Resolving Revit Errors During Open

After a task has been claimed, it will attempt to open the Revit model that is targeted.

While Revit Warnings are concerning, Clarity will generally ignore any warnings that would normally pop-up (Duplicate Instances, Lines slightly off-axis, etc).

Revit Errors, however, are more serious. It is not possible to open the model without providing a RESOLUTION for how the error will be removed. For example, the most common error that we encounter like this is "Dimension References have become Invalid" (usually because a dimension was created to geometry that is in a linked model, and the geometry is no longer there). In order to RESOLVE an issue like this, the default resolution is "Delete Dimensions". While this is OK for a designer, Clarity is reluctant to do this when its primary job is for printing and exporting. Is it OK for us to just delete the dimesion? What if it is important for the PDF? It is difficult to know.

For many years, Clarity's perspective was that we should not and cannot do anything in this case. Clarity would simply mark the task as ERROR and not try to continue. But we have softened. If the user would like us to resolve the errors for them, we will now resolve them.

There are two new configuration options to assist with this. The will be set either in the Task Server configuration file (C:\ProgramData\IMAGINiT Technologies\Clarity Task Server for Revit\TaskService.config) or managed centrally in the Global Task Configuration in the web application:

• RevitErrorHandleOptions: How should Clarity handle Revit Error issues during the model opening process:
  • - ALL: Do your best to resolve ALL Errors, even if it means deleting elements
  • - DetachedOnly: Same as above, but only if the file is being opened detached
  • - SpecifiedOnly: Let us specify the kinds of Revit Errors that should be taken care of.
• SpecifiedRevitErrorsToHandle: If the 'SpecifiedOnly' option is selected, which Revit Errors should we take care of? This is a comma-delimited list specifying the Errors or kinds of Errors that should be specified.
  • - Specific Failure Ids: These are best found within the Revit API, under the BuiltInFailures section. For example: DimensionReferencesInvalid
  • - Specific Failure Groups: These are the higher-level built in failures within the same API above, for example: DimensionFailures
  • - Specific Resolutions: Also within the API, listed as a FailureResolutionType. For example DeleteElements.

Are These Changes to the Model Permanent/Actual?

How the model is being opened depends on a number of factors:

• Within many project types, it is possible to open the model detached, so that it has no connection to the underlying central file, and changes can be made without affecting any other users.
• However, with BIM360/ACC projects, there is no "Open Detached" concept - so all models are opened "live" (unless you have chosen the project open to only run on "Published Models", of course).
  • - In this case, Clarity will open the model, perform the task, and the attempt to close-and-relinquish any elements that were modified during the process.
• There are also specific task options (such as running a Dynamo Script task with the "Update Live Model" option selected) - which will cause the model to be opened live, and with the expectation that - so long as the task completes successfully - that it will Sync-To-Central the changes that are made by the completion of the task.

So - please use these options with care.