pyChai

  

Introduction

pyChai is a free open-source pyRevit extension for Autodesk Revit. It provides a collection of tools, optimizing certain tasks in a Revit workflow.

For detailed documentation, visit Kaadya, where I showcase the journey of pyChai plugin, from ideation to pitfalls encountered along the way.

Take a sip of chai🍵 and relax.

Jump to Install section

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Tools

Currently, pyChai has following major tools under its arsenal, with more tools planned in future -

Tool	Notes	Compatible
Parameter Mapper	Apply values on instance parameters of multiple Revit elements from a spreadsheet file. For detailed documentation, click here.	Revit 2020 till Revit 2027

Parameter Mapper

• The tool speed up the mundane data-entry tasks of applying Revit instance parameter values (string/numerical).
• The values extracted from spreadsheet file (Excel/ LibreOffice Calc/CSV) are applied to Revit element's instance parameters.
• Users have choice to select Revit category, along with choice of Revit instance parameters for applying.
• The tool has data validation built-in, preventing the incorrect data type (string/float/integer/boolean).
• Click here to learn more about the tool.
• Click here to view samples of Parameter Mapper.

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Install

There are 2 ways to install pyChai plugin -

Powershell (recommended)

1. Launch Powershell.
2. Copy the code snippet shown below in the Powershell window -

   irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/smit-8462/pyChai/main/scripts/pyChai_Extension_Install.ps1 | iex

   
3. Press Enter
4. If below message is displayed in terminal, pyChai extension has been successfully installed.
5. You can read Powershell script here in-depth for more information.

Manual installation

1. Click on Code button.
   
2. Click on Download ZIP. It will download the pyChai extension .zip file.
   
3. In File Explorer address bar, enter this folder location -

   %appdata%\pyRevit

   
4. Go to Extensions folder. If it doesn't exist, create a folder named "Extensions".
   
5. Create a folder named pyChai.extension.
   
6. Extract the contents of recently downloaded .zip file to pyChai.extension folder.
7. Now, there will be a python-packages-site-packages.zip file in bin\python_package_zip folder location.
8. Extract the python-packages-site-packages.zip file contents in pyChai.extension folder.
9. In Revit, go to pyRevit tab. Click on Reload button.
   
10. pyChai extension has been successfully installed. Congratulations 🎊!

Uninstall

There are 2 ways to uninstall/remove the pyChai plugin -

Command Prompt (recommended)

1. Launch Command Prompt.
2. Copy the code snippet shown below in the Command Prompt -

   pyrevit extensions delete pyChai

3. Press Enter.
4. pyChai extension has been successfully uninstalled. OUCH 🌧️!

Manual delete

1. Go to the following path, and delete the pyChai.extension folder -

   %appdata%\pyRevit\Extensions

2. In Revit, go to pyRevit tab. Click on Reload button.
   
3. pyChai extension has been successfully uninstalled. OUCH 🌧️!

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Update

Update pyChai extension

1. Launch Command Prompt.
2. Copy the code snippet shown below in the Command Prompt -

   pyrevit extensions update pyChai

3. Press Enter
4. pyChai extension has been successfully updated. Congratulations 🎊!

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FAQ

Caution

I am getting error - ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pandas'

Module import error

Possible causes

1. The site-packages folder might be missing in pyChai.extension folder.
2. Some files or Python modules may be missing in site-packages folder.
3. Low possibility, due to update there might be change in folder structure.
4. The folder locations stored in pyRevit_config.ini file may be outdated/changed.

Solution

Solution 1 - Delete plugin configurations

• Open the following file in Notepad

  %appdata%\pyRevit\pyRevit_config.ini

• Delete the lines containing [pyChaiConfigs], cpython_exe_location, cpython_plugin_lib_location & cpython_external_location .
• Save the file and close it.
• Now, open the "Parameter Mapper" tool, and try again. It will work.

Solution 2 - Replace Python module files

• If issue is still unresolved, try the following steps.
• Delete site-packages folder in pyChai.extension folder (if any).
• Extract the contents of .zip file inside bin\python_package_zip\ to the root (pyChai.extension) folder.
• In Revit, go to pyRevit tab. Click on Reload button.
  
• Python modules have been replaced successfully.
• • Now, open the "Parameter Mapper" tool, and try again. It will work.