I mentioned yesterday that the recording and materials of the Revit API Introduction webcast held last week on Wednesday April 29th is now available from the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) DevTech API training schedule site. Filter for Revit API, English, Webcast and click on the download link to obtain the 45 MB zip file RevitAPI_2010_Webcast.zip. Besides the recording, it also includes the Powerpoint presentation, online questions and answers, the Revit API Introduction labs for both Visual Studio 2005 and 2008, and the current version of RvtMgdDbg:
- Revit API Webcast Recording
- Revit_API_2010_Overview_Webcast_April_29_2009.pptx
- Revit API 2010 Webcast - Questions and Answers.docx
- Revit API 2010 RAC Labs_MSVS2005
- Revit API 2010 RAC Labs_MSVS2008
- RvtMgdDbg_0504 2009
Since the recording is rather lengthy and covers a number of topics, here is an overview and some additional information. The main topics addressed include:
- Overview of Revit add-in and VSTA macro programming.
- Basics and first steps of a Revit 'Hello world' add-in.
- Overview of new features in the Revit 2010 API.
Here is the detailed agenda as originally planned:
- Introduction
- Product, SDK, documentation and samples
- Getting Started and Hello World
- Development environment, external command and application interfaces, modifying Revit.ini, RvtSamples and RvtMgdDbg
- Basics
- Database and elements
- Families and types
- Parameters
- Geometry
- Break
- API Updates
- Updated and replacement APIs: Ribbon, Events, VSTA
- API News
- New samples
- Model inspection and utilities
- Family API
- Form creation and conceptual design
- MEP API
Due a technical issue, we rearranged the order on the fly. My phone failed, so we moved the form creation, conceptual design, and MEP API ahead a bit in between the events and VSTA topics. I ended up borrowing a second phone from my neighbour and hooking it up in parallel to my own with a screwdriver, holding various wires together with my fingers to find out which ones to use, while Saikat was presenting his part of the webcast. I did end up reconnecting successfully. Quite an adventure for all of us.
At an operating system level, what is the difference between an external command and an external application? Do both run in the same process space as Revit?
Posted by: J | May 20, 2010 at 22:31
Dear J,
At an operating system level, the difference between an external command and an external application is small. They both run in the same process space as Revit, and are called by Revit in a specific context.
The external application implements methods OnStartup and OnShutdown, which are called when Revit itself starts up and shuts down.
The external command implements a method named Execute, which is called when the user launches the command.
Both can define additional call-backs, cf.
http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2010/04/asynchronous-api-calls-and-idling.html
Cheers, Jeremy.
Posted by: Jeremy Tammik | May 21, 2010 at 00:54