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
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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

[dbaldacchino]

The way the script works, it has to reside in the Central file folder. You can create shortcuts to different exe files for different projects and run them on startup.

[david.kingham]

Very nice David, I created the same thing just in a less fancy fashion through batch files, about the only difference is mine does not open the local file so you can specify what worksets to open initially

[dbaldacchino]

Good point about specifying the worksets. We haven't crossed the need to selectively open worksets yet, although on the largest Revit project we're working on, I think we'll soon have to as things are already sluggish (moving walls takes Revit 5 seconds a pop to think about it). I didn't try the bat file approach simply because I didn't know how to and I found the AutoHotKey documentation easy to follow I guess I'd have to rethink it a bit when it comes to very large projects. They could just open all and then close what they don't need.

Thanks for sharing your scripts too!

[chodosh]

Very slick, David! I'll have to explore this some more. I actually utilize some heavy-duty batch scripting to do this in my office with the same results almost and it creates backups by date, too with two months only of history, and while I can kick-on Revit through the *.bat and open any given file, if I do tell it to open a file, it still has the same issue as your *.exe that we cannot control the specification of which worksets we want to open or close. Instead, we are proposing to change our scripts to just kick open Revit and let the user do the rest afterward (so long as the INI is pointing to the right default folder this is a snap for the users). I am attempting to combine the *.bat to run a little VBA script over Revit, looking for software that will mimic a drag and drop of a text file, but this is all very tricky geeky scripting stuff that I have very little time for lately... Thanks for posting all of this!
Best,
LC