CopyElements Method Overload in Python

Developers
,
1

Hello,

I am trying to use the ElementTransformUtils.CopyElements method but specifically the View, ICollection<ElementId>, View, Transform, CopyPasteOptions overload. When I use the method with the arguments ViewSheet, ICollection<ElementId>, ViewSheet, I get an error saying expecting Document, got ViewSheet.

I am working in Revit 2018 with Dynamo 2.0.3. As far as I can tell, ViewSheet should work as a valid argument for the overload I am going for. Does anyone know what the issue would be?

Python snippet:

n_restId = ElementTransformUtils.CopyElements(o_sht, o_restId, n_sht)

where o_sht is the original ViewSheet with elements, o_restId is a list of ElementId for elements on o_sht, and n_sht is the destination ViewSheet.

I can add the rest of the python code if needed but 90% of it is irrelevant and pretty long.

Edit: Side question, I was trying to return the actual Autodesk.Revit.Exceptions class that it springs up but instead, the exception is an IronPython exception. How would I go about returning the Autodesk exception class in the try; except: statement?

2

You are only providing 3 arguments, so it is wrongly assuming that you are trying to use (Document, ICollection, CopyPasteOptions) as your overloads. Try this instead:

n_restId = ElementTransformUtils.CopyElements(o_sht, 
                                              o_restId, 
                                              n_sht, 
                                              None, 
                                              CopyPasteOptions())

If your list of ElementIds isn’t already a .NET List, make sure to do so like this:

from System.Collections.Generic import List
o_restIdList = List[ElementId](o_restId)

As for handling native Revit exceptions, I haven’t tried to do that yet in my workflow, but you may be able to import from the Autodesk.Revit.Exceptions namespace and handle the native exceptions directly.

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3

So the CopyPasteOptions() arg was the problem. I had tried it using:

n_restId = ElementTransformUtils.CopyElements(o_sht, o_restId, n_sht, None, None)

for some reason thinking that it would default to an empty copypasteoptions if the arg was a null. When I ran it, it gave me the same error so I didn’t think twice :rofl: Thank you!

As for the exceptions, I have imported them to try and use their properties but thats when I found out that using

try:
     something
except Exception as e:
    e.GetType()

e returns some IronPython exception+base exception so I didn’t know how to get the Revit exception from it.

4

Just ran a small test for catching native Revit exceptions–it’s possible! See below:

import clr
clr.AddReference('RevitAPI')
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import FilteredElementCollector, ElementId
from Autodesk.Revit.Exceptions import ArgumentException

clr.AddReference('RevitServices')
from RevitServices.Persistence import DocumentManager

doc = DocumentManager.Instance.CurrentDBDocument

try:
	fec = FilteredElementCollector(doc, ElementId.InvalidElementId)
except ArgumentException:
	OUT = 'caught'

I think what’s happening when you use the more generic Exception class, you’re just casting the native Revit exception to a generic IronPython exception.

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5

Does this mean I can’t use a catchall except statement for exceptions like the generic IronPython one? As in I would need except for each type of exception? I mostly just wanted to return certain properties of the API exception’s class.

6

Actually, if you catch the generic .NET System.Exception you can then access the appropriate members.

import clr
clr.AddReference('RevitAPI')
from Autodesk.Revit.DB import FilteredElementCollector, ElementId

clr.AddReference('RevitServices')
from RevitServices.Persistence import DocumentManager

import System

doc = DocumentManager.Instance.CurrentDBDocument

try:
	fec = FilteredElementCollector(doc, ElementId.InvalidElementId)
except System.Exception as e:
	OUT = e.Message
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