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Ideate Automation
  • How to...

    • Advanced Workflows for Automation

    Configure a recurring Ideate Automation Script

    Schedule Ideate Automation tasks to run daily or weekly without user interaction.

    Language support in Ideate Automation

    Configure your scripts to run Revit in different languages.

     

    Configure a recurring Ideate Automation Script

    Use the Microsoft Windows Task Scheduler tool to schedule Ideate Automation tasks to run daily or weekly without user interaction.

    Review the Getting Started with Ideate Automation video for details on how to create an automation task. The script is shown in the image below.

    Next step: Create a Windows Task

    Copy the Ideate Automation script

     

    Create a Windows Task

    The work described below should be done on a machine where Revit is installed. Additionally the machine must have a cached Revit subscription login. To start the Windows Task Scheduler go to the Start and type “scheduler” as shown, then follow these instructions:

    1. Create a Basic Task
    2. Add a name and description then select Next.
    3. On the Trigger tab, specify the frequency of the task (e.g. Weekly) or select another trigger event. 
    4. Next setup the details of the trigger event such as the day and time of day for the task and select Next.
    5. On the Action tab, select Start a Program, then select Next.
    6. For the Program/Script value paste this information, including the quotes: "C:\Program Files\Ideate\Ideate Automation\IdeateTaskController.exe"
    7. For the Add arguments, either type in the desired text (assuming you are a programmer) OR, use one of the methods below to copy the script to your clipboard.

    Next step: Copy the Ideate Automation Script

    Windows Task Scheduler

    Copy the Ideate Automation Script

    Copy the script to your clipboard:

    or

    Next step: Complete the Windows Task

    alternate copy script method

     

    Complete the Windows Task

    After copying the script to the clipboard, paste the results into the “Add Arguments” text box. Before completing the task creation, check the “Open the Properties dialog...” option and then select Finish. Review the options available on both the General and Settings tabs and make changes as appropriate. The task is now scheduled and can be edited later from the Task Library.

     

    Language support in Ideate Automation

    If you are working with different language Revit models, you want to make sure that Automation launches Revit in the language of your choice. By default Automation will launch Revit in the language it was last run by the user. To ensure the scripts always run with the correct Revit language, add the “-language XXX” (use a code per this article) switch to your script. Note the use of “-” instead of “/” used in desktop shortcuts.

    To edit the script file, open it, find the line starting with “<command Controller=”, then add the switch (see in bold):

    <!-- Start Revit and open the desired file. If this fails, abort the test -->
    <command controller="OS" severity="Error">StartRevit -language DEU -file "$

    {revit_file}

    </command>

    NOTE: Setting the language for one script will make all subsequent scripts without a language switch run in the same language. If you are setting a language for one script, we recommend that you set it for all scripts that you are using, even if it will just be the -language ENU.

     

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