Dynamo wont initialise or run with BHoM

[JeamesH]

Hi there,

When opening Dynamo in any version of revit (2019 through to 2022) Dynamo will not run due to the error below. Dynamo is telling me that it wont initialise because of the BHoM.

I have the latest BHoM version installed 5.0.B.0

The type initializer for 'BH.UI.Dynamo.Global.GlobalSearchMenu' threw an exception.

at BH.UI.Dynamo.Global.GlobalSearchMenu.Activate(DynamoView window)
at BH.UI.Dynamo.Global.Extension.<>c.b__19_0(Object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
at System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseEventImpl(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
at System.Windows.FrameworkElement.OnGotFocus(RoutedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.UIElement.IsFocused_Changed(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.OnPropertyChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.FrameworkElement.OnPropertyChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.NotifyPropertyChange(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.UpdateEffectiveValue(EntryIndex entryIndex, DependencyProperty dp, PropertyMetadata metadata, EffectiveValueEntry oldEntry, EffectiveValueEntry& newEntry, Boolean coerceWithDeferredReference, Boolean coerceWithCurrentValue, OperationType operationType)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.SetValueCommon(DependencyProperty dp, Object value, PropertyMetadata metadata, Boolean coerceWithDeferredReference, Boolean coerceWithCurrentValue, OperationType operationType, Boolean isInternal)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.SetValue(DependencyPropertyKey key, Object value)
at System.Windows.Input.FocusManager.OnFocusedElementChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.OnPropertyChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.FrameworkElement.OnPropertyChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.NotifyPropertyChange(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.UpdateEffectiveValue(EntryIndex entryIndex, DependencyProperty dp, PropertyMetadata metadata, EffectiveValueEntry oldEntry, EffectiveValueEntry& newEntry, Boolean coerceWithDeferredReference, Boolean coerceWithCurrentValue, OperationType operationType)
at System.Windows.DependencyObject.SetValueCommon(DependencyProperty dp, Object value, PropertyMetadata metadata, Boolean coerceWithDeferredReference, Boolean coerceWithCurrentValue, OperationType operationType, Boolean isInternal)
at System.Windows.Input.FocusManager.SetFocusedElement(DependencyObject element, IInputElement value)
at System.Windows.Input.KeyboardNavigation.UpdateFocusedElement(DependencyObject focusTarget)
at System.Windows.FrameworkElement.OnGotKeyboardFocus(Object sender, KeyboardFocusChangedEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs.InvokeHandler(Delegate handler, Object target)
at System.Windows.RoutedEventHandlerInfo.InvokeHandler(Object target, RoutedEventArgs routedEventArgs)
at System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
at System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseEventImpl(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
at System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseTrustedEvent(RoutedEventArgs args)
at System.Windows.Input.InputManager.ProcessStagingArea()
at System.Windows.Input.InputManager.ProcessInput(InputEventArgs input)
at System.Windows.Input.KeyboardDevice.ChangeFocus(DependencyObject focus, Int32 timestamp)
at System.Windows.Input.KeyboardDevice.TryChangeFocus(DependencyObject newFocus, IKeyboardInputProvider keyboardInputProvider, Boolean askOld, Boolean askNew, Boolean forceToNullIfFailed)
at System.Windows.Input.KeyboardDevice.Focus(DependencyObject focus, Boolean askOld, Boolean askNew, Boolean forceToNullIfFailed)
at System.Windows.Input.KeyboardDevice.Focus(IInputElement element)
at System.Windows.UIElement.Focus()
at System.Windows.Controls.MenuItem.FocusOrSelect()
at System.Windows.Controls.MenuItem.ClickHeader()
at System.Windows.Controls.MenuItem.HandleMouseDown(MouseButtonEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Controls.MenuItem.OnMouseLeftButtonDown(MouseButtonEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs.InvokeHandler(Delegate handler, Object target)
at System.Windows.RoutedEventHandlerInfo.InvokeHandler(Object target, RoutedEventArgs routedEventArgs)
at System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
at System.Windows.UIElement.ReRaiseEventAs(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args, RoutedEvent newEvent)
at System.Windows.UIElement.OnMouseDownThunk(Object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs.InvokeHandler(Delegate handler, Object target)
at System.Windows.RoutedEventHandlerInfo.InvokeHandler(Object target, RoutedEventArgs routedEventArgs)
at System.Windows.EventRoute.InvokeHandlersImpl(Object source, RoutedEventArgs args, Boolean reRaised)
at System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseEventImpl(DependencyObject sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
at System.Windows.UIElement.RaiseTrustedEvent(RoutedEventArgs args)
at System.Windows.Input.InputManager.ProcessStagingArea()
at System.Windows.Input.InputManager.ProcessInput(InputEventArgs input)
at System.Windows.Input.InputProviderSite.ReportInput(InputReport inputReport)
at System.Windows.Interop.HwndMouseInputProvider.ReportInput(IntPtr hwnd, InputMode mode, Int32 timestamp, RawMouseActions actions, Int32 x, Int32 y, Int32 wheel)
at System.Windows.Interop.HwndMouseInputProvider.FilterMessage(IntPtr hwnd, WindowMessage msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
at System.Windows.Interop.HwndSource.InputFilterMessage(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
at MS.Win32.HwndWrapper.WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled)
at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.DispatcherCallbackOperation(Object o)
at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs)
at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs, Delegate catchHandler)

[FraserGreenroyd]

@pawelbaran FYI, any thoughts?

[JeamesH]

Hi Fraser,

Ive also tried:
disