C# Class BuildingCoder.NestedFamilyFunctions

This class contains functions for dealing with nested families within a Revit family document.

Show file Open project: jeremytammik/the_building_coder_samples Class Usage Examples

Public Methods

Method	Description
GetFamilyParameter ( FamilyInstance nestedFamilyInstance, string parameterName ) : Parameter	Returns a reference to the FAMILY parameter (as a simple Parameter data type) on the given instance for the parameter with the given name. Will return the parameter whether it is an instance or type parameter. Returns null if no parameter on the instance was found. Even though the data type returned is the more generic Parameter type, it will actually be for the data of the internal FamilyParameter object.
GetFilteredNestedFamilyDefinitions ( string familyFileNameFilter, Document familyDocument, bool caseSensitiveFiltering ) : IEnumerable	Returns a list of the nested family files in the given family document whose name matches the given family file name filter. Useful for checking to see if a family desired for nesting into the host family document is already nested in. Filtering is done with a simple Contains (substring) check, so wildcards don't work. Because standard Revit filtering techniques fail when searching for nested families in a family document, we have no choice but to iterate over all elements in the family. While there usually aren't that many elements at the family level, nonetheless this method has been built for speed.
GetFilteredNestedFamilyInstances ( string familyFileNameFilter, string typeNameFilter, Document familyDocument, bool caseSensitiveFiltering ) : List	Returns a list of family instances found in the given family document whose family file name matches the given familyFileNameFilter and whose type name matches the given typeNameFilter. If no filter values are provided (or they evaluate to the empty string when trimmed) then all instances will be evaluated. Filtering is done with a simple Contains (substring) check, so wildcards don't work. Because standard Revit filtering techniques fail when searching for nested families in a family document, we have no choice but to iterate over all elements in the family. While there usually aren't that many elements at the family level, nonetheless this method has been built for MAXIMUM SPEED.
LinkNestedFamilyParameterToHostFamilyParameter ( Document hostFamilyDocument, FamilyInstance nestedFamilyInstance, string nestedFamilyParameterName, string hostFamilyParameterNameToLink ) : void	This method takes an instance of a nested family and links a parameter on it to a parameter on the given host family instance. This allows a change at the host level to automatically be sent down and applied to the nested family instance.

Private Methods

Method	Description
FilterMatches ( string nameToCheck, string filter, bool caseSensitiveComparison ) : bool	Returns whether or not the nameToCheck matches the given filter. This is done with a simple Contains check, so wildcards won't work.
ValidateFamilyDocument ( Document document ) : void	This method will validate the provided Revit Document to make sure the reference exists and is for a FAMILY document. It will throw an ArgumentNullException if nothing is sent, and will throw an ArgumentOutOfRangeException if the document provided isn't a family document (e.g. is a project document)

Method Details

GetFamilyParameter() public static method

Returns a reference to the FAMILY parameter (as a simple Parameter data type) on the given instance for the parameter with the given name. Will return the parameter whether it is an instance or type parameter. Returns null if no parameter on the instance was found.

Even though the data type returned is the more generic Parameter type, it will actually be for the data of the internal FamilyParameter object.

public static GetFamilyParameter ( FamilyInstance nestedFamilyInstance, string parameterName ) : Parameter
nestedFamilyInstance	FamilyInstance	An instance of a nested family file
parameterName	string	The name of the desired parameter to get a reference to
return	Parameter

GetFilteredNestedFamilyDefinitions() public static method

Returns a list of the nested family files in the given family document whose name matches the given family file name filter. Useful for checking to see if a family desired for nesting into the host family document is already nested in. Filtering is done with a simple Contains (substring) check, so wildcards don't work.

Because standard Revit filtering techniques fail when searching for nested families in a family document, we have no choice but to iterate over all elements in the family. While there usually aren't that many elements at the family level, nonetheless this method has been built for speed.

public static GetFilteredNestedFamilyDefinitions ( string familyFileNameFilter, Document familyDocument, bool caseSensitiveFiltering ) : IEnumerable
familyFileNameFilter	string	The portion of the family file loaded into the family document
familyDocument	Document	The family document being queried
caseSensitiveFiltering	bool	Whether or not the filter checking is case-sensitive
return	IEnumerable

GetFilteredNestedFamilyInstances() public static method

Returns a list of family instances found in the given family document whose family file name matches the given familyFileNameFilter and whose type name matches the given typeNameFilter. If no filter values are provided (or they evaluate to the empty string when trimmed) then all instances will be evaluated. Filtering is done with a simple Contains (substring) check, so wildcards don't work.

public static GetFilteredNestedFamilyInstances ( string familyFileNameFilter, string typeNameFilter, Document familyDocument, bool caseSensitiveFiltering ) : List
familyFileNameFilter	string	The portion of the nested family file name (or exact match) to find
typeNameFilter	string	The portion of the type name (or exact match) to find
familyDocument	Document	The family document to search.
caseSensitiveFiltering	bool	Whether or not the filter checking is case-sensitive
return	List

LinkNestedFamilyParameterToHostFamilyParameter() public static method

This method takes an instance of a nested family and links a parameter on it to a parameter on the given host family instance. This allows a change at the host level to automatically be sent down and applied to the nested family instance.

public static LinkNestedFamilyParameterToHostFamilyParameter ( Document hostFamilyDocument, FamilyInstance nestedFamilyInstance, string nestedFamilyParameterName, string hostFamilyParameterNameToLink ) : void
hostFamilyDocument	Document	The host family document to have one of its parameters be linked to a parameter on the given nested family instance
nestedFamilyInstance	FamilyInstance	The nested family whose parameter should be linked to a parameter on the host family
nestedFamilyParameterName	string	The name of the parameter on the nested family to link to the host family parameter
hostFamilyParameterNameToLink	string	The name of the parameter on the host family to link to a parameter on the given nested family instance
return	void