Element.Type in Clockwork is more robust than FamilyInstance.Symbol

Packages
1

This is not really a question, just an observation. FamilyInstance.Symbol would occasionally give ‘dereferencing a nonpointer’ error, while Element.Type would succeed. I think that Element.Type is less worried about input element scope, while FamilyInstance version may be more strict.

So if you want to gather Types, and then find Families with FamilySymbol.Family, I recommend using Element.Type.

2

I think it’s because I’m using another API method entirely. FamilyInstance.Symbol is restricted to loadable families due to the way it is calling the Revit API and will fail for any family instance of a category that is organized in system families (e.g. walls).