Family

Public Class

An element that represents a custom family (not a system family) in Autodesk Revit.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
Autodesk.Revit.DB.Element
Autodesk.Revit.DB.Family

Assembly: RevitAPI (in RevitAPI.dll) Version: 25.0.0.0 (25.0.0.0)

Syntax

public class Family : Element

The Family type exposes the following members.

Properties

Name

Description

Public Property

AssemblyInstanceId

The id of the assembly instance to which the element belongs.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Code Example
BoundingBox

Retrieves a box that circumscribes all geometry of the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Category

Retrieves a Category object that represents the category or sub category in which the element resides.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Code Example
CreatedPhaseId

Id of a Phase at which the Element was created.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property

CurtainPanelHorizontalSpacing

For Curtain Panel families, the horizontal spacing of the driving mesh.

Public Property

CurtainPanelTilePattern

For Curtain Panel families, the choice of tile pattern.

Public Property

CurtainPanelVerticalSpacing

For Curtain Panel families, the vertical spacing of the driving mesh.

Public Property
Code Example
DemolishedPhaseId

Id of a Phase at which the Element was demolished.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Code Example
DesignOption

Returns the design option to which the element belongs.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Document

Returns the Document in which the Element resides.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Code Example
FamilyCategory

Retrieves or sets a Category object that represents the category or sub category in which the elements ( this family could generate ) reside.

Public Property

FamilyCategoryId

The id of the category or sub category in which the elements that this family could generate reside.

Public Property

FamilyPlacementType

Identifies the type of placement required by a given family.

Public Property
Code Example
Geometry

Retrieves the geometric representation of the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property

GroupId

The id of the group to which an element belongs.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Code Example
Id

A unique identifier for an Element in an Autodesk Revit project.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property

IsConceptualMassFamily

Whether the Family is a Conceptual Mass family.

Public Property

IsCurtainPanelFamily

Whether the Family is a Curtain Panel family. Curtain Panel family symbols are used as the ObjectTypes of DividedSurface elements.

Public Property
IsEditable

True if the family supports editing, false otherwise.

Public Property

IsInPlace

True if the family is an in-place family, false if the family is a loadable family.

Public Property
IsModifiable

Identifies if the element is modifiable.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property

IsOwnerFamily

True if the family is the owner family for its own editable document, false otherwise.

Public Property
IsParametric

Identifies whether the family contains parametric relations between some of its elements.

Public Property
IsTransient

Indicates whether an element is transient or permanent.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
IsUserCreated

Determine whether the family has been defined by the user.

Public Property
IsValidObject

Specifies whether the .NET object represents a valid Revit entity.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property

LevelId

The id of the level associated with the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Code Example
Location

This property is used to find the physical location of an element within a project.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Name

A human readable name for the Element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property

OwnerViewId

The id of the view that owns the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Code Example
Parameter.BuiltInParameter.

Retrieves a parameter from the element given a parameter id.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Parameter.Definition.

Retrieves a parameter from the element based on its definition.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Parameter.Guid.

Retrieves a parameter from the element given a GUID for a shared parameter.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Code Example
Parameters

Retrieves a set containing all of the parameters that are contained within the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
ParametersMap

Retrieves a map containing all of the parameters that are contained within the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
Pinned

Identifies if the element has been pinned to prevent changes.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property

ShowSpatialElementCalculationPoint

For families that can have a calculation point for spatial elements, hide or show the calculation point. SpatialElementCalculationPoint elements.

Public Property

StructuralCodeName

The family’s structural code name.

Public Property

StructuralFamilyNameKey

The family’s structural section shape name key.

Public Property

StructuralMaterialType

The family’s structural material type.

Public Property

StructuralSectionShape

The family’s structural section shape.

Public Property
Code Example
UniqueId

A stable unique identifier for an element within the document.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
VersionGuid

Get the element version Guid.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property

ViewSpecific

Identifies if the element is owned by a view.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Property
WorksetId

Get Id of the Workset which owns the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Methods

Name

Description

Public Method
ArePhasesModifiable

Returns true if the properties CreatedPhaseId and DemolishedPhaseId can be modified for this Element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
CanBeHidden

Indicates if the element can be hidden in the view.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

CanBeLocked

Identifies if the element can be locked.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

CanDeleteSubelement

Checks if given subelement can be removed from the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

CanHaveStructuralSection

Identifies if this Family can have a structural section.

Public Method
CanHaveTypeAssigned.

Identifies if the element can have a type assigned.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
Static Member

CanLoadFamilies

Checks whether the document is in a state that allows the loading of families.

Public Method
ChangeTypeId(ElementId)

Changes the type of the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

DeleteEntity

Deletes the existing entity created by %schema% in the element
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
DeleteSubelement

Removes a subelement from the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
DeleteSubelements

Removes the subelements from the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

Dispose

(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

Equals

Determines whether the specified object is equal to the current object.
(Inherited from Object)

Public Method

EvaluateAllParameterValues

Evaluates all the parameters’ values of the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

EvaluateParameterValues

Evaluate the parameters’ values of the element on the given parameter ID set.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
ExtractPartAtom

Writes a PartAtom XML from the contents of a family object.

