API Development

[MikeJarosz]

Back when I was working in Revit 6.1 there was a survey about providing an API. Some people absolutely did not want it because they thought Autodesk would get lazy about new features, preferring the users to develop them on their own.

In reality, it turns out that some features are so exclusive to a single practice, that Autodesk is not going to turn their code inside out to provide a feature that only one firm might ever use.

The Revit API is a welcome development to me and I've begun learning it. Let's see how I can outsmart the factory.......

[amatosfermin]

Hi,
is there any API application already running? How can i get to it?
aMatos

[MikeJarosz]

The one application I have written so far takes a shared parameter and inserts a calculated value into it as a constant. This is neccessary because we want to shade rooms based on how close they come to the program target area. Although Revit can do calculated shared parameters, it cannot use the calculated value to shade rooms. My program performs the calulation and sets the value directly. The room shading then works perfectly.

Look further down in the Revit API thread. You will find my source code, and a lively discussion with Guy_R about execution timing.

[Danny Polkinhorn]

Mike,

I think they've accomplished what they wanted to with the API. They've made it primarily a tool to interact with other applications and limited (until last week) what you can do with the interface. Also, while it is a fairly "easy" to create a simple application with .NET and the Revit API, .NET itself is highly complex and creating large applications will be limited to serious developers. Most regular Revit folk won't even attempt it because of these two things. That keeps the development of Revit specific features with the Revit team, and ancillary applications to third-party developers primarily.

My 2 cents,

[MikeJarosz]

.NET itself is highly complex and creating large applications will be limited to serious developers.

I think you're right Danny. I'm 2/3 through one of those 3" thick books on VB.NET. I get most of it, but reading manuals and making software run smoothly are two different things. And I have some skill as a programmer. In another life I would have been one. The kind of casual programming we've seen with Lisp and VBA may be a thing of the past.