Material Schedule

[asparks.245603]

I have been trying for days to insert a simple text field into a material schedule. I have tried using shared parameters with no success. They either populate all of the fields in that particular column OR will not let me enter text AT ALL (and Revit beeps at me). In short, what I am trying to do is add a scheduled field to the end of a material schedule when I need to use text to describe the locations of the various materials.

[Alfredo Medina]

There are some fields that you can use, such as "Comments" , which you can rename and use for that need, without creating special parameters for this purpose. What is the schedule about? What does it apply to?

[asparks.245603]

The schedule is a material schedule. It applies a material designation, manufacturer number, color, finish/pattern/size to each material along with a column for remarks. What I have been trying to do, for days, is add an additional column when I can type in the general locations for each of the materials, wood base, ceramic tile, rubber base, etc. I have tried, many times, to add a field where I can type in text, but have not been able to. I do, however, know that I am able to rename the text! The problem is that the fields seem to either ALL populate when I begin typing OR do not allow me to type at all, like I said before, Revit just beeps at me. I hope this helps explain my problem, I am new to Revit, as of January 2010.

[Alfredo Medina]

You did not answer the question about what the schedule applies to. Doors? Windows? Walls? it makes a difference especially if you are trying to add a new field. You might be trying to use a shared parameter that does not apply to the kind of entity for which you're trying to schedule materials. I still don't understand why you cannot use "Remarks" or "Comments" or "Description" for that. Can you please post the Revit file, if it is not too big?

[asparks.245603]

The schedule applies to materials....wall finishes like paint, floor materials like rubber tiles, carpet, ceramic, ceiling materials like acoustical tiles. I have tried, many times, to use "remarks", comments" and "description" BUT I continuously have the following problem...The problem is that the fields seem to either ALL populate when I begin typing OR do not allow me to type at all. It like the field has some setting that will not allow me to type text...I can not upload the file. Thanks for you help.

[Alfredo Medina]

The schedule applies to materials.....

No, the schedule does not apply to materials. It can apply to Rooms, or Walls, or Ceilings, or to "Multiple Categories", but not to "materials".

Probably you are typing your text in one of the columns which have the "Materials:" prefix, such as Materials: Description ; if you type something like "Bedroom1" in a row where the material is "Stucco" and you have other 20 rows with "Stucco", all those rows will receive the same description: "Bedroom1". However, if you type "Bedroom1" in "Comments", that text will pertain only to that row; it will not populate to other rows, allowing you to type "Bedroom2", "Bedroom3", etc., in other rows.

[mthurnauer]

I presume you are using a Material Takeoff schedule and as Alfredo is suggesting, when you create the schedule, you need to pick a category, or to do what you want, you would need to pick Multi-Category Material Takeoff. How are you filtering what shows up in the schedule? A multi-category schedule will list every single material that exists including gyp. board, wood studs, etc. I usually filter it to only list materials that have been assigned a Mark. As far as parameters that already exist for materials that you could use to indicate location, go to the material editor and click on the identity tab. You will see that for each material, you can use these parameters: Description, Comments, Keywords, Manufacturer, Model, Cost, URL.....) What Alfredo is suggesting is that you could use one of these Type Parameters and in the schedule, on the formatting tab, you could pick a field, say Comments, and change the Heading to Location.

If you want to create a new parameter and not just use one of the existing then go to the Fields tab in the schedule properties. Click on Add Parameter. You can probably just make it a Project Parameter. You will want to make the type of parameter Text. Next, pick where you want to Group the parameter under. I would choose Identity Data. Now, you want to pick Materials for the category that the parameter applies.

[Ning Zhou]

If you want to create a new parameter and not just use one of the existing then go to the Fields tab in the schedule properties. Click on Add Parameter. You can probably just make it a Project Parameter. You will want to make the type of parameter Text. Next, pick where you want to Group the parameter under. I would choose Identity Data. Now, you want to pick Materials for the category that the parameter applies.

add parameter won't allow you to type in directly in field row(s) whether it's type or instance text parameter, don't know if shared parameter will work, but seems project parameter doesn't work.

[Alfredo Medina]

add parameter won't allow you to type in directly in field row(s) whether it's type or instance text parameter, don't know if shared parameter will work, but seems project parameter doesn't work.

I have seen the limitation you have mentioned only when the material take-off schedule is Multi-Category. When the schedule applies to something, such as Doors, Windows, you can type anything in a text project parameter column.

[martijnderiet]

It's a bug... What you can do is open two views: the schedule view and a project view (like a 3D, plan view, or something). The view doesn't need to contain all the elements in your schedule.
Select the element you wish to adjust in your schedule, go to the other view and use the properties box to type your data. If this doesn't work, there's something wrong with your schedule or parameter.

[Ning Zhou]

right Alfredo, only happens for Multi-Category schedule / takeoff, don't know any reason behind it, or just an bug?

[Alfredo Medina]

I don't know. Maybe it is because project parameters need to be applied to something in particular, for Revit to know which category (or table in the database) is going to receive the parameter's value.