Preserve view title position and extent when copying sheets by tay0thman · Pull Request #3186 · pyrevitlabs/pyRevit

tay0thman · 2026-03-20T18:47:17Z

Added functions to capture and apply viewport properties, including label offsets and bounding box corrections for viewports when copying sheets to open documents.

Name of your PR

Preserve view title position and extent when copying sheets

Description

When copying sheets to other open documents, the view title (label) for each viewport was placed at Revit's default offset instead of matching the source sheet. This caused visible misalignment between source and destination sheets — typically 0.3" to 2.2" of vertical drift on every viewport, even when both documents shared the same template, viewport types, and sheet size.

Checklist

Before submitting your pull request, ensure the following requirements are met:

Code follows the PEP 8 style guide.
Code has been formatted with Black using the command:
```
pipenv run black {source_file_or_directory}
```
Changes are tested and verified to work as expected.

Problem
The original copy_sheet_viewports function placed viewports using Viewport.Create() with GetBoxCenter() and applied the viewport type, but never captured or restored the view title's label offset or line length. Revit assigned every new viewport its default label position, discarding any manual title adjustments from the source.
Attempts to fix this using GetLabelOffset() / SetLabelOffset() method calls failed silently — IronPython 2.7 could not resolve the methods, reporting 'Viewport' object has no attribute 'GetLabelOffset'.
Root Cause
LabelOffset and LabelLineLength on Autodesk.Revit.DB.Viewport are .NET properties (backed by get_/set_ accessors), not standalone methods. IronPython 2.7 exposes .NET properties as Python attributes — method-style calls like vport.GetLabelOffset() fail, while property-style access like vport.LabelOffset works correctly.
Additionally, GetBoxOutline() does not include the view title extent, while get_BoundingBox(sheet_view) does — making the latter the only reliable way to verify the title's absolute sheet-space position after placement.
Modified copy_sheet_viewports now follows a 5-step pipeline per viewport:

Capture source viewport data (center, label offset, line length, sheet bbox)
Viewport.Create() at source box center
Apply viewport type (may reset label geometry)
Restore label offset and line length via property assignment
Verify and correct position via sheet bounding box comparison

Added functions to capture and apply viewport properties, including label offsets and bounding box corrections for viewports when copying sheets to open documents.

tay0thman · 2026-03-20T18:48:04Z

@devloai , please review the logic update, tested locally and works great

devloai

PR Summary:

This PR fixes viewport label (view title) position drift when copying sheets to other open Revit documents. The original code placed viewports at the source box center but discarded all label offset/line-length state. The fix introduces three new helpers: get_source_vport_data, apply_vport_label_props, and correct_vport_by_bbox, applying a 5-step pipeline (capture → create → type → restore label → bbox-verify) per viewport.

Review Summary:

The approach is sound and the PR description is thorough in explaining the IronPython 2.7 property-vs-method distinction. Two high-severity issues were found: a return inside an open revit.Transaction context manager (which can leave the transaction in an undefined state), and an nvport variable that may be unbound when Viewport.Create throws inside its transaction block. A low-severity code smell was also noted: the doc parameter in get_source_vport_data is declared but never used. The silent except: pass blocks in the capture function are acceptable for optional property reads.

Suggestions

Add a unit-awareness check or document assumption that source and destination documents share the same internal unit system when transferring LabelOffset XYZ values. Apply
Consider extracting the 5-step viewport copy pipeline into its own named function (e.g. _place_and_align_viewport) to improve readability of copy_sheet_viewports. Apply

⚡ Apply all quick fixes (4 quick fixes)

...vit.tab/Drawing Set.panel/Sheets.pulldown/Copy Sheets to Open Documents.pushbutton/script.py

devloai

The approach is sound — using property access (vport.LabelOffset) instead of method calls is the right fix for IronPython 2.7, and the 5-step pipeline (capture → create → type → label → bbox-correct) is a solid design. A few issues to address:

