Yep that's the right name for them, good pickup! Viewtype in the API is technically the overarching type such as FloorPlan whilst family type is the name of the view type you set.

Glad it helped!

You're welcome!

Unfortunately it doesn't appear so. Most of the input syntax's were deprecated in a majority of cases. These days I stick with my own package mostly (Crumple).

You're welcome! Man wait til you reach dynamo 2.1+, it's on a whole 'nother level! Hang in there in the meantime.

Haha glad you found it cool!

i also have same issue can anyone tell list of packages to be install

I can see both nodes in archilab under Revit > Views. For reference I am looking at version 2020.23.13, but it should be in later builds also.

Usually this warning means one of the data types is empty or not something the node can process. The most common reason for this in this particular script is you have run the script a second time, so the node outputs a message instead of the viewport (something like 'view already placed'), which cannot have its type set to another viewport type. Try running the entire script in one complete run, or via Dynamo player whilst all views are not yet placed.

@@AussieBIMGuru Hey, I have same problem, but running the script second, third or more time does not solve it. Is there any other solution for this problem? Thanks :)

@@kvasovie it means at least one of the inputs is not correct at the time of running. The elements should be viewports and the parameter value should be a viewport type. Look at the outputs to confirm this is the case, and if it isnt then thats the cause. This script runs best in dynamo player, and all views must not be placed on sheets before the script is run.

@@AussieBIMGuru Thanks for super quik answer! I noticed, that already by Tool.PlaceViewOnExistingSheets it generates 74x 0 value, not sure if that is ok. Then I also noticed, that Sheet.number lists sheet names, even though its linked correctly. Could this be actually the issue?

Possibly, yes the node from steam nodes doesnt work in some versions. Try my node in Crumple (my package) called ViewsToSheets_ByPoint. Always follow the error back through a script as it will trigger more errors as it goes so the first one to solve is the earliest one.

Yes rhythm can create viewports.

Sounds like it's almost there! Glad it helped to that degree at least

I believe it is failing to find an index match from index.of. Are the indices before coming back as a positive number or -1? -1 means no match was found for the sheets or views, cross check that all items find a match. Ideally if your excel data is aligned to project values all indices should find a matched index. Happy to continue via my gmail if it keeps giving errors. Also are you using dynamo 2? Not sure if this works in dynamo 1.

Hi Anders, I got the same problem. The reason was that I had a "spacing" in my sheet numbers which I had to take out and the problem was solved. In the beginning, It wasn't obvious at all... so as Gavin said, it's worth checking that all your items find a match even if the "thing" that differentiates them is some kind of invisible space.

@@douniatouil8114 thanks Dounia, it happens to me from time to time as well! Data is unforgivingly explicit

Youre welcome!

This does work to some degree, but it uses a packing algorithm to place the views so you can't specify the locations exactly.

Make sure you have lists of equal depth (@L2) with equal length (1 sheet/1 view/1point per placement).

@@AussieBIMGuru thanks for the reply, but i don't understand your answer since I'm new at Dynamo. Which of the nodes would check this info in?

@@Adrianplazz12345 check the three lists before you place sheets and make sure they are lists that look the same in depth/length. Beyond that use dynamo forums for detailed help.

Try using Viewport.Create from the Rhythm package instead maybe, the one I use here is pretty buggy these days.

You're welcome!

Yes the package is out of date now unfortunately, try the viewport.create node in the rhythm package instead.

Unfortunately in later builds of Dynamo there seems to be a bug with the viewport collector node - if you email me I can send you a fix to this bug. If you're up to it and want to try to solve it, the trick is to get the element type of Viewport, collect all the viewport types and filter a desired type by running a boolean mask based on their type name, then feeding this through as the parameter value instead.

@@AussieBIMGuru I have done that too. Will send you an email.

@@SrijatVerma replied, looks like it's just a simple case of filtering the viewport types vs. their name. Hope that helps!

Hi! I am having the same issue @aussiebimguru ! I can’t seem to find you email but I would really appreciate help with the solution !

@@AussieBIMGuru Hi! I am having the same issue @aussiebimguru ! I can’t seem to find you email but I would really appreciate help with the solution !

