Configuring Revit property synchronization

Before you begin

Compile a list of the Revit parameter (property) names used by your organization in title blocks. Note the Meridian property name (and property set name) that corresponds to each Revit property that you want to synchronize. Also for each Revit property, note whether it should be read or written, or both. In effect, determine which application should control the value of that attribute, Meridian or Revit. When doing so, consider where the documents will originate from, imported from outside the vault (Revit properties should be read), or created inside the vault with the aid of a wizard that prompts the user for title block properties (Revit properties should be written).

Note    NEW Meridian supports synchronization of both standard properties and custom properties. The link also supports the asterisk (*) wildcard character to signify all drawing sheet or title block items.

The Revit property categories that are supported by the Revit link are:

• Project Information – For example:

  Project Information.Project Status=AMDocumentWorkFlowPropertySet._STATUSTEXT,WO

• ViewSheet – For example:

  ViewSheet:1.Designed By=AMFSObjectPropertySet._CREATEDBY,WO
  ViewSheet:*.Designed By=AMFSObjectPropertySet._CREATEDBY,WO

• Titleblock – For example:

  Titleblock:A4 Metric.Date/Time Stamp=AMFSObjectPropertySet._MODIFIED,WO
  Titleblock:*.Date/Time Stamp=AMFSObjectPropertySet._MODIFIED,WO

• NEW Multiple Sheets – Specifies the name of a table to hold the values of one property for multiple sheets in the same drawing as described in NEW Synchronizing multiple title blocks per drawing.

To configure Revit property synchronization:

1. In Configurator, expand Environment in the configuration tree and select Application Link Settings. The settings for each link appear in property pages in the right pane.
2. Click the Revit tab. The Revit link’s settings page appears in the right pane.
3. Click the Edit button to modify the settings.

Tip    To export the settings file to your computer, click the Export button. This can be useful if you would rather edit the file in your favorite text editor. You can then copy your changes to the Clipboard and paste them into Configurator.

4. Type a line in the file for each Revit property that you want to synchronize. The value of each Revit property setting must include the corresponding Meridian property set and property name that you want to synchronize. You can type comments in the file by beginning each line with a semicolon (;). Use the default property settings in the file as examples.

Tip    You can find the names of property sets and properties on the Properties page of each document type, as described in Creating and editing document types.

Also specify a flag if the property should be read-only (RO) or write-only (WO). By default, properties are read/write. Use the following format for each property:

<RevitPropertySet.RevitPropertyName>=<BlueCieloPropertySet.BlueCieloPropertyName>,<Flag>

The following example maps the document property Title to the Meridian property Title such that the document property is written from Meridian and not vice versa:

DocProps.Title=Custom.Title, RO

Note    Although Meridian internal properties can be synchronized to Revit properties, you should never attempt to update internal properties or Access denied errors can occur. Flag all properties linked to Meridian internal properties as write-only (WO). Only write to Meridian properties in the Custom property set.

If you want to synchronize a property to a parent folder (routed) property, you must specify the folder type name from which to get the folder property as in the following example.

<RevitPropertyName>=<FolderTypeName:PropertySetName.PropertyName>,<Flag>

And if you want to synchronize one property to one of several possible routed properties, you must specify a unique identifier for each of the property on the left side of the setting as in the following example.

<RevitPropertyName,ID>=<FolderTypeName:PropertySetName.PropertyName>,<Flag>

The value of ID is insignificant but must be unique among all of the lines. Using this syntax, you can map the same Revit property to multiple project folder types and the value will depend on the document’s parent folder. The following example uses three different folder types NewProject, UpgradeProject, and RepairProject.

PROJECTNUM,new = NewProject:PSProject.ProjectNum,WO    
PROJECTNUM,upgrade = UpgradeProject:PSProject.ProjectNum,WO    
PROJECTNUM,repair = RepairProject:PSProject.ProjectNum,WO    

5. Click OK to save your changes.
6. Test the link thoroughly by synchronizing each Revit property. You can do this by changing the Meridian property values for a drawing in the vault and Revit property values in the same drawing and confirming that the synchronization occurs that way that you expect. You can manually synchronize properties with the Meridian client applications as described in the BlueCielo Meridian Enterprise User’s Guide.