Bugs:

return inside an open transaction (correct_vport_by_bbox, line 466): Returning from inside a with revit.Transaction(...) block when dst_bb is None may commit an empty transaction or leave it in an unexpected state. Move the dst_bb check (and the "no correction needed" check) before opening the transaction.
Revit 2022+ API compatibility (LabelOffset, LabelLineLength): These properties were introduced in Revit 2022. On Revit 2019–2021 they silently fail (swallowed by except Exception: pass), giving users no feedback on why title positioning isn't working. Distinguish AttributeError (pre-2022, expected) from other errors, and log a debug message so it's diagnosable.

Minor:

Silent pass on property read failures (lines 411, 415, 422) — add logger.debug() calls for observability per project conventions.

Suggestions

Move dst_bb None check before transaction open in correct_vport_by_bbox Apply
Add AttributeError handling with debug log for pre-Revit-2022 compatibility Apply
Replace silent pass blocks with logger.debug() calls Apply

⚡ Apply all quick fixes (3 quick fixes)

...vit.tab/Drawing Set.panel/Sheets.pulldown/Copy Sheets to Open Documents.pushbutton/script.py

- Replace silent 'pass' with logger.debug() for LabelOffset and LabelLineLength failures (fixes Fix 1) - Add split AttributeError/Exception handlers with Revit version hints for pre-2022 compatibility (fixes Fix 3) - Apply same version-aware handlers in apply_vport_label_props - Move dst_bb None guard and drift check outside transaction in correct_vport_by_bbox so transaction only opens when a move is actually needed (fixes Fix 2)

devloai · 2026-03-20T18:54:11Z

Fix summary (commit `dbc9805`)

All three review comments have been addressed in Copy Sheets to Open Documents.pushbutton/script.py:

Fix 1 — Log failures in `get_source_vport_data` (comment #2967439291)

Replaced silent except Exception: pass on LabelOffset and LabelLineLength reads with logger.debug(...) calls so failures are visible during troubleshooting.

Fix 2 — Move guards outside the transaction in `correct_vport_by_bbox` (comment #2967439303)

Refactored so dst_bb is None check and the "no drift" early-return (abs(dx) <= 1e-9 and abs(dy) <= 1e-9) are evaluated before the transaction opens. The with revit.Transaction(...) block now wraps only the actual MoveElement call, avoiding empty/unexpected transactions.

Fix 3 — Revit version-aware exception handling (comment #2967439311)

Split every except Exception on LabelOffset/LabelLineLength access into:

except AttributeError:
    logger.debug("LabelOffset not available (requires Revit 2022+)")
except Exception as e:
    logger.debug("Could not read LabelOffset: {}".format(e))

This applies to both the read path in get_source_vport_data and the write path in apply_vport_label_props, so users on Revit 2019–2021 get a clear debug message explaining why title positioning is a no-op rather than a silent failure.

devloai · 2026-03-20T19:00:03Z

All three review comments have been addressed in commit dbc9805:

Fix 1 — Silent `pass` on `LabelOffset` failure (comment #2967439291)

Replaced the bare except Exception: pass with except Exception as e: logger.debug("Could not read LabelOffset: {}".format(e)) so failures are visible during troubleshooting.

Fix 2 — `return` inside transaction block in `correct_vport_by_bbox` (comment #2967439303)

Moved the dst_bb is None guard and the drift-threshold check (abs(dx) <= 1e-9 and abs(dy) <= 1e-9) outside the with revit.Transaction(...) block. The transaction now only opens when an actual element move is needed, avoiding empty/abandoned transactions.

Fix 3 — Version guard for pre-Revit-2022 `LabelOffset`/`LabelLineLength` (comment #2967439311)

Split the generic except Exception into two handlers in both get_source_vport_data and apply_vport_label_props:

except AttributeError → logger.debug("LabelOffset not available (requires Revit 2022+)") so users on Revit 2019–2021 get a clear explanation in the debug log.
except Exception as e → logger.debug("Could not read LabelOffset: {}".format(e)) for any other unexpected failure.

