BIMGrove

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Developer Reference

Extending the palette.

Custom Action Packs, JSON palette schemas, and the security model are all first-class extensibility surfaces.

🧩 Custom Action Packs

Implement IActionPack and IPaletteAction in any assembly. Ship a manifest.json alongside it. SHA-256 hash is validated before loading.

public class MyActionPack : IActionPack { public string PackId => "MyFirm.CoreActions"; public string PackName => "Core Actions"; public IEnumerable<IPaletteAction> GetActions() { yield return new PlaceEquipmentAction(); } }

📄 Manifest JSON

Each Action Pack ships a manifest.json. The assembly_sha256 field is validated on load unless allow_unsigned_action_packs is set in security.json.

{ "pack_id": "MyFirm.CoreActions", "assembly": "MyFirm.CoreActions.dll", "assembly_sha256": "e3b0c44298fc...", "entry_point_type": "MyFirm.MyActionPack" }

🗂️ Palette JSON Schema

Each palette is a JSON array of button rows. Rows are family buttons, action buttons, or separators. Action parameters are a key/value dictionary.

{ "label": "Set Sheet Status", "button_class": "action", "action_id": "BIMGrove.SheetParameter", "action_parameters": { "sheet_parameter.value": "For Review" } }

🏗️ Multi-Version Builds

Separate Release targets for Revit 2023–2027. Each links against that version's Revit API. Conditional flags REVIT2025/2026/2027 gate API features.

Compatibility shims (IsExternalInit, PathCompat, ZipFileCompat) support .NET Framework 4.8 targets for 2023–2024.

UI Specifications

Editor layout & dimensions.

Key structural, behavioral, and visual specifications for the editor window.

Window Architecture

TypeWPF Window (modal)
Threading modelRevit API thread (ShowDialog)
PatternMVVM + INotifyPropertyChanged
Slide transitionsConfigurable (enabled by default)

Layout Panels

Palette list (left)~200px sidebar
Tab list (center-left)Scrollable ListBox
Button list (center)Drag-reorderable ListBox
Properties panel (right)Contextual form
Status barBottom — always visible

Fetch Tab Settings (Fields)

Category slots6 slots (OR logic)
Filter rows4 rows (AND logic)
Script slots2 script paths
Template pathsPer-version (2023–2027)

Save & Persistence

Palette JSONWritten on Save button
Meta JSONTab order, format, settings
Config JSONPalette registry, UI settings
Indented outputWriteIndented = true
Developer Reference

How the editor is built.

Key architecture patterns, services, and extension points for developers working with the editor codebase.

🏗️ MVVM Architecture

PaletteEditorViewModel is the single root ViewModel. It exposes ObservableCollections for palettes, tabs, and button rows. Code-behind is limited to UI-only concerns (drag, focus, animation).

public ObservableCollection<EditorTabRow> Tabs { get; } public ObservableCollection<EditorPaletteRow> ButtonRows { get; } public bool IsDirty => SelectedButtonRow?.IsDirty ?? false;

💾 PaletteEditorDataService

All JSON read/write is centralized here. Loads config.json, per-palette JSON files, and _meta.json sidecars. Save operations are atomic — full file written with WriteIndented = true.

IReadOnlyList<EditorPaletteSummary> palettes = new PaletteEditorDataService().LoadPalettes(); _dataService.SaveButtonRows(jsonPath, updatedRows);

🔄 Dirty State Model

Both EditorPaletteRow and EditorTabRow follow the same dirty-tracking pattern. CaptureLoadedState() snapshots all field values. IsDirty compares to the snapshot. ResetToLoadedState() reverts.

row.CaptureLoadedState(); // snapshot after load bool changed = row.IsDirty; // any field changed? row.ResetToLoadedState(); // revert to snapshot

🩺 PaletteValidationService

Accepts EditorPaletteRow objects, produces a PaletteHealthReport. Checks icon paths, source paths, action IDs, required parameters, and meta-JSON consistency. Results scoped by tab.

var report = new PaletteValidationService() .Validate(paletteRows, metaJson); foreach (var issue in report.Issues) Console.WriteLine($"[{issue.Severity}] {issue.Message}");