API Yi Yi

There are a gazillion little "samples" of plugin functionality code that come in your box of Revit, mostly tools that demonstrate simple repeatable tasks that can be automated by an API developer. They live in the "tools and utilities" section of the installation dvd, and once deployed, live deep in a set of subfolders where it is cool and dry. Although meant for hardcore API developers to cut and paste and assemble other functionality, these little snippets of code can become useful applications in the Revit environment with little alteration. For me, the problem has been how to turn these snippets from unintelligible bits of code into a button I can push and watch wonderful things happen. I FINALLY figured out how to do this, using the freely available Visual Studio Express to compile the code, and would like to start sharing some of these little treasures with you all. However, tonight I'd like to just show you how to hook up one of these compiled bits of code. If I was a real developer, I would give you an installer and we'd all just call it a night. But I'm not, so we can do this old school.

My favorite snippet is one that my friend Harry wrote for use in the 2010 Massing environment. Conceptually, it's really simple, it calculates the distance between curtain panel by pattern instances and some other placed family, then writes this number to an instance parameter in each panel. But once we hook this parameter up to some geometry and formulas . . . oh the fun we can have!

Direct relationship: farther from target, larger hole

Inverse Relationship: farther from target, smaller mullions

Decaying Sine Wave: oscillating opening and closing with less change after each oscillation

(Thanks to Dave B )

[Edit: Angela German has written an installer for this pluging, available on this post: http://buildz.blogspot.com/2009/07/api-yi-yi-installer-for-distance-to.html]

Now the hard part: boring instructions to adhere to, followed by the ability to make pretty things. Here are sample files and the ReadMe that comes with the code, as well as my compiled plugin, DistanceToPanels.dll, put it someplace on your hard drive, like C:\\Revitplugins\

[Assuming you have Revit 2010,] Locate a file called Revit.ini (usually in C:\\program folder\Autodesk Revit 2010\program\). Make a copy of this file before f-ing it up so you can back out changes if necessary. Open Revit.ini in a text editor like notepad or word. You are going to need to paste in the following information down at the bottom:

[ExternalCommands]

ECCount=1

ECName1 = Compute distance to panels

ECClassName1 = Revit.SDK.Samples.DistanceToPanels.CS.SetDistanceParam

ECAssembly1 = C:\Revitplugins\DistanceToPanels.dll

ECDescription1 = Compute the distance from a selected object to all panels and store in a panel instance parameter

Replace "Revitplugins" with the path to where you put your DistanceToPanels.dll

If you have already installed a plugin (like the stl exporter, you will already have the [External Command] section, and you'll need to append it to account for this new plugin. For instance, my Revit.ini looks like this:

[ExternalCommands]

ECCount=2

ECName1=Revit Extensions for Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010

ECClassName1=REX.AREXRevitMngr.Manager

ECAssembly1=C:\Program Files\Autodesk\REX\Revit 2010\AREXRevitMngr.dll

ECDescription1=Manager for Revit Extensions for Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010

ECName2=STLExport

ECClassName2=Autodesk.Revit.ExternalCommand.STLExport.Entry

ECAssembly2=C:\Program Files\Autodesk\STL Export for Autodesk Revit 2010\STLExport.dll

ECDescription2=Export model to stl file

So I would need to change ECCount=2 to now say ECCount=3 , and the rest gets updated to 3

ECName3 = Compute distance to panels
ECClassName3 = Revit.SDK.Samples.DistanceToPanels.CS.SetDistanceParam
ECAssembly3 = C:\Revit SDK 2010\DistanceToPanels.dll
ECDescription3 = Compute the distance from a selected object to all panels and store in a panel
Make a curtain panel by pattern with a length instance parameter "Distance", load it into a divided surface in a mass FAMILY (not an rvt). Select another family in the massing environment and push the magic button in the Add-Ins menu.

Caveat: I think this only works on rectangular panels.

If someone out there is handy with autohotkey or some other application, how about whipping up a little installer?

Happy Paneling!