For general reference and all sorts of great info about the Revit API, I recommend:
- The Revit API Developer’s Guide Wiki at http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/index.php?title=Revit/enu/2013/Help/00006-API_Developer%27s_Guide.
- The RevitAPI.chm help file. This is part of the Revit SDK (Software Developers Kit) which is included in the Revit install in the ‘Install Tools and Utilities’ option on the install main page. Or you can download it at https://boostyourbim.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/download-links-for-the-revitapi-help-files/
Boost Your BIM 
Harry,
I’ve just installed the 2013 SDK and am starting to dig my way through the items you have listed above for reference. I remember running through some of the DevTV videos and some of these files a year or so ago and they were helpful, but I did get a bit lost along the way. Before I get to far ahead of myself with some basic questions, I’d like to read through some of these references you’ve listed again. One basic question (and pardon my ‘code speak’ as i’m a beginner) I have is reguarding the various classes and methods that exist in a lot of the code that is referenced in these files, videos and your code. How do you know what method or class to use? Is the first thing to do, before getting to far, to learn all the various classes and methods? Kind of like learing a different (speaking) language? The videos, and the ‘hello world’ plugin shown walks through various code explaining briefly what each method or class does. But how did they know to use that class or method? That’s where I somewhat lose the connection. It’s easy to copy and paste code and have it work. But to create code from scratch, you obviously have to know the language, or dictionary (of the revit api classes and methods) in order to progress, right?
>> Is the first thing to do, before getting to far, to learn all the various classes and methods?
No, I think the first thing to do is pick a small project. Count the # of doors in a model. Have the user select an element and then report some basic info about the selected object. Create a view. Whatever you find interesting. Feel free to post some of those ideas here and then we can talk about how to proceed.
Simple approach, and makes sense as a good place to start. Some of the ideas are used in some of the code you’ve already walked through. Here’s a list of some basic things I’m going to attempt. If I get stumped, maybe you can help. Or, if there’s a ‘task’ that seems relivent in posting about, that’s great as well.
As you suggested:
1.) Counting number of doors in a project.
2.) Counting number of doors in a view.
3.) Furthering the idea of counting, maybe introduce an option to select which level you’d like to count the doors on. For example, doors are placed on level 1 and 2. User asked to select object (could be any family). Once the object has been selected, a pulldown with all levels in the model (to select) comes up. By selecting the level you’d like to count the doors on, it would do the calculation. That obviously gets into a few different concepts. Maybe we break it down better into steps.
4.) I’de be curious to know if it’s possible to pull areas from an object like a door. For example, if I selected the door, can I calculate the area of (object style) glass in the family?
#1 & 2 are explained here: https://boostyourbim.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/how-to-find-elements/
#3 – Take a look at https://boostyourbim.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/finding-3d-views-with-one-lovely-long-laborious-linq-and-lamda-line/. A logical filter such as “Where(v => v.IsTemplate == false)” can be used to query the Level property. Once that is working, instead of hard-coding the level you could prompt the user to select a level. This post has some Selection basics – https://boostyourbim.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/getting-info-about-rooms/
Creating the user interface to show a dropdown list of levels is more complex and I would suggest deferring that for now.
#4 – This is possible but also rather complicated. I will write a post about it sometime.
To be effective, what does my level of programming need to be (in C# for instance). Do I need to start here first, and then migrate over to learning the Revit API? I took a basic class a long time ago. About a year ago I also attended a video training on c# for beginners.
Hi David – Different people have different opinions on this. There is a good set of thoughts at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/319441/the-fastest-way-to-learn-c. I agree with this one “having a concrete task is the best way for me to learn a language. After you have picked a task, googling will get you pretty far”.
For example, google “how to read text file in c#” – different websites have different styles and complexity. Take a look at a few until you find one that you find understandable. This is how I solve most c# questions that I have.
Harry-You are obviously very knowledgable on the Revit API and seemingly very good at teaching and explaining. Especially for beginners. Have you ever thought/considered writing a book (my hopes would be that you’d start with a beginners level) on the Revit API? As many books as there are on Revit these days, none (I’ve seen) dive into the API. A ‘Revit API for Dummies’ I feel would be phenominal. I’m trying, but is hard as I am not an experienced programmer, so if I’m wanting to get good at this, I have a lot of work to do…
Hi David – Here are a couple resources:
Mastering Autodesk® Revit® Architecture 2012, Chapter 25: Getting Acquainted with the Revit API – http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/cad/9780470937495
Customizing Autodesk Revit 2013 with .NET – http://www.packtpub.com/customizing-autodesk-revit-2013-with-net/book
Just preordered the ebook, Customizing Autodesk Revit 2013 with .NET. Thanks!!!