If the excel import is failing I would cross check that the sheet name exists and if it does then try rebooting dynamo, sometimes the node runs into problems when excel is open already I find

That is odd! Maybe try reopening the script - it usually doesn't support multiple runs in a dynamo session. Otherwise, try my custom package on my github (Crumple) where I've built my own nodes that do this as well.

Hi, i was getting exactly the same warning. The problem was that I misunderstood and was not passing “views” and "sheets" to the Tool.PlaceViewsOnExistingSheets node, but rather string values (their names). Now this great script is working perfectly well and making me save a lot of time!

@@rubengonzalez1729 yes using names instead of their related element is a common error even I make from time to time!

@@AussieBIMGuru Hi! I have downloaded and installed Crumple but cannot find the node to replace ¨Tool.PlaceViewsOnExistingSheets¨ which is not working for me either. Can you tell me which node to use, please? I am a beginner so I can get lost fairly quickly. Is it ¨viewports.Createbypoints¨? Thanks!

@@mariavallejos23 yes it is viewport.createbypoint

As far as I know Dynamo doesn't really have a good way to do this, it uses the extent of the bounding crop. The only way I could think of is to union box all the valid bounding boxes in a view's contents and find the centre of that - but it would be a very heavy operation to undertake. If you're game, I have a node in Crumple called 'UnionBox' that does this.

As far as I know there isn't API exposed for it unfortunately.

As I usually use Revit 2020+ this allows legends to be copied to sheets normally but I know in older builds this can't be done, and sometimes automatic placement still has benefits. Sean shared a script over on Dynamo forums for this, I'd try that one out: forum.dynamobim.com/t/place-legends-on-multiple-sheets-with-template-legend/25632 For different scope boxes I would usually name these in a particular way (e.g. Level 1 - Zone A), and you can then use that name in Excel just like any other view. Sometimes I would run the script a few times with different files, so I might place all of one scope box at a time, as they will probably have different viewport centres to guide them to position on the sheet.

Amazing, thanks I'll try this.

This is actually because the node outputs a message for any views that are already placed. Make sure that you run the script in its entirety before the views are actually placed, then it should send viewports out the other side instead of text.

Your elements must be text. Check where they come from in the script - a common cause is feeding in element name instead of the dynamo elements themselves.

@@AussieBIMGuru The elements are coming from Tool.PlaceViewsOnExistingSheets node.

@@alexj6658 make sure you run the script all in one. Once the views are placed, the node outputs text instead saying the views are already placed.

@@AussieBIMGuru Thats exactly whats happening. Tool.PlaceViews is saying that he views are already placed but they are not.

@@alexj6658 strange. Try rebooting revit and dynamo, removing all views from sheets and rerunning. Beyond that I am not sure why - you may need to raise it as a bug with the package developer.

I have also put my question on the Dynamo Forums, forum.dynamobim.com/t/placing-existing-views-on-existing-sheets-with-excel-and-a-reference-sheet/49987

Hi Serim! I would adjust the script so that you either collect more reference views (say up to 3) and in excel specify the index of the reference view for each as an additional column, or you could add X/Y/Z values for placement points fot each view as columns also, then feed these into a point.bycoordinates node to define the placement points.

@@AussieBIMGuru Hi Gavin, I used 1 reference view and an excel file with multiple columns. Eventually managed to filter the script correctly by counting the amount of views to place on the sheets. I posted the solution on the Dynamo Forum post I made earlier! Could you check it out and give me some feedback on my solution? Thanks in advance!

If the viewlist always matches the reference views, repeated item lists are a suitable solution for sure! Also yes, the steamnodes package is a bit out of date - it can be tempremental. If you're curious as to how the node works in Python, feel free to check out my custom package 'Crumple' on my github, which has a pair of nodes dedicated to this workflow.

Steamnodes See 1:08 for custom nodes

Not sure what the error is so not sure what a fix would be...

Viewports are typically positioned by their centrepoint, so you would need to know the position of that for the three views. There are some nodes in R21 onwards that 'pack' views onto sheets (sheet by name number titleblock view(s)), but the algorithm usually picks ugly spots unfortunately. To update the location of a viewport, you should be able to use the 'set location' node i think.

@@AussieBIMGuru yeah, "byNameNumbetTittleBlock" node works randomly, regardless of the number of views. I will use "setlocation" node and try to change the centrepoint. I'll let you know how it works :) thanks!

