Annotation Tag - Visibility Instance Parameter

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to modify my Electrical Fixture Tag to be able to align the text with either right or left justification.  I copied the label and changed the horizontal alignments accordingly.  Then I created two Yes/No visibility instance parameters: one "Align Right", the other "Align Left", with a formula in "Align Left" to read =not(Align Right).

Then in the family properties, linked the label "Visible" properties to their respective "Align Right"/"Align Left" parameter.

However, when I load it into the project, the instance parameters do not show up in the properties box at all.  Is this just one of the limitations of Revit?

I could just make different family types (like boxed vs. standard), but feel using instance parameters for visibility would be much "cleaner".

[ToanDN]

The concept works for everything tag-able.  But it will not do any of the specific requests that I have read on this thread.

The most common thing I use it for is to add different symbols (using characters or special symbol characters) to the tags based on certain criteria of the hosts, without having to create different tag types.  For example, all fire rated doors will have a red dot in their tags, all non-rated doors will have a green dot.  

[dhelling]

I tried it, but I failed to get it to work.  

I created a shared yes/no instance parameter within an electrical fixture host family.  I then added that shared yes/no instance parameter to the electrical fixture tag family.  I assigned the visibility of a line in the tag family to the shared yes/no instance parameter.  Also not sure if it matters, but I grouped the parameter under "Other" in both the host electrical fixture family and the electrical fixture tag family.  Next I loaded both in to a project and placed both. Unfortunately I can turn the host's parameter on or off and the line in the tag family does nothing.  

Am I doing something wrong?

[ToanDN]

It doesn't work that way.  

A Yes/No parameter in the host family has no relationship with a Yes/No parameter in the tag family.  The only way for the time being is using a conditional formula in a calculated value in a label of the tag family.  So, you are limited to showing two preset values for the label based on whether the input is Yes or No.  

[dhelling]

That makes sense. I never gave the calculated value much thought in this way. It seems this may not help this subject, but it will most likely be useful to know for other uses. This is out of the box thinking, thanks!

[Rndmann9]

Ive tried something similar but with conduit fitting tags.  I tried to hide the tag if the fitting is a standard 90 but show the tag if its anything else.   I have never been able to get it to work right-  It will either turn all of them off or all of them on but a conditional on/off will not work for some reason.

[dhelling]

Rndmann9,
It sound like you are wishing for the same thing this forum is wishing for. The recent discussion of formulating calculated labels only deals with the label values and not the editability of other things. Calculated labels is a handy feature given the right application, but it doesn't solve all our issues. It seems that it still boils down to Revit Tags not having the full instance parameter driven abilities. I have looked/wanted to have the ability to control the tag family's on/off parameters, length parameters, and etc on an instantaneous level. Unfortunately, I have yet not come up with or read of any solutions. I have asked several CAD solution companies and read quite a few forums about this topic over the years, and no such solution was available. I do not claim to know everything about Revit, nor do I believe there is some one person who does. So my question is the same as yours. I hope someone else has or will stumble across the solution and share it with the world. It would be nice if the/an Autodesk developers would address this issue, but for now I suggest getting familiar with family types and/or changing your tagging strategy. Good luck, and please share any good future solutions you or someone else encounters.
Thanks,
dhelling

[Rndmann9]

Right - If I had the ability to override the visibility of the calculated label I might could make it do what I want as it stands I could probably get it to report the information but since its visible in the label it would defeat the purpose of having the conditional statement control the visibility in the first place.  The way I see it if I use a calculated value i would break my shared parameter and if I created a new one it would have 90deg 90deg as a label.  I just want it to turn visibility off if the bend is 90 deg and show it if its anything else. That way I could actually use the tag all feature instead of having to hand select all of them either to tag the ones I want or delete the ones I don't as it currently stands.  formula is easy if it worked -> could be written a couple of ways.

or(Conduit Angle < 90,Conduit Angle > 90) or not(Conduit Angle = 90) seems strange that this is such a pain.  Every time I use this tag I end up messing with it for a day or so trying to make it work.

[Rndmann9]

Here is an example of a calculated label-  Proof that the label knows whether the value falls inside certain guidelines,  so why doesnt it work?

[fabiosato]

Hello,

I believe using Dynamo to place the tags for your checking the angle could be an option.

[dhelling]

I would not doubt that. Dynamo seems to be very powerful and is similar, but supposedly easier and less time consuming than writing a macro. I have strong intentions to learn more about it. Unfortunately, Dynamo seems to be something a person needs to learn about after knowing how to use Revit. I feel that I am a good candidate to learn dynamo, but I work with many people that would not yet be ready for it. So I believe it doesn't work well for everyone. From what I understand Dynamo seems to be an option Autodesk provides to pretty much code your own commands/set of commands. I think it is good to have that ability, but most people buy Revit thinking they don't have to write code, build macros, use dynamo, and etc... Despite my personal interests, it just seems for this situation Autodesk should have a much easier fix for this issue in lieu of learning dynamo.

[Rndmann9]

I think I have tried doing via dynamo before.  I use dynamo sporadically depending on what I am doing.  Shouldn't have to go that route though - as you can see below it will answer the Boolean so using it with the visibility checkbox should theoretically work.  If I get some time this week I might try writing a script for it and see if that route works.   

[Anonymous]

Any luck on finding a Solution?  I work in structural tagging can be somewhat of a pain.  We tag the Reactions on either end of a beam if they are greater than a certain value.  If there was a way to turn the visibility on or off based on the value it would be great.

Right now I use 2 schedules/formulas and filter out the beams with greater than/less than values.

Is there an angle parameter that you could use to filter the items you want to tag?  Maybe and option.

[s.borello]

They wont work in tags.  Just create 2 tags and name them accordingly.  Align left, align right. Done. 

[Anonymous]

I have 2 tags (one for each side).  But when the beam reactions change I have to go through and retag.  I guess its just a wish list.  If the beam reactions were to drop below the value then the visibility would turn off or visa versa.

I don't deal with sky scrapers, so its not too bad, but could you imagine having to do that for each floor on one.  Running the Beam Annotation on each floor 2x each.  One to set them all to just beam size.  Then go to schedule selecting all beams greater than.  Then go to the floor and run again for start and end tags.

[_dalewfd]

How do you do this exactly? I get that I can make a calculated value, but I can only get Yes/No to work, and even then it's only for number/currency parameters. So in a project I tag and see 'Yes' when the parameter value is >0. How do I replace the 'Yes' text with my own text (i.e. symbol character)?

Ideally what I want is for a red dot to appear in the tag when there is text in my door instance text parameter.

[ToanDN]

- Create a label type using a font that gives you the big dot character, set it to red. 

- add a label, add a calculated value parameter and use the formula: if ( you y/n parameter name, "big dot character", "")

[_dalewfd]

@ToanDN awesome, didn't realise I could format the calculated value to return different strings of text (and have one of them be empty) - that's mighty handy, thanks.

i think i may now be asking for beyond what's currently capable (hence the existence of many of these threads), but is there any way for the test condition to be a text parameter? I can get the following to work:

if ( my Y/N parameter, "Dot", "")

if ( my number parameter>0, "Dot", "")

but the problem is my parameter is text based, so I want:

if ( my text parameter has a value, "Dot", "") 

Is there any way for the label to use the text parameter as the test condition? The only workaround I can think of is adding an additional Y/N parameter right below the text parameter, and having people check it on if they put text in, but that feels very clunky.