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Getting Started with the Revit 2010 API

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by

Jeremy Tammik
in ,

I am back again from a great vacation in Italy which I mostly spent outdoors camping, swimming, cooking, and drinking cappuchino.
Yesterday was the

Jeûne Fédéral holiday (French)
in Neuchâtel.
I used that to make a first pass through my overfull email inbox.

Meanwhile, here is a quick summary and overview of the material we have put together so far for getting started with the Revit 2010 API.

Question: Do you have any updated information similar to the getting started material for Revit 2009?
I would like to hear about the news and differences between the Revit 2010 and 2009 APIs.

Answer: First of all, for completeness sake, here is the back pointer to the final wrap-up overview of the getting started material for the Revit 2009 API:

A large part of the material listed there applies to the Revit 2010 API as well.

Additional specific topics related to the Revit 2010 API are covered in subsequent posts:


  • Revit 2010 API Introduction     – recording and materials of the Revit 2010 API introcution webcast providing a general overview of the API as well as highlighting news and differences to the previous versions.

  • The Revit Ribbon API     – important for rewriting an external application to make use of the Revit 2010 ribbon.

  • The Revit Family API     – an overview of the family API including a pointer to the family API webcast recording and materials.

  • The Form Creation API     – highlights a subset of the family API.

  • The Revit MEP API     – an overview of the Revit MEP API and the recording and materials of the MEP webcast.

There is an entire blog category appropriately named ‘2010’ which includes all of these and more:

As said, most of the additional resources listed in the discussion on

getting started with the Revit 2009 API
are also still valid and accessible.

Comments

6 responses to “Getting Started with the Revit 2010 API”

  1. Wei Wu Avatar
    Wei Wu

    Hi Jeremy,
    I just ran into your blog and found lots of inspiring materials as a Revit API beginner. So thanks a lot!
    A quick question is about the capacity of integration of external pdf documents in Revit.
    For instance, if I wanna extract the cost of all wood materials in the model into a predefined pdf form, what is the best way to handle it? I understand through quantities/schedules, we can export such information to excel,or as xml, but what if I don’t want to go through the “export” part, but instead I would like to create a plug-in, such as a menu that hosts couple of pdf forms that require the input of material cost in a certain format?
    I hope I have made my question clear enough, and will really appreciate if you could shed some light on it.
    Thanks in advance!
    Wei

    Reply
  2. Jeremy Tammik Avatar
    Jeremy Tammik

    Dear Wei,
    Great, I am very glad you like it. Nope, I do not understand you question, because I do not know exactly what you mean by “Integration of PDF documents in Revit” and “a menu that hosts couple of pdf forms”. You can definitely create a plug-in that traverses the BIM and extracts quantities. What you do with the data you accumulated, such as formatting it into PDF, is entirely up to you.
    Cheers, Jeremy.

    Reply
  3. Wei Wu Avatar
    Wei Wu

    Hi Jeremy,
    I really appreciate your prompt reply. I knew that my question was a little confusing:)
    OK, let me try it again. I created a model, and it had some wood materials that cost $50000. And I tagged part of them as FSC certified wood, say $10000. Then I made a material take-off that summarized these wood materials and sorted it into two groups: FSC certified and Non-FSC certified. My question comes at the next step: I need to fill in a pdf submittal form with the same information I already have in the material take-off, which is repetitive and inefficient. So any chance that I can skip this step by generating the material take-off “directly” using my own pdf form if the pdf form is already embedded in Revit(That’s what I mean integrate pdf with Revit)? If yes, which part of Revit API covers information like this? Do I need the pdf API (if it exists!) as well?
    I assume this “data extraction” is different from “save” or “export” the “material take-off” as pdf format since the pdf form I am using is a submittal form created by Adobe LifeCycle Designer ES.
    Does this question make any sense? Or should I simply give up this idea?
    Thanks!
    Wei

    Reply
  4. Jeremy Tammik Avatar
    Jeremy Tammik

    Dear Wei,
    Your question is probably not confusing at all, for someone who knows the workflow and user interface better than I do, and the detailed explanation makes perfect sense to me.
    There are libraries available for generating PDF files directly, but they obviously have nothing to do with the Revit API.
    As far as I can tell, from an API point of view, your question is basically whether you have access to the material take-off data you need.
    If you do have access to the required data, then you could create your own PDF file from it. This process would be completely separate from the current one, and entirely your own responsibility.
    Whether you can access this data I do not know. I suggest you explore a suitable sample model using RvtMgdDbg and the other tools discussed in posts on exploring the Revit database and element parameters to find out.
    Cheers, Jeremy.

    Reply
  5. Wei Wu Avatar
    Wei Wu

    Hi Jeremy,
    You are absolutely right. The ability to manipulate these data is key to my question. I’ve started looking into RvtMgdDbg, and hopefully could get something out of it.
    Thanks for all your advice so far!
    Wei

    Reply
  6. Jeremy Tammik Avatar
    Jeremy Tammik

    Dear Wei,
    Good luck getting at the data you need, and I look forward to hearing what progress you can make on accessing everything required to generate the PDF.
    Cheers, Jeremy.

    Reply

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