Nested Components problem - fresh eyes needed!

[Ian.Kidston]

Hi All,

Attached is a casework family which I am in the process of refining - updating - improving.

Currently, it has three different drawer types (3 drawer, 4 drawer & 1 drawer with microwave over), which are type controlled.

In the family editor as I change from one to another, it works as expected. However when I load it into a project only one (whichever was the last set in Family editor) appears with the others simply coming in as the blank carcass. I am sure it is something simple, however I am going round and round in circles and miss it on each pass!

[Alfredo Medina]

When you want a host family to swap some nested families, successfully, the set of parameters inside the nested elements should be similar, like siblings, so that Revit knows what to do when you use a Family Type parameter and assign a label to the nested element. If you want to swap from drawer 1, to drawer 2, to drawer 3, etc, all 3 drawers should require an equivalent set of parameters. Something like a basic set of "height", "depth", "width" in all the nested elements, that could be easily tied to the correspondent "height", "depth", and "width" in the host family. I think this is the problem here. The drawers and the microwave require different parameters to be created, therefore the family editor gets confused.

[Ian.Kidston]

Mmmm...OK, but I stll don't understand why this should be so given that when testing in the Family editor, everything works as expected and it breaks when brought it to a project environment.

I had thought that I had set up a consistent set of parameters for all elements, but I will go back and look at the parameters again.

[Alfredo Medina]

Mmmm...OK, but I stll don't understand why this should be so given that when testing in the Family editor, everything works as expected and it breaks when brought it to a project environment.

That is possible. Two different environments.

I had thought that I had set up a consistent set of parameters for all elements, but I will go back and look at the parameters again.

Check the microwave family. When I remove that, the family loads the drawers properly. Maybe the microwave needs an extra parameter to be created, that the drawers don't need?

[Alfredo Medina]

Well, I know now what the problem is. The set of parameters is fine. I compared the lists, and the 2 extra parameters in the microwave family were not tied in the host, so those were not the troublemakers.

The problem is this: since your nested families are dependent on the value of the Family Type parameter, you don't need to have 3 visibility parameters, one for each nested family. You only need one, if you want to be able to turn the nested element on or off in the project, and you only need to assign it to one of the nested elements, because all of them use the same Label. You had 3 visibility parameters, and to make matters worse, they were incorrectly assigned.

Solution:

1) Delete your 3 visibility parameters from the host's Family Types.
2) Create a new visibility parameter, instance, Graphics, such as "See object", and make sure it is "Yes" in the tree types.
3) Select one of the nested elements, (any of the 3, not the 3) and assign the nested element's "Visible" parameter to this new "See object" visibility parameter in the host.
4) Load into project.

[Ian.Kidston]

Thanks Alf,

I had sort of thought it was something like that.

Updated family for those interested in before and after.

Cheers,

[elton williams]

Thanks to both you guys, great thread. You've not only explained how nesting works, but also how to setup and parametrically control individual components. so thank you! :beer: :beer: definite POTM material but i dont seem to be able to give rep from my phone :?