Public Method
GetDependentElements

Get all elements that, from a logical point of view, are the children of this Element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetEntity

Returns the existing entity corresponding to the Schema if it has been saved in the Element, or an invalid entity otherwise.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetEntitySchemaGuids

Returns the Schema guids of any Entities stored in this element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetExternalFileReference

Gets information pertaining to the external file referenced by the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetExternalResourceReference

Gets the ExternalResourceReference associated with a specified external resource type.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetExternalResourceReferenceExpanded

Gets the collection of ExternalResourceReference associated with a specified external resource type.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetExternalResourceReferences

Gets the map of the external resource references referenced by the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetExternalResourceReferencesExpanded

Gets the expanded map of the external resource references referenced by the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetFamilySymbolIds

Gets the ids of the FamilySymbols owned by this Family.

Public Method
Code Example
GetFamilyTypeParameterValues

Returns all applicable values for a FamilyType parameter of this family.

Public Method
Code Example
GetGeneratingElementIds

Returns the ids of the element(s) that generated the input geometry object.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetGeometryObjectFromReference

Retrieve one geometric primitive contained in the element given a reference.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetHashCode

Serves as the default hash function.
(Inherited from Object)

Public Method

GetMaterialArea

Gets the area of the material with the given id.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetMaterialIds

Gets the element ids of all materials present in the element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetMaterialVolume

Gets the volume of the material with the given id.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetMonitoredLinkElementIds

Provides the link instance IDs when the element is monitoring.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetMonitoredLocalElementIds

Provides the local element IDs when the element is monitoring.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetOrderedParameters

Gets the parameters associated to the element in order.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetParameter

Retrieves a parameter from the element given identifier.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetParameterFormatOptions

Returns a FormatOptions override for the element Parameter, or a default FormatOptions if no override exists.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetParameters

Retrieves the parameters from the element via the given name.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetPhaseStatus

Gets the status of a given element in the input phase
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
GetSubelements

Returns the collection of element subelements.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetType

Gets the Type of the current instance.
(Inherited from Object)

Public Method
Code Example
GetTypeId

Returns the identifier of this element’s type.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

GetValidTypes.

Obtains a set of types that are valid for this element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
HasLargeSketches

Checks whether the family contains sketches with a large number of elements.

Public Method
HasPhases

Returns true if this Element has the properties CreatedPhaseId and DemolishedPhaseId.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

IsAppropriateCategoryId

Identifies if the input category id can be assigned as the new category for this family.

Public Method

IsCreatedPhaseOrderValid

Returns true if createdPhaseId and demolishedPhaseId are in order.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

IsDemolishedPhaseOrderValid

Returns true if createdPhaseId and demolishedPhaseId are in order.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
IsExternalFileReference

Determines whether this Element represents an external file.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
IsHidden

Identifies if the element has been permanently hidden in the view.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

IsMonitoringLinkElement

Indicate whether an element is monitoring any elements in any linked models.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

IsMonitoringLocalElement

Indicate whether an element is monitoring other local elements.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
IsPhaseCreatedValid

Returns true if createdPhaseId is an allowed value for the property CreatedPhaseId in this Element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
IsPhaseDemolishedValid

Returns true if demolishedPhaseId is an allowed value for the property DemolishedPhaseId in this Element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
IsValidType(ElementId)

Checks if given type is valid for this element.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
LookupParameter

Attempts to find a parameter on the element which has the given name.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

RefersToExternalResourceReference

Determines whether this Element uses external resources associated with a specified external resource type.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method
RefersToExternalResourceReferences

Determines whether this Element uses external resources.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

SetEntity

Stores the entity in the element. If an Entity described by the same Schema already exists, it is overwritten.
(Inherited from Element)

Public Method

ToString

Returns a string that represents the current object.
(Inherited from Object)

Remarks

Custom families within the Revit API represented by three objects - Family, FamilySymbol and FamilyInstance. Each object plays a significant part in the structure of families. The Family element represents the entire family that consists of a collection of types, such as an ‘I Beam’. You can think of that object as representing the entire family file. The Family object contains a number of FamilySymbol elements. The FamilySymbol object represents a specific set of family settings within that Family and represents what is known in the Revit user interface as a Type, such as ‘W14x32’. The FamilyInstance object represents an actual instance of that type placed the Autodesk Revit project. For example the FamilyInstance would be a single instance of a W14x32 column within the project.

Example

public void GetInfoForSymbols(Family family)
{
    StringBuilder message = new StringBuilder("Selected element's family name is : " + family.Name);
    ISet<ElementId> familySymbolIds = family.GetFamilySymbolIds();

    if (familySymbolIds.Count == 0)
    {
        message.AppendLine("Contains no family symbols.");
    }
    else
    {
        message.AppendLine("The family symbols contained in this family are : ");

        // Get family symbols which is contained in this family
        foreach (ElementId id in familySymbolIds)
        {
            FamilySymbol familySymbol = family.Document.GetElement(id) as FamilySymbol;
            // Get family symbol name
            message.AppendLine("\nName: " + familySymbol.Name);
            foreach (ElementId materialId in familySymbol.GetMaterialIds(false))
            {
                Material material = familySymbol.Document.GetElement(materialId) as Material;
                message.AppendLine("\nMaterial : " + material.Name);
            }
        }
    }

    TaskDialog.Show("Revit",message.ToString());
}