Get a family in the drawing

[Dr. Emergence]

Hi -

Using code, I'm trying to determine if a family with a particular name is in the Revit file, and if so, define a family variable for that family (ex. "Dim m_f as Family = ..." in Visual Basic).

Any ideas?

Thank you!

[boostyourbim417413]

Here's a macro that looks for a family named "Single-Flush" of the Doors category

public void getFamily()
{
Document doc = this.ActiveUIDocument.Document;
string familyName = "Single-Flush";
Family f = new FilteredElementCollector(doc)
.OfClass(typeof(Family))
.Cast<Family>()
.FirstOrDefault(q => q.FamilyCategory.Name == "Doors" && q.Name == familyName);

if (f == null)
TaskDialog.Show("info", familyName + " does not exist");
else
TaskDialog.Show("info", familyName + " found");
}

Hope this helps
Regards
Harry
http://boostyourbim.wordpress.com/

[Dr. Emergence]

Thanks!! You wouldn't know how to translate the following to VB.net would you? I've tried but can't seem to get it to work:

.OfClass(typeof(Family))
.Cast<Family>()
.FirstOrDefault(q => q.FamilyCategory.Name == "Doors" && q.Name == familyName);

[boostyourbim417413]

I don't. There are a bunch of free online c# to vb converters you can try.

[arqt49]

Thanks!! You wouldn't know how to translate the following to VB.net would you? I've tried but can't seem to get it to work:

.OfClass(typeof(Family))
.Cast<Family>()
.FirstOrDefault(q => q.FamilyCategory.Name == "Doors" && q.Name == familyName);

That is kind of a duplicate.
Both methods can be replaced by a single OfType<TResult>() method, also with deferred execution.
Although not risky in this case, Cast can come with a Invalid Cast exception that never happens with the OfType Linq extension.