What Command is Executed?

In Revit development, it can be challenging to determine which specific PostableCommandId has been executed. While we can identify which button has been triggered and extract certain constants, correlating these to a specific PostableCommandId remains elusive. The documentation provides a description of PostableCommandId, yet it does not offer a direct method for this correlation.

One potential solution is to create a mapping system by extracting the executed button's Id and binding it to a PostableCommandId. This article explores a method to achieve this by monitoring button executions and building a dictionary to track these commands. By using Autodesk's ComponentManager and RevitCommandId classes, developers can effectively capture and map executed commands, simplifying the monitoring process. Here, I will demonstrate how to extract button IDs and create a command map to efficiently track button executions in Revit.

I believe there are many benefits to tracking which button is executed or which one we need to track. For example, to maintain a clean Revit model, we can allow drafters to sync their model only after certain rules have been met. Even better, we can trigger the execution of specific commands before saving a project.

// run this from any method to monitor buttons executions one time only is needed
Autodesk.Windows.ComponentManager.ItemExecuted += ComponentManager_ItemExecuted;

private Dictionary<string, PostableCommand> IdCommandMap = [];

private void BuildCommandMap()
{
    var commands = Enum.GetValues(typeof(PostableCommand)).Cast<PostableCommand>();
    foreach (var command in commands)
    {
        IdCommandMap.Add(
            RevitCommandId
                .LookupPostableCommandId(command)
                .Name,
            command
        );
    }
}

private void ComponentManager_ItemExecuted(
    object sender,
    Autodesk.Internal.Windows.RibbonItemExecutedEventArgs e
)
{
    if (IdCommandMap.TryGetValue(e.Item.Id, out PostableCommand executedCommand))
    {
        // the Catched command
    }
    else
    {
        // command is from an addin " not a built in Revit command"
    }
}

One more last thing, if the intention to get buttons details then we can extract using the below example, and using the postcommand we can use the Id property to invoke the button execution.

var tabs = Autodesk.Windows.ComponentManager.Ribbon.Tabs;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

for (int i = 0; i < tabs.Count; i++)
{
    var tab = tabs[i];
    foreach (var panel in tab.Panels)
    {
        foreach (var button in panel.Source.Items)
        {
            sb.AppendLine($"Name:          {button.Text}");
            sb.AppendLine($"id:            {button.Id}");
            sb.AppendLine($"hotkey:        {button.KeyTip}");
            sb.AppendLine($"image:         {button.LargeImage}");
            sb.AppendLine($"large Image:   {button.Image}");
        }
    }
}

Another aspect to consider is how to get the command that was executed before running the IExternalCommand object.

You can do this by registering for the ComponentManager.PreviewExecute event anywhere in your code. Make sure that this is done correctly.

public class ApplicationBase : IExternalApplication
{
    public Result OnStartup(UIControlledApplication application)
    { 
         ComponentManager.PreviewExecute += ComponentManager_PreviewExecute;
         return Result.Succeeded;
    }

    private void ComponentManager_PreviewExecute(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
         var ButtonCaller = sender as Autodesk.Windows.RibbonButton;
         AppGlobals.ApplicationName = ButtonCaller.Text;
    }    
}

[Autodesk.Revit.Attributes.Transaction(Autodesk.Revit.Attributes.TransactionMode.Manual)]
[Autodesk.Revit.Attributes.Regeneration(Autodesk.Revit.Attributes.RegenerationOption.Manual)]
public class TesterCommand : IExternalCommand
{
    public Result Execute(ExternalCommandData commandData, ref string message, ElementSet elements)
    {
        TaskDialog.Show("Executed Command", AppGlobals.ApplicationName);
    }
}