Hrm steamnodes is a pretty old package now, maybe try the node from Rhythm for this instead.

It has likely been removed from the package eventually as later versions of dynamo absorbed these nodes. I have some nodes to create sheets in Crumple, and you can get sheets using get element by category node in 2020.

I don't understand how to choose a sheet from the project. The "get element category" keeps giving me the error "expects argument type(s)". It can't be this hard to simply choose a sheet that exists in the project :S

@@beezzwax2013 it sounds like you might be quite new to Dynamo (not meant to offend, just to guide) - I'd suggest Dynamo primer is the best place to begin vs full workflows. It covers the way to use all elements of category, as well as indexing. Unfortunately in 2020 there is no Sheets node dropdown if I recall correctly (I don't work any earlier than 2022 these days... it's been a while since I've seen 2020's node library). Dynamo was more new then to Revit so it was not developed to that point. Archilab had a dropdown at that point in time to help with this. I believe the Orchid package may have a Sheets dropdown but it's a difficult package to install. I've checked in Revit 2022 and there is a sheet dropdown in that version. It can be found under Revit > Selection > Sheets. You may find it easier to learn Dynamo in 2022 or 2023 as there will be more nodes available there.

Just to clarify, is the node changing your view names without you telling it to, or do you want to change the view names when they move? I've never seen the node change view names, very odd if so... which version of Dynamo are you using? Maybe send me an email and I can send you my updated script which ironed out a few bugs (but none that renamed views...!).

@@AussieBIMGuru THANKS , Send Email to you . My Dynmao is 1.3.3.41111 & Revit 2018 . and if I free last , I Check all is right .

Strange, if you've placed the view already then re-run the script it doesn't keep flowing data if I recall correctly, it goes back and checks the placement again so maybe it just placed it? Ideally the script should be run only once.

Unfortunately i misplaced these ones and hadnt began using github at the time. I'll likely remake these videos at some point this year though.

If you run the node more than once it will say that typically. Alternatively try the create viewport node from rhythm.

@@AussieBIMGuru Thank you for getting back to me so quickly but unfortunately i have now ended up with a null value

@@user-df5uy2nb5t id say try dynamo forums then, easier to troubleshoot specifjc issues there.

@@AussieBIMGuru Great idea thank you, love the videos by the way they all been great for learn dynamo and helping with everything in revit, much appreciated

This means a match has not been found in the list. One reason may be that the sheet number is being imported as a number, but it needs to be a string. Make sure to import excel data as strings, and check the data types using object.type to make sure they are the same.

I have same issue, and I use Object.Type but nothing change :( .

I have the same issue.. can you please provide a solution for thid

See above solution. Something must not match in the text to what you are comparing between excel/dynamo. Pay care to case and punctuation as well as any language based differences between the programs.

@@AussieBIMGuru thanks

Possibly your Dynamo version. There is another node from the Rhythm package for getting viewport locations I think, maybe check there.

Hi there! Import excel is an out of the box node in versions 1.3 +. I believe before then it was called read excel maybe, but there should always be import/excel nodes of some sort available. You can also find export/import excel nodes that are a bit more advanced in the Bumblebee package.

@@AussieBIMGuru Thanks for the fast reply. I would really appreciate if you can help me with one more issue: everything was going well but I am getting error at List.IndexOf. The value is shown as "-1" imgur.com/a/w7ZeZOK I dont usually subscribe to channels, but you deserve to be subscribed and videos to be liked ;)

Hi there, sorry KZfaq is getting terrible at notifying me of replies - I have to manually go back and check for them sometimes. A -1 index means it found no match, I'd check both that your data types are consistent and that there are no typos/mismatches in the two sets.

It requires a different API method to the one used by this package, which can be found here: www.revitapidocs.com/2015/8402dc3c-8bdc-40f5-be54-da08bc69d0cd.htm I might add such a node in future to Crumple, but for now I believe Rhythm's viewport creation node works for both views and schedules - I assume the author has made a logic gate to catch when it's a schedule and when it's a view.

@@AussieBIMGuru thanks I'll try on Monday and report back. I'll try that creation node. Where would I place it in the dynamo script?

