How to access width and height inside curtain panel family?

[gsucci]

All,
this is an old problem, if in window and door families you have access to the width and height parameters, which allow you to use arrays within the family, which adjust nicely to the element, with curtain panels, these two parameters are...unknown.

this makes it nearly impossible to do any calculation, because the only reference to height and width are the reference planes / lines which define the curtain panel...So you can geometrically align / attach to those, but you do not have any number to wrok with.
This is bad for arrays, because groups do not align / attach very well to geometry, expecially when you use a nested family as elements...

How do you extract these two values numerically, within the curtain panel family?
I understand that because the panel dimensions depends on the host curtain wall parameters these would be read-only, but still, how do you access them within the family?

thank you

regards

gio

[dfriesen]

Unfortunately, as you've found, the height and width cannot be accessed in a curtain panel.

The way to get around this is to create a separate family (generic model), and create your array in there, and then load that family into your curtain panel, and align/lock the family to the four sides of the curtain panel.

[Scott Womack]

I understand that because the panel dimensions depends on the host curtain wall parameters these would be read-only, but still, how do you access them within the family

I'm guessing here, and this is certainly my own opinion. I too have wished for access to these parameters, but .....

The reason is that those parameters no NOT exist in the panel family. They are essentially zero. That is why they are not available. That is why these calculations cannot be made within the panel family, those calculations could easily conflict with the grid spacing, causing a conflict that would cause the database to become corrupt.