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Revit Shared Parameters Management Tools

by Alan Jackson / July 20, 2011 / 34 Comments / Families, Revit, SP.Writer

UPDATE: Latest SP.Writer can be found HERE

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PLEASE READ: The file format for this utility should be .xlsm. If you are using Internet Explorer to download the utility it will likely rename the file to .zip. Please rename the extension from .zip to .xlsm and then open in Excel. Apparently some users have been unable to use the utility because of this. Apologies for any confusion.

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I always hear first hand from companies and end users the difficulties they have managing their shared parameters files under the Autodesk Revit platform. Lets be honest, it isn’t a fun task and Autodesk has done little to make our lives easier. Some companies are still not implementing schedules in Revit just due to the fact that Shared Parameters are so difficult and time consuming to work with.
This post will showcase two utilities for managing shared parameters. The first, Revit SP.Writer, is a Excel tool that I have been working on with a former co-worker of mine Phil Cunningham.  It is intended to allow users to create, manage and organize their shared parameters outside of Revit easily allowing for importing and exporting compatible files. The second tool was built from the source released by IBD on the BIM Advent blog which is a Revit 2011 add-in making use of the Revit API for binding parameters, similar to the Autodesk provided AutoParamter SDK example, but with a dialog box allowing the user to choose the parameters file for binding to the family. I only made small modifications to the code to adjust the userForm box and bind the parameters to the OTHER category.
At the moment Revit SP.Writer has been tested on Excel 2007 and the Binding utility was built for Revit 2011. I will attempt to build for Revit 2012 in the near future, hopefully adding additional functionality to the tool which IBD generously provided the source for. All changes to IBD’s work I will publish source when it becomes available. See video below for a brief demonstration of both tools working together.
[UPDATE 2011-08-24]
[Revit SP.Writer v0.2.0] –> Download
[UPDATE 2011-07-29]
[IBD Batch Write Shared Parameters App for Revit 2011] –> Download (now includes .addin)
[IBD Batch Write Shared Parameters App for Revit 2012] –> Download
Install Instructions (Install with Revit Add-In Manger from SDK or follow instructions below):

1. Copy .dll to desired plugin location. It can reside anywhere local. I use C:\RevitAddIns\
2. Edit .addin file in text or xml editor and update install locaiton line to read location where .dll was copied. The line to edit is this:  <Assembly>C:\RevitAddIns\IBD Write Shared Parameters.dll</Assembly>
3. Copy add-in (*.addin) file to Revit Addin folder location C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\2011 (This is the location for Windows 7, I believe the XP location is different. Use \2012\ folder for 2012 addin)