@@fulybuilt it would be effectively the same location as this workflow, but you would need to get the schedule type instead of a view.

@@AussieBIMGuru Hey Gavin I'm not having much luck here i've brought the Rythm viewport creation node into the script and have tried it in multiple locations but I really just don't understand all of this yet as I am completely new to dynamo. Any chance you can help me work through this? maybe you could email me a screen shot of what I should be changing to get this sorted.

I've emailed you

Generally this means there is no matching values. Check spelling and case sensitivity, these are common reasons for this.

@@AussieBIMGuru thanks for the help

I found it can be tempremental sometimes - depends on Dynamo builds. If you're using Revit 2020, I've built my own versions in my custom package here: github.com/aussieBIMguru/Crumple

@Ryan Dempsey unfortunately I've only used this script in 2019+. I suggest using the latest possible version of Dynamk and the steamnodes package for 2018. Try a small test as well (e.g. 1 sheet).

@Ryan Dempsey if you get to 2020 try out my package on my github instead - I rebuilt my own version of the node.

Yes you can place any view that can make a viewport using this type of workflow.

I have a video where I show how to do this in Python instead; kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bNV4n5CCqsrZpKs.html

@@AussieBIMGuru I tried using it but I'm not sure honestly how to combine the the python from the link you shared to the flexibility of this video. I'm well enough to follow along and create what's needed but fixing or altering code isn't my forte. It looks like the Input>Point in Tool.PlaceViewsOnExistingSheets has changed? It states, "Error: This input symbol is not currently valid, and cannot be saved until it is fixed." I've been trying my best to figure it out. This 3 pt series is extremely helpful due to a cruise terminal project and how fast everything can be set up. Minus my current hiccup.

@@josephkirkpatrick345 the problem is the node I used here wasn't maintained by the package's owner. If you don't know how to mod the custom node or use Python try downloading my custom package called 'Crumple', I added it to the manager a few days ago. It contains a fixed version of this node.

@@AussieBIMGuru I figured out how to mess with the custom nodes and know a little python, but not enough to possibly bring it all together in the manner necessary. I'll go recheck Crumple now. I wish more people existed like you!!

The custom package is quite outdated now unfortunately. Maybe try my equivalent node in my custom package 'Crumple'. This one should work.

@@AussieBIMGuru thanks for your quick reply. Already tried that with both of your custom nodes. Still getting the same "null" error although the input lists seams to be fine: Views list has 25 items showing the view names Sheet list has 25 items showing the sheet numbers from Point list has 25 items with the same point coordinates as per the reference view / sheet in Revit. I have also tried manually created input list for view / sheet / point to check if the custom node is working. Still cant get it to work.

@@pauceanu000 make sure the views and sheets are elements and not names. Otherwise it should work.

@@AussieBIMGuru many thanks, that solved my problem and it's all working now. Hooray ! The error I have done was in the final nodes for both Sheets and Views (List.GetItemAtIndex) before the custom node. Instead of feeding the Element, I was accidently feeding the Sheet.SheetNumber name and Element.Name as text. Moving back one node fixed the issue (All Elements of Category / Views.GetByType). For other beginners like myself out there, the difference between text list and elements list is that elements list have a unique number at the end highlighted in green. Bless you man!

You're most welcome! I used to make that error all the time when I was learning Dynamo originally, great tip for others out there.

The one I used here is from Steam nodes, but doesn't work anymore. I added a similar node to my current custom package I make, Crumple.

Hi John, which version of dynamo are you using? I've found the steamnodes node can be quite tempramental. Try running from dynamo player as well - it doesnt work well from native dynamo. I'm hoping to release an updated version of this node as the steamnodes one hasnt been updated for about a year now.

@@AussieBIMGuru I am using 2.3.0, I did run it from dynamo player but still the same, I put watch after ToolPlaceViewOnExistingSheets node and its all null values, maybe something I'm doing wrong? editing the node might have caused this?

@@johnvictorartienda2044 Typically editing custom nodes is risky so it might be that. I'd only do that if you understan the issue 100%. My guess is that edit didn't work. Maybe ask dynamo forums for now and follow my github custom package for when I add the equivalent node to crumple.

