Revit Sweeper : Worth While in 10 years?

I have been getting some encouraging comments on the previous Revit Sweeper posts:

From Dave:

Just for fun and to add a deeper level of explanation-
Starting back in the good old days of DOS and perhaps earlier, the wild card character "*" meant search for any number of characters. The wild card character "?" meant search for any single character. So the search string "*.0*.r??" should be interpreted as "any number of characters, period (dot), zero, any number of characters, dot, the letter "r", any single character, any single character. This may very well find Revit backup files, but it has the potential to find other files as well. Also, should it happen that your Revit file has been edited more than 999 times, the first number in the 4-digit revision number would not be a zero, so “.0*.” would not find them. Perhaps your revit sweeper program has greater value than you think.

From David:

To extend what Dave was saying. That search string would also find any other files whose extension (3 letter) started with .R__, see this link for a listing.

So will Revit Sweeper be more valuable in the future? What happens ten years from now and you still have that Revit Families folder and you have managed to edit that same cabinet over 1000 times, and maybe that same window 2500 times?! You will have to do a seperate search for: *.0*.rvt, *.1*.rvt... etc... Also, if you are using a simple program such as Winrar to zip or unzip files... The *.0*.r?? could easily pick up a file called "TestFolder.01.rar" or something along those lines.

It is safe to say that Revit Sweeper does have a place on this earth... As of now, it is for free to download until the bandwith of my free hosting service is full... Once it is full, I might think about charging for the software in order to cover the hosting costs of the file.

So go to Revit Sweeper.com and get your free copy now before it's too late!!

Revit Tip - Delete Backup Files

Well, after months of tweaking a program that I was using as a personal tool to improve productivity and workflow, a wonderful reader of mine decided to crush my every ambition of being a programmer... Haha, okay, that was a little dramatic. I am an honest and ethical man and I felt I needed to post this after being informed.

If you are running Vista or Windows 7, this is a very easy solution (XP can be a bit tedious because of the awful search process involved). Simply search your hard drive for the following terms:

• *.0*.rvt
• *.0*.rfa

*Edit* I have now also been informed that you can type: *.0*.r??

This will bring up your back up files in which you can select all and then delete them. Granted, my program eliminates the need to type this every time and to empty your recycling bin every time (although Sal informed me that pressing "Shift" an then hitting "Delete" will not send the item to the recycling ben. Just when I thought I knew windows!)... But this will allow you to eliminate every single backup file no matter where it is located.

So, anonymous reader, thank you for killing my hopes and dreams. Being an optimist, I will take the good away from this; I am now very knowledgeable about computer programming.

For those of you who do not want to type the aforementioned search filters every time and you have very specific folders to clean Revit Sweeper is now free. Those of you who have purchased it I will grant a full refund at your request.

• Click here to enter the Revit Sweeper mini-site.

Oh, and no, the filter you type into windows explorer is not the method Revit Sweeper uses...

The Revit Kid.com's - Revit Sweeper

While researching Revit API I picked up on some programming languages. Well, it turns out I am enjoying programming quite a bit. I wrote this program in the begninning of the semester. I got so much use out of it that I figured I would share it with the world with the launch of The Revit Kid.com's mini-site: Revit Sweeper.com:

The Revit Kid.com presents:
Revit Sweeper!

Initially, Revit Sweeper was a practice program that I developed in order to hone my programming skills. It turns out that I have found it very useful. I have decided to release it to the public in hopes of making my fellow Revit user's lives a bit more easy.

What is it?

How many Revit projects are you working on? How large are they? How many families are in your "Revit Family" Directory? Now, take the size and multiply it by 4... That is how much space Revit Backup files are using on your hard drive.

Revit Sweeper is a very simple little Windows program that searches a specified directory for Revit backup files. Then, per the users request, deletes them.

Features:

• Search by directory.
• Removes the hassle of control clicking in every directory and deleting Revit backup files.
• Frees up precious hard drive space.
• Works with backup files from all versions of Revit.

Don't I need the backup files?

The short answer, no. If you worked on a family 3 months ago, saved it, and havn't touched it since. You clearly do not need the backup files. The backup files are more of a temporary solution for crashes, power outages, etc... How many times have you deleted those obnoxious "*.0001.rvt" files?

How does it work?

Well, the programmers secret is all he has. I will tell you it uses an algorithm that searches for the backup files.

Known Issues?

I have been using the software quite a bit and these are the two issues I have ran into:

• Right now, Revit Sweeper will only delete files in the Selected Directory and on level of sub Directories. The reason for this was simply performance related. Not to mention a typically Revit Family Directory consists of a root folder, "Revit Families", and one level of sub-directories; "Doors", Windows", etc...

If users run into any issues they must contact me. I will resolve them and release a patch, or new version, as soon as possible. This revised version will be free to all existing costumers.

Click here to see screenshots and videos...

Click here to buy "The Revit Kid.com's - Revit Sweeper v1.0" Now!!