Transparent Local file creation

[dbaldacchino]

Hi all,

This discussion has been brought up several times in these forums and it's been brewing in my mind for a while. So finally I came up with something elegant and easy to use. Just drop the exe where your Central file is and create a shortcut to it so you can run it easily.

NOTE: To make this post more concise, I took out all the detailed information about what the program/script does. All the detailed information, together with a version history and instructions for how to use the program, are now available in the Readme.txt file included with the new zip.

#### Version 4 (x64) - 05/08/2009

Now also compatible with 2010 all the way to 2008. Please see readme.txt for changes. It pretty much still works the same as before.

#### Version 3 (x64) - 02/05/2009

Same version but now works with the following combination:

a) 32 bit OS with 32 bit Revit
b) 64 bit OS with 64 bit Revit

Assumes Revit is installed in the Program Files folder.


#### Version 3 - 03/30/2008

a) Check for Revit build between users for the same project. Warn users that are using a build# other than what was used to create the first local file using this program.
b) Revit will now always open maximized.
c) Check if Revit is already open with a local version of the same project, belonging to the user that is running the script. If so, Revit issues a warning and stops running.
d) Program will now launch any Revit version and flavor from 2008 onwards (until Autodesk changes the naming again!).
e) Added animated splash screen which appears while a Revit session is opened. This goes away once the Revit splash screen appears.
f) Added Readme.txt to the zip.

#### Version 2 - 03/01/2008

a) Script now creates project folders named XXXXX #VV (see 1 for explanation) in C:\Revit Local Files\
b) Implemented "Command Line Parameters" (similar to switches) in shortcuts to instruct the script to either just open the local file, or open a detached copy, or specify worksets to open.
c) Custom icon added.

#### Version 1 - 08/10/2007
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: This program/script was compiled with AutoHotKey (they have an outstanding support forum!) using notepad as the script editor.

[Elmo]

David this looks like a really cool application that could be really useful. I know of a number of times when I could have used something like this. Cheers thanks.

[dbaldacchino]

NP If you have suggestions or find a problem, please post. Thanks!

[luigi]

Che schifio!!! oooh, non ti posso dare punteggi verdi...devo darli agl'altri prima di dartene a te!!!!!

Che cose da matti!!!!

Bravo!!!!

[dbaldacchino]

Che schifo?! Ma dai! Nessun' problema, quando c' incontriamo ad' AU, beveremo un paio di birre....preferisco una Peroni piuttosto che punteggi verdi!

Ok, I'm turning the Italian off now

[ijnicholas]

This is cool!
I am asking too much...but is it possible to post the script, please?
I would like to edit the script to work for:
We use only RVT Architecture and our local files are at "C:\Projects\<<Project no>>\".
And instead of copying the EXE file into the central file folder, I am thinking of copying the EXE into Windows Path and run it in command line from the windows start menu > Run.
Thanks

[ron.sanpedro]

Hmmm... Schedulable it says. So I could have a scheduled script that fires up Revit and does an Audit late at night? That might might be cool!

Gordon

[dbaldacchino]

Yep. I guess the easiest would be to create a journal with those keystrokes: open the file and check the Audit option, save the file and exit. Then make an AHK script that runs that journal, compile into an exe and add it to the scheduled tasks.

[chodosh]

It would seem that what you're suggesting is completely feasible. A while ago I was running successive File > Open > Detach from Central >Save-as sequences using a journal file for every project in the office (THANK YOU, STEVE!!!), creating an Archive by date, but I had to drag the *.txt files manually and wait for it to finish running.

What you're proposing by putting the AHK *.exe in Scheduler to kick on overnight would be an improvement to that process. I'm not sure, though, if I would do an Audit unattended if there were corrupt elements present since the Journal would enter interactive mode and hang out with the file open...but I really like the idea.
LC

[dbaldacchino]

Well, the main problem would be that if a link to a dwg or a linked Revit project cannot be found, a window is going to pop up right? So if you run it at night, I'm not sure what would happen in that case. One thing that can be done is to make your AHK script trap a particular window (see the example I posted for how I dismiss the dialog that notifies you that the central has been moved/copied). So certain things I guess could be incorporated into the AHK script since they cannot be predicted in the journal.

As to the issue of errors when auditing, I don't think Revit gives you any options as to what to do anyway, so I don't think this would be a problem. In your AHK script you could do some sort of a timeout to make sure Revit closes so the next scheduled task can run and not have a "pile-up" happen if Revit hangs there in interactive mode.