@@AussieBIMGuru Hi Guys, thanks for all the great info Aussie BIM Guru. I also get the 'point' input issue. I wondered John if you had found a fix? Aussie do you have a video or guide to your ViewsToSheets_ByPoints node? I get a null response to the viewports and report. Thanks!

@@drummermanjustin no I haven't got one currently, but the most common reason for a null is incorrect input structure. It should be an equal lengh list of views/sheets @L2 and a point @L1 in order to work correctly. Make sure the views and sheets are elements, and no null values are present.

You're welcome! I believe it's complex but possible, there's a pretty intense thread on editing group contents here: forum.dynamobim.com/t/editing-revit-groups-with-dynamo/7736

@@AussieBIMGuru Thank you!

The script is available on my github.

You're welcome! I considered this workflow before, the trick would be that the properties of the view would need to relate to the sheet's number and/or pieces of its name in order to find a match. If you were able to write a matching algorithm (e.g. first digit = level, second digit = view series) then it could technically be auto-matched. Without the perfect data and system though, it unfortunately wouldn't work - data is very explicit in what it expects. Might be worth looking into 'fuzzy logic' and 'f strings' in python to see some 'rough matching' techniques you could explore. Complex territory, but theoretically applicable. If you're simply matching a leading substring in a view name to a sheet number, you could split all view names by the first separator (" "), then take the first match to the sheet number as its respective view, then an equals node or 'index of + item at index' method could be used. Very explicit however, you'd need a sheet number once only per view/sheet match.

@@AussieBIMGuru Thanks for you answer.. This first hypothesis seems very complex to me: /, but the second one seems possible... I just managed to separate the view names with a "string.Split" + "list.Deconstruct" ... The problem is that the order of the elements seems wrong, I will have to study this further (how to match those things) ... Just to be sure that I didn't misunderstand you: what you mean by "Very explicit, however, you need a sheet number once only per view/sheet match " is that if I have a View name with name " 100 - plan 1 "and another one with the name " 100 - plan 2 " and try to get both to be placed on sheet 100 the scripts wouldn't be able to do it and only one of them would be positioned correctly?

@@luupieper a script could be set up to take the first match vs all of them for sure, just a bit more to protect the script.

@@AussieBIMGuru Good Morning Gavin, about the tutorial: I'm back to the main goal (put in the views on the sheets) and I'm trying to make the way you point out in the video (left my idea on stand by for now)... I wasn't able to make it works: "Tool.PlaceViewsOnExistingSheets" node it's null, so Element.SetParameterByName says "Warning: Internal error, please report: Dereferencing a non-pointer"... But I don't get why because all the nodes before these ones appear to be working properly. I'm also having some trouble with the "List.IndexOf" node, cause it's not finding all Sheet Numbers that start with numbers (I noticed that yours start with letters, and I tested it starting with letters and it worked) ... I thought of inserting standard letters with string join or something like that, but I wanted to understand why it doesn’t work when there are just numbers on the Sheet number. For now, I made some tests changing it manualy.

@@luupieper cross check what object type dynamo sees the numbers as - it might not see them as strings if contain no letters. I've heard there are issues with the placement node in various dynamo versions. Will do an update for revit 2020 in about a month hopefully. Be mindful the node typically only works once (for placement) so it cant be run in steps past this node without reloading dynamo session.

Non pointer is quite a generic warning so hard to troubleshoot off that alone. Make sure you feed in views, sheets and dynamo point(s). A common error people make is feeding in view/sheet names and not elements themselves.

@@AussieBIMGuru I replaced the one node with the node from crumple, everythings else remaining the same as in the video. Should that work?

Ideally it should, yes. I havent tested the nodes beford or after revit 2020 so it could be that too. Make sure the data types are all correct and in the form of lists, beyond that maybe edit the node, copy the python to dynamo and see if that gives a more clear warning.

@@AussieBIMGuru You are overestimating my abilities a little...I have send you an email, very grateful if you can help.

@@AussieBIMGuru im having the exact same issue here in Revit 2021. Was there a solution to this? Im probably missing something basic as im relatively new to Dynamo still.

Which part isn't working? As an alternative, Rhythm package has a similar node.

Also I am not getting option of import excel

@@AussieBIMGuru this one I got thanks

Sounds like you're in an old dynamo. Try finding 'read excel' instead.

Thanks Dario. Sure, my email is in the banner!