Add-In Integration

Developers add functionality by creating and implementing External Commands and External Applications. Revit identifies the new commands and applications using the Revit.ini and .addin manifest files. The Revit.ini entries that were used in Revit 2010 and earlier will continue to work with legacy functionality in 2011, but we recommend developers transition to .addin files as .ini support will be removed in a future release. Additionally, some newer functionality, such as the use of Updaters, will only work when using .addin manifest files.

• External Commands appear under the External Tools menu-button on the Add-Ins tab.
• External Applications are invoked when Revit starts up and unloaded when Revit shuts down

This chapter focuses on the following:

• Learning how to add functionality using External Commands and External Applications.
• How to access Revit events.
• How to customize the Revit UI.