Overview

A project model can have several view types. The following picture demonstrates the different types of views in the Project browser.

Figure 95: Different views in the Project browser

In the API, there are three ways to classify views. The first way is by using the view element View.ViewType property. It returns an enumerated value indicating the view type. The following table lists all available view types.

Table 44: Autodesk.Revit.DB.ViewType

Member Name	Description
AreaPlan	Area view.
CeilingPlan	Reflected ceiling plan view.
ColumnSchedule	Coulmn schedule view.
CostReport	Cost report view.
Detail	Detail view.
DraftingView	Drafting view.
DrawingSheet	Drawing sheet view.
Elevation	Elevation view.
EngineeringPlan	Engineering view.
FloorPlan	Floor plan view.
Internal	Revit's internal view.
Legend	Legend view.
LoadsReport	Loads report view.
PanelSchedule	Panel schedule view.
PressureLossReport	Pressure Loss Report view.
Rendering	Rendering view.
Report	Report view.
Schedule	Schedule view.
Section	Cross section view.
ThreeD	3-D view.
Undefined	Undefined/unspecified view.
Walkthrough	Walkthrough view.

The second way to classify views is by the class type.

The following table lists the view types and the corresponding views in the Project browser.

Table 45: Project Browser Views

Project Browser Views	View Type	Class Type
Area Plans	ViewType.AreaPlan	Elements.ViewPlan
Ceiling Plans	ViewType.CeilingPlan	Elements.ViewPlan
Graphic Column Schedule	ViewType.ColumnSchedule	Elements.View
Detail Views	ViewType.Detail	Elements.ViewSection
Drafting Views	ViewType.DraftingView	Elements.ViewDrafting
Sheets	ViewType.DrawingSheet	Elements.ViewSheet
Elevations	ViewType.Elevation	Elements.ViewSection
Structural Plans (Revit Structure)	ViewType.EngineeringPlan	Elements.ViewPlan
Floor Plans	ViewType.FloorPlan	Elements.ViewPlan
Legends	ViewType.Legend	Elements.View
Reports (Revit MEP)	ViewType.LoadsReport	Elements.View
Reports (Revit MEP)	ViewType.PanelSchedule	Elements.PanelScheduleView
Reports (Revit MEP)	ViewType.PresureLossReport	Elements.View
Renderings	ViewType.Rendering	Elements.ViewDrafting
Reports	ViewType.Report	Elements.View
Schedules/Quantities	ViewType.Schedule	Elements.ViewSchedule
Sections	ViewType.Section	Elements.ViewSection
3D Views	ViewType.ThreeD	Elements.View3D
Walkthroughs	ViewType.Walkthrough	Elements.View3D

This example shows how to use the ViewType property of a view to determine the view's type.

Code Region: Determining the View type

public void GetViewType(Autodesk.Revit.DB.View view)
{
        // Get the view type of the given view, and format the prompt string
        String prompt = "The view is ";

        switch (view.ViewType)
        {
                case ViewType.AreaPlan:
                        prompt += "an area view.";
                        break;
                case ViewType.CeilingPlan:
                        prompt += "a reflected ceiling plan view.";
                        break;
                case ViewType.ColumnSchedule:
                        prompt += "a column schedule view.";
                        break;
                case ViewType.CostReport:
                        prompt += "a cost report view.";
                        break;
                case ViewType.Detail:
                        prompt += "a detail view.";
                        break;
                case ViewType.DraftingView:
                        prompt += "a drafting view.";
                        break;
                case ViewType.DrawingSheet:
                        prompt += "a drawing sheet view.";
                        break;
                case ViewType.Elevation:
                        prompt += "an elevation view.";
                        break;
                case ViewType.EngineeringPlan:
                        prompt += "an engineering view.";
                        break;
                case ViewType.FloorPlan:
                        prompt += "a floor plan view.";
                        break;
                // ...
                default:
                        break;
        }
        // Give the user some information
        MessageBox.Show(prompt, "Revit", MessageBoxButtons.OK);
}

The third way to classify views is using the ViewFamilyType class. Most view creation methods required the Id of a ViewFamilyType for the new view. The Id of the ViewFamilyType can be retrieved from the View.GetTypeId() method. The ViewFamilyType.ViewFamily property returns a ViewFamily enumeration which specifies the family of the ViewFamilyType and similar to the ViewType enum documented above. The following example shows how to get the ViewFamily from a View.

Code Region: Determining view type from ViewFamilyType

public ViewFamily GetViewFamily(Document doc, View view)
{
    ViewFamily viewFamily = ViewFamily.Invalid;

    ElementId viewTypeId = view.GetTypeId();
    if (viewTypeId.IntegerValue > 1) // some views may not have a ViewFamilyType
    {
        ViewFamilyType viewFamilyType = doc.GetElement(viewTypeId) as ViewFamilyType;
        viewFamily = viewFamilyType.ViewFamily;
    }

    return viewFamily;
}