Get all building Elements with quantity and unity - Revit Api

Question

For an export add-in on revit 2014, I need to get all building elements in the opened project.

To get elements, I am currently using a logicalfilter :

new LogicalOrFilter(new ElementIsElementTypeFilter(true),new ElementIsElementTypeFilter(false));

then I parse them using some filters on category ID, using Element.Category.Id.IntegerValue to compare it with every elements in my arrays.

I can get all elements, but some parameters are missing:

• How many elements of this type do I have? (like N doors).
• Which unity should I use (m2, m3, m, kg, etc.)
• Which materials are in this element? (I know I can get element's materialIds using the GetMaterialIds() method, but it seems like it returns only some materials, not all of them)

also, when I get elements, some elements doesn't have name, or a meaningless name like "300x75", not the element name (Wood Door for example).

Answer 1

Supamiu, Some of this depends on what you're really trying to do. The LogicalOrFilter you're using will generally pull in every element - whether it is a "Type" element or an "Instance" element (and others that are really neither, like Families, Materials, etc).

• To investigate how many doors you have, you'll need to count the Instance elements of a particular category. In my experience, often for "family"-type elements, you might not get a valid element category, and you must navigate from FamilyInstance->FamilySymbol->Family and then check the "FamilyCategory" property. Also, you are likely to run into some elements in your filter which have NULL for a category (usually weird, internal elements).

• The Unit Type is stored in each parameter's definition (i.e. Length, Area, Text, etc), as is the DisplayUnitType, an enum that has all of the available display options.

• I believe that the Element.GetMaterialIds() is a good reflection of all of the materials that are present in INSTANCE elements, at least.

Good Luck, Matt