Data from nested families

[AnnabelleSwain]

It would be great if data from nested families was available within the family it is nested into. There are many ways this could be used, but the main use case for my firm would be setting up window families. We often need to calculate the total area of glass used in a window and the total area of operable portions of the window. Currently we use complex formulas to get these simple numbers, since reporting parameters are unable to be used in type formulas. If data from nested families was available, we could set up nested glass and operable window families with area parameters and just grab the sum of their areas. We cannot use shared families for this because we need Revit to read the window as one piece since we use Room Calculation Points to get ratios of the light and air provided in each room in our project.

In the window shown below I would like to harvest the relevant data from each highlighted panel.

     

Below is an example of the formulas needed. To get the areas we need to basically find the total height and width of the glass and the operable window. This tends to be done by taking the total height and width and then subtracting the mullions from the total, but the formulas are different for each window layout.

[AlexLibengood]

I need to be able to create a "Reporting Parameter" in a host family that does a "Read-Only" on the parameter of a nested family.

For example, I have a window family that has nested trim casing families that I can swap out from within the project using a family label parameter.  Each of these swap-able nested families has the same "trim width" parameter.  The window family has geometry that needs to change size based on how big the nested casing family is.  If the nested casing family can "report" it's width to the host family, then the host family can change the size of the geometry based on the size of the nested family using a instance parameter in the host family that "reads" the parameter of the nested family without changing the nested family.

There are so many families that I've created that would benefit from this feature!

[HadiMoosavi]

has this been resolved?

[jkidder]

The lack of the ability to use dimensions from a nested family in a host family is a continuing problem in family development.  Currently host families can only tell a nested family information, but nested families desperately need to be able to tell there hosts information so that the host family can use that in calculations.  Nested families often represent real world products and may be used in multiple locations. The host family needs that information of the nested (dimensions, type marks, etc.) to report.  Currently, this isn't possible.  You have to choose between having the host dictate a dimension (may lead to to families breaking if they aren't designed to flex or families that are an unproduceable size), use dynamo to tell the host family information (have to build a script and rely on people to run it) or manual input (have to rely on it to be done).

Doors are a common issue - The nested frame should be able to report its frame type and other info to the host door

For one with products, take a shower family.  The host family has the shower fixture and associated grab bars and clearances.  We use the same shower pan at several locations, some with grab bars and some without.  They all are the same shower pan, and we need that shower pan to be the same size, and its nested so we can know how many shower pans of that size the project needs.  But if we change to a different shower fixture product and the size changes I want the grab bars to adjust based on that new size, not require me to go into the host family and manually match the new enclosure wall thickness and overall size, but the host family can't read (without changing) those parameters.

[Ric_Weber]

Excellent Idea!  It can also be found here: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/host-family-to-read-only-or-quot-report-quot-the-paramete...

@kimberly_fuhrman-jones, Thank you! 

[AnnabelleSwain]

Hi @kimberly_fuhrman-jones , Great seeing you last week! This idea was one I presented at ITF and the developers encouraged me to log it on Revit Ideas and post it in the ITF feedback system. They wanted more information to see if this could become a viable feature. Since I have used the link to this post in my ITF report, if it needs to be merged, could the 8 year old post that @Ric_Weber linked please be merged into this one.