Deploy & Install: Revit Command Addin Manifest

We talked about the Revit Addin Manifest file quite a while back. We are going to talk about the command type addin manifest format in a bit more detail in this post.

The root node is RevitAddIns for both external applications and external commands as introduced before. The Type attribute of the AddIn node is Command for external commands. The Addin node provides many sub nodes, Assembly, FullClassName, ClientId, Text, Description, VisibilityMode, AvailabilityClassName, LargeImage, LongDescription, TooltipImage, and LanguageType.

The Assembly, FullClassName and ClientId notes are mandatory, just as in the external application addin manifest. It is easy to understand since they are all necessary to identify external applications. The Assembly specifies the full name of the executable; the FullClassName the full name of the external command class, which is derived from the IExternalCommand interface; the ClientId (not AddInId, please note) a GUID to identify the external command universally.
All the others are optional. They either provide a more meaningful button appearance (like images, tooltips, and descriptions) for the command or determine command applicability (like when and where a command is visible and in what situations the command ought to be enabled).

Here is a sample of the external command manifest:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RevitAddIns>
<AddIn Type="Command">
    <Assembly>C:\Temp\RevitAddinCS\bin\Debug\RevitAddinCS.dll</Assembly>
    <FullClassName>RevitAddinCS.ExtCmd</FullClassName>
    <ClientId>5065126b-c524-4837-9ded-d283fb99563b</ClientId>
    <Text>Command ExtCmd</Text>
    <Description>The command ExtCmd</Description>
    <VisibilityMode>NotVisibleInFamily</VisibilityMode>
    <VisibilityMode>NotVisibleWhenNoActiveDocument</VisibilityMode>
    <VisibilityMode>NotVisibleInStructure</VisibilityMode>
    <VisibilityMode>NotVisibleInMEP</VisibilityMode>
    <VisibilityMode>NotVisibleInMechanical</VisibilityMode>
    <VisibilityMode>NotVisibleInElectrical</VisibilityMode>
    <VisibilityMode>NotVisibleInPlumbing</VisibilityMode>
</AddIn>
</RevitAddIns>

The ClientId (not AddInId) is critical. If another external command is given the same GUID, an error message will show up when the command is trying to be loaded into Revit.

RevitAddinWizard provides a Command Manifest Creator which can create a manifest file automatically for any existing external commands in a visual studio project.

Deploy & Install: Revit Application Addin Manifest

Deploy & Install: Revit Command Addin Manifest

Deploy & Install: Revit Addin Roaming Folders

Deploy & Install: The Registry of Revit 2011

Deploy & Install: The Registry of Revit 2012

Deploy & Install: Where Are Revit Products Installed

Deploy & Install: Manifest Navigator of RevitAddinWidget

Deploy & Install: RegEdit Launcher of RevitAddinWidget

Deploy & Install: Revit Locator of RevitAddinWidget

Deploy & Install: Manifest Encoding

Deploy & Install: Manifest Loading

Deploy & Install: Manifest ClientId