Sterling Tech Blog: June Tech Tip!

Parameter Order!

There are those of us out there that when we go to create parameters in our families that we want some organization to the list. As you well know Revit does not alphabetize or numerically list our parameters.

If you have done any research on this you may very well know what I am about to talk about. It’s a simple tool or key stroke called the “asterisk”(*,or star).

The first step you want to do in any planning is to PLAN! Layout your parameters in the order you want them in. Of course if you don’t know them yet then this will be hard to do, but let’s try to think ahead and plan on what we will need.

Let's start with the "Generic Model" in the family editor.

Basic Family type layout.

Second step is to create the family file right.

While we are creating the file, during this process we insert the needed parameters. I want to say start with the last parameter on your list. Want to know why? Well during the creation of parameters the program likes to put them anywhere it wants to sometimes, most of the time right above the one you previously created. There is not a definite pattern. So . . . the asterisk, mentioned above, allows you to at minimum put in order the parameters you are using.

For example let’s put in our first parameter we’ll call it “Par A”.

Our next one is “Par B”, but we don’t want it placed above “Par A”.

So . . . we remove the “Par B” and we go modify the “Par A” and call it “Par B” then add another one called “Par A”.

This is the simple method of doing things, with a couple of extra clicks that we did not want to do in the first place, right? But what happens when you go changing and adding other names that start going under and above the ones already listed?

Well, the trick is to select the parameter that is right below the one you want to add and modify it. In the name of the parameter add an asterisk(*,or star) before the name, copy the entire name and add a new parameter.

Paste the copied text into the name field, add another character to the end, making it different, make your choices for the data type and then hit ok. You should see something like this.

As you can see I wanted to add the “Par A2” below the “Par A” and it would not allow me. What I did was add the asterisk to the “Par B” added a 2 behind the new one and it automatically put it above the old “Par B” parameter. Now what you would need to do is delete the Par A2 and rename the “*Par B2” to “Par A2”. Of course go back and modify the original “Par B” to take out the asterisk and you’re all set.

So you should be seeing something like this.

Remember previously I said to plan your list, this is where you will need to do as much as you can, because it will go very quickly if you do all the copying and renaming first before you start adding formulas and the parameters to the geometry. Simply keep adding the same parameter and adding more characters to the end to keep them in order as such: