# Selecting elements, from family name **URL:** \ **Category:** Revit\ **Created:** [August 10, 2018, 9:09am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682 "2018-08-10T09:09:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@Phh](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Phh)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:09am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/1 "2018-08-10T09:09:34Z")
Hey guys, im having a bit trouble. As you can see from my image, im having trouble collecting elements from the family name. ![Family_from_name](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/dynamobim/original/3X/3/b/3b882295cf311db24a4e3e5cdaf5afe181c5033e.png) I know that in this case, i can just use the Walltype.byname. But the issue is, that i also wanna use this workflow for ceilings and generic models. And there is not any nodes for doing this. And i am listing unique items, so that the script dont crash, due to having to many elements to write to. Hope anybody, have a idea, thx in advantage 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mellouze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@mellouze](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/mellouze)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:14am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/2 "2018-08-10T09:14:23Z")
Hi, What are the errors you are getting ? It is hard to deduce them from a single screenshot ---
**Author:** ![Marcel\_Rijsmus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.dynamobim.com/marcel_rijsmus/32/8539_2.png) [@Marcel\_Rijsmus](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Marcel_Rijsmus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:21am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/3 "2018-08-10T09:21:16Z")
@Phh use Element.ElementType This will give you access the family parameters ---
**Author:** ![Phh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@Phh](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Phh)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:23am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/4 "2018-08-10T09:23:09Z")
Hey there, the only problem is that when i feed the list, with names to the Familytype.ByName - ill just get a bunch og null. Just look away from the string errors, thoses are just bechause, some of my elements, dont have type marks yet. It all works as it should, its just that i wanna put in a family name, and then it should select the element, so that it is possible to get the parameter value ---
**Author:** ![Phh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@Phh](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Phh)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:29am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/5 "2018-08-10T09:29:23Z")
@Marcel_Rijsmus Ahh got it… Thx som much 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mellouze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@mellouze](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/mellouze)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:30am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/6 "2018-08-10T09:30:08Z")
I was indeed looking away from the string errors. I was just wondering what error did the **FamilityType.ByName** node give you, so that we can know why it is returning a list of null. ---
**Author:** ![Phh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@Phh](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Phh)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:31am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/7 "2018-08-10T09:31:32Z")
Ahh okay, well i got to work with using Elements.type 🙂 But thx som much for taking your time 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan.Olesen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.dynamobim.com/jonathan.olesen/32/44242_2.png) [@Jonathan.Olesen](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Jonathan.Olesen)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:31am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/8 "2018-08-10T09:31:43Z")
Tried recreating the issue 😉 even though the solution have already been offered by @Marcel_Rijsmus 🙂 (My ElementName is “Retail Storefront” this part will differ from project to project 😉 ) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/dynamobim/original/3X/b/c/bca61f61168c67c96edab32d7923583458957c45.png) ---
**Author:** ![Phh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@Phh](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Phh)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:38am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/9 "2018-08-10T09:38:13Z")
Apperantly it dosent work, with ceilings, anybody know why? ![Dosent_work](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/dynamobim/original/3X/3/8/38932662f1f9df58f7eae93c7181b5cc568a4e24.png) ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan.Olesen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.dynamobim.com/jonathan.olesen/32/44242_2.png) [@Jonathan.Olesen](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Jonathan.Olesen)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 9:39am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/10 "2018-08-10T09:39:42Z")
Try the node mentioned by @Marcel_Rijsmus not “Elements.Type” but Element.ElementType ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/dynamobim/original/3X/b/a/baf50ae458924ebf2062d88d7e8404802b7acef4.png) ---
**Author:** ![Phh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@Phh](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Phh)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 10:21am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/11 "2018-08-10T10:21:47Z")
Same problem ![2018-08-10_1220](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/dynamobim/original/3X/3/9/391a3d22650b5ebe1742401699a763c78dc2dd33.png) ---
**Author:** ![Marcel\_Rijsmus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.dynamobim.com/marcel_rijsmus/32/8539_2.png) [@Marcel\_Rijsmus](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Marcel_Rijsmus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 10:27am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/12 "2018-08-10T10:27:31Z")
Can you show a bit more of the graph? This way we can’t help ---
**Author:** ![Phh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@Phh](https://forum.dynamobim.com/u/Phh)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 11:39am UTC](https://forum.dynamobim.com/t/selecting-elements-from-family-name/24682/13 "2018-08-10T11:39:37Z")
I got to work perfectly now. Thx so much for the inputs. Uploaded the graph if you wanna see anyway 🙂 [Rename type - by typemark.dyn](https://forum.dynamobim.com/uploads/short-url/gKbxtwB59l3j7U4KI1jxM7lPMye) (24.6 KB)