FamilyInstances

public void GetSubAndSuperComponents(FamilyInstance familyInstance)
{
    ICollection subElemSet = familyInstance.GetSubComponentIds();
    if (subElemSet != null)
    {
        string subElems = "";
        foreach (Autodesk.Revit.DB.ElementId ee in subElemSet)
        {
            FamilyInstance f = familyInstance.Document.GetElement(ee) as FamilyInstance;
            subElems = subElems + f.Name + "\n";
        }
        TaskDialog.Show("Revit","Subcomponent count = " + subElemSet.Count + "\n" + subElems);
    }
    FamilyInstance super = familyInstance.SuperComponent as FamilyInstance;
    if (super != null)
    {
        TaskDialog.Show("Revit","SUPER component: " + super.Name);
    }
}

Geometry

Sometimes the geometry of a FamilyInstance object is modified by joins, cuts, coping, extensions, or other post-processing that occurs in Revit. The FamilyInstance.HasModifiedGeometry() method identifies if the geometry of this FamilyInstance has been modified from the automatically generated default. The GetOriginalGeometry() method will return the original geometry of the instance prior to any modifications that may have occurred. To get the current geometry of the instance, use the Geometry property inherited from the Element class.

Spatial Element Calculation Points

The FamilyInstance has several members for reading the information about spatial calculation point(s) directly from the family instance. The HasSpatialElementCalculationPoint property identifies if this instance has a single SpatialElementCalculationPoint used as the search point for Revit to identify if the instance is inside a room or space. If true, the GetSpatialElementCalculationPoint() method will return the location of the calculation point for this instance as an XYZ point.

The HasSpatialElementFromToCalculationPoints property identifies if this instance has a pair of SpatialElementCalculationPoints used as the search points for Revit to identify if the instance lies between up to two rooms or spaces. The points determine which room or space is considered the "from" and which is considered the "to" for a family instance which connects two rooms or spaces, such as a door or window. When this property is true, the GetSpatialElementFromToCalculationPoints() method returns the locations for the calculation points for this instance as a list of XYZ points.

Other Properties

The properties in this section are specific to the architectural and structural engineering features of Revit. They are covered thoroughly in their respective chapters.

Room Information

FamilyInstance properties include Room, FromRoom, and ToRoom. For more information about Room, refer to Architecture.

Space Information

FamilyInstance has a Space property for identifying the space that holds an instance in MEP.

Structural Analytical Model

The GetAnalyticalModel() method retrieves the family instance structural analytical model.

For more information about AnalyticalModel refer to Structural Engineering.

Creating FamilyInstance Objects

Typically a FamilyInstance object is created using one of the twelve overload methods of Autodesk.Revit.Creation.Document called NewFamilyInstance(). The choice of which overload to use depends not only on the category of the instance, but also other characteristics of the placement like whether it should be hosted, placed relative to a reference level, or placed directly on a particular face. The details are included in Table 32 - Options for creating instance with NewFamilyInstance() below.

Some FamilyInstance objects require more than one location to be created. In these cases, it is more appropriate to use the more detailed creation method provided by this object (see Table 33 - Options for creating instances with other methods below). If the instance is not created, an exception is thrown. The type/symbol used must be loaded into the project before the method is called.

All overloads for NewFamilyInstance() check to ensure that the input FamilySymbol is active (FamilySymbol.IsActive). If the input FamilySymbol is inactive, the method will throw an ArgumentException. Symbols that are not used in the document may be deactivated to conserve memory and regeneration time. When the symbol is inactive, its geometry is empty and cannot be accessed. In order to access the geometry of a symbol that is not active in the document, the symbol should first be activated by calling FamilySymbol.Activate().

Table 32 - Options for creating instance with NewFamilyInstance()

ICollection BatchCreateColumns(Autodesk.Revit.DB.Document document, Level level)
{
        List fiCreationDatas = new List();

        ICollection elementSet = null;

        //Try to get a FamilySymbol
        FamilySymbol familySymbol = null;
        FilteredElementCollector collector = new FilteredElementCollector(document);
        ICollection collection = collector.OfClass(typeof(FamilySymbol)).ToElements();
        foreach (Element e in collection)
        {
                familySymbol = e as FamilySymbol;
                if (null != familySymbol.Category)
                {
                        if ("Structural Columns" == familySymbol.Category.Name)
                        {
                                break;
                        }
                }
        }

        if (null != familySymbol)
        {
                //Create 10 FamilyInstanceCreationData items for batch creation 
                for (int i = 1; i < 11; i++)
                {
                        XYZ location = new XYZ(i * 10, 100, 0);
                        FamilyInstanceCreationData fiCreationData = new FamilyInstanceCreationData(location, familySymbol, level, 
                                        StructuralType.Column);
                        if (null != fiCreationData)
                        {
                                fiCreationDatas.Add(fiCreationData);
                        }
                }

                if (fiCreationDatas.Count > 0)
        {
                        // Create Columns
            elementSet = document.Create.NewFamilyInstances2(fiCreationDatas);
        }
                else
                {
                throw new Exception("Batch creation failed.");
                }
    }
        else
        {
                throw new Exception("No column types found.");
        }

        return elementSet;
}