Revit API 2011: User Interface Changes/Improvements

The 2011 API has a variety of interesting enhancements in the ribbon user interface – making it possible to build applications which more closely match the look, feel and capability of native Revit commands (aside from being relegated to the Add-Ins tab).
In 2010, the first Ribbon release, the API already had access to controls such as:
• RibbonPanel
• Pushbutton
• Stacked Pushbutton
• Pulldown Button
What is new in 2011 are a wide variety of new controls and constructs in the ribbon:
• Combo Box
• SplitButton (like a Pulldown button, but it has a default action)
• TextBox
• SlideOut
I created the following sample ExternalApplication which illustrates the different controls now possible:

Figure 1
If the user has added a SlideOut to the RibbonPanel, any additional controls will be only available on the SlideOut panel – available when you click the down-arrow to the right of the Ribbon Panel name.

Going Deeper
Beyond the new controls, there are some new capabilities a level deeper:
• Images on Pulldown buttons
• Tooltips and Long Descriptions – to provide more detail on how to run your command.
• Tooltip Images – to provide a graphic for your command – a picture is worth a thousand words

General Availability
Another new feature in 2011 is the ability to have an interface (IExternalCommandAvailability) which implements a check for whether your command should be enabled or disabled.
This is useful if your command should only be available in a 3D View, or only if the user has filled out the setup/preferences dialog, or only if they user has pre-selected a certain category of elements. The command will be automatically enabled/disabled as appropriate.
The TaskDialog
One of the new core capabilities of Windows (starting in Vista) is an upgrade for the venerable MessageBox – called the TaskDialog. Revit now provides the TaskDialog on a platform-independent basis. The TaskDialog has all of the capabilities of the old MessageBox, but also has new and interesting capabilities like:
• Expanded Content (visible when the user expands it)
• As many or few buttons as you’d like (Yes/No/Close/Retry/About/etc).
• Up to 4 Command Link buttons with supporting text.
• Checkbox with verification text
• Footer text
Here’s an example showing a bit of everything:

The code required to do a TaskDialog is pretty straightforward:
TaskDialog td = new TaskDialog("Hello World");
td.MainContent = "This is main content";
td.ExtendedContent = “This is shown on demand”;
td.Show();
// or, alternatively – you can use a static method, if you only need the basics:
TaskDialog.Show("The Title", "The Main Instruction");
Conclusion
Revit 2011 provides a good number of new controls and capabilities – it’s nice to be able to make applications that have the feel of native Revit commands.
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