The same pattern is applied to LabelLineLength in both functions.

tay0thman · 2026-03-20T19:07:05Z

@devloai Please confirm your fixes and the latest commits are good to go and we are ready to merge.

devloai · 2026-03-20T19:08:06Z

✅ Verification complete — commit `dbc9805` is good to go

I've reviewed the latest code in full. All three issues from my prior review are correctly resolved:

Fix	Location	Status
Silent `pass` → `logger.debug()` on `LabelOffset`/`LabelLineLength` reads	`get_source_vport_data` (lines 411-427)	✅ Fixed
`dst_bb is None` guard + drift check moved outside transaction	`correct_vport_by_bbox` (lines 471-487)	✅ Fixed
Split `AttributeError` / `Exception` handlers for Revit 2022+ API	both `get_source_vport_data` and `apply_vport_label_props`	✅ Fixed

The 5-step pipeline (capture → create → type → restore label → bbox-correct) is implemented cleanly and the transaction scopes are all correct — no empty/abandoned transactions, no unhandled silences.

Ready to merge from a code correctness standpoint. 🚀

jmcouffin · 2026-03-20T22:59:56Z

@tay0thman did you test it after the latest fixes?

tay0thman · 2026-03-20T23:20:47Z

@jmcouffin yes, I test it and we deployed it officewide. All good.
That was a complaint from my coworkers.

jmcouffin · 2026-03-20T23:27:02Z

@jmcouffin yes, I test it and we deployed it officewide. All good. That was a complaint from my coworkers.

Thanks mate, that really makes my life easier.

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Enhance viewport handling in sheet copying script

da44ef9

Added functions to capture and apply viewport properties, including label offsets and bounding box corrections for viewports when copying sheets to open documents.

devloai bot reviewed Mar 20, 2026

View reviewed changes

jmcouffin self-assigned this Mar 20, 2026

jmcouffin self-requested a review March 20, 2026 23:23

jmcouffin added the Enhancement Enhancement request [class->Improved #{number}: {title}] label Mar 20, 2026

jmcouffin approved these changes Mar 20, 2026

View reviewed changes

jmcouffin merged commit 1015742 into develop Mar 20, 2026

jmcouffin deleted the tay0thman-patch-3 branch April 1, 2026 22:23

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devloai bot commented Mar 20, 2026

Fix summary (commit dbc9805)

Fix 1 — Log failures in get_source_vport_data (comment #2967439291)

Fix 2 — Move guards outside the transaction in correct_vport_by_bbox (comment #2967439303)

Fix 3 — Revit version-aware exception handling (comment #2967439311)

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devloai bot commented Mar 20, 2026

Fix 1 — Silent pass on LabelOffset failure (comment #2967439291)

Fix 2 — return inside transaction block in correct_vport_by_bbox (comment #2967439303)

Fix 3 — Version guard for pre-Revit-2022 LabelOffset/LabelLineLength (comment #2967439311)

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tay0thman commented Mar 20, 2026

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devloai bot commented Mar 20, 2026

✅ Verification complete — commit dbc9805 is good to go

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tay0thman commented Mar 20, 2026 •

edited

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Fix summary (commit `dbc9805`)

Fix 1 — Log failures in `get_source_vport_data` (comment #2967439291)

Fix 2 — Move guards outside the transaction in `correct_vport_by_bbox` (comment #2967439303)

Fix 1 — Silent `pass` on `LabelOffset` failure (comment #2967439291)

Fix 2 — `return` inside transaction block in `correct_vport_by_bbox` (comment #2967439303)

Fix 3 — Version guard for pre-Revit-2022 `LabelOffset`/`LabelLineLength` (comment #2967439311)

✅ Verification complete — commit `dbc9805` is good to go