cleaner. If there is shared information which applies to only one family of say...the generic models category, i don't want to add that to every element within the project.

[whp.m.owens]

...not to mention the ability to create data-validation views based on filtered-information...

[ToanDN]

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@whp.m.owens wrote:

Yes, that's true that it doesn't specify if it can be used in a view-filter...but even if i add a project parameters using text, I can still access that parameter within revit-schedules and view filters.

I have also run into this issue. Sometimes the parameter is there, sometimes it isn't.

Unclear. Please clarify.

The program-behavior is inconsistent.

Needs to be more specific.

Adding shared-parameters to families and not to projects helps keep the data-structure cleaner. If there is shared information which applies to only one family of say...the generic models category, i don't want to add that to every element within the project.

This is exactly why only parameters added to project parameters can be used in view filters.  They need to be assigned to Categories, not Elements.

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[whp.m.owens]

If I create a table, shared parameters are there. They are not available in the filter list. Why?

This is inconsistent behavior.

Sometimes shared parameters are in the tables / view filters list. Sometimes they are not listed.

I can't give you specific examples, I just know this has happened to me.

Regarding adding only shared parameters via the project: simply not true.

Best example is a length parameter for different types of geometries: Width, Length, Height, Thickness, Radius, Diameter.

[ToanDN]

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@whp.m.owens wrote:

If I create a table, shared parameters are there. They are not available in the filter list. Why?

This is inconsistent behavior.

Because a schedule and a view filter are not the same, thus they behave differently.  That is not inconsistent.  If a share parameters can show in a schedule but not in another schedule, that is inconsistent.  Similarly, if a parameter can be pulled by a view filter but not by another view filter, that is inconsistent.

Sometimes shared parameters are in the tables / view filters list. Sometimes they are not listed.

I can't give you specific examples, I just know this has happened to me.

The ones are in both schedules/filters are added to project parameters.  The ones are in schedules but not filters are added to families.  This has been repeated multiple times in this thread.

Regarding adding only shared parameters via the project: simply not true.

Never said anything about this.  Nothing prohibits you from adding shared parameters to families.  But if you do so, don't expect to create view filters from them.  I added shared parameters to families all the times myself.

Best example is a length parameter for different types of geometries: Width, Length, Height, Thickness, Radius, Diameter.

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[whp.m.owens]

We can agree to disagree.

Your comments are not at all helpful and appear to be a biased-defense of what I claim to be inconsistencies in the software. For a BIM-Authoring Software not to have the ability to visualize nested parameters is a bit ridiculous, and from my point of view there is not strong defense of it. It's fine, I can push the 3d data-visualisation into other programs like solibri or create a cumbersome workaround with embedded formulas and creating three or four different types of nested families and controlling them through IF/AND/OR statements...or maybe I could grab those elements in the schedule and over-ride in views based on that. If I am lucky enough to know dynamo, I can run scripts which work in one portion of the project, but break in another. Then I can repair the script because of the one unforeseen "Null" creeping into my script and hope that I, and my other project-members remember to run the scripts. If they don't have experience, I need to trust they will notice when the scripts do run with errors, and how to at least spot them. And then I have to update the scripts with the next dynamo-release which is automatically installed and hope that my packages still work too.

Let's not forget how limited filtering in general has been through OTB-Schedules and View filters up until...was it 2019 when I could add more than three or four conditions to a view filter...and the ability to filter by "OR?"

From my point of view, it would just be much more simple to empower the end-user to grab a shared-parameter in a view filter- which I am certain I have done in the past. If I had the time, or the nerves I would shuffle through old project files, but again; I think it would be more expeditious to agree to disagree. 🙂