Pen Sets and XML files

[NandoMogollon]

Hi All,

Is there a way to save XML files in a format / Data Scheme that works for Pen Sets?

In case you're interested in the context of this:

Inspired by Revit's BIM Link Add In, I tried this:

• Export a Pen Set from the Attribute Manager as xml.
  Open the xml file in Excel, then modify what ever I needed, and save it.
  Import the modified xml into AC via the Attribute Manager.

The problem so far: when you open / save the xml from excel, it changes its data scheme, so you can't read it anymore from the Attribute Manager.

As an alternative I just opened the xml in NotePad and did a quick find & replace for what I needed.
This worked but it gives me the feeling that I could do much more with the xml files say in excel.

By the way I'm going to make a wish out of this...

[Anonymous]

Hey there!

Were you able to solve this?

[furtonb]

Sidenote: this wish could be made for attributes in general (for layers, bMats, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Hi,

It's good to hear that you were able to open this XML in Exel. Which version did you use?

Generally, I tried with full attribute structure and Exel 2007. Exel was not able to do deserialize XML properly. It's just too complex for the basic importer in Exel. What you need to do is to use VB or C# script at least to read XML from a file and simplify it to the table structure.

However, if you are able to open it modify and save according to proper XSD scheme then theoretically it should work. What I noticed that sometimes header gets wrong and you need to copy paste it for the original file.

I don't know Revit's BIM Link functionalities but as far as I googled It's not only Pen Sets but zone schedule etc. It would be good to know what would you like to achieve. It sounds like most of this stuff you can do with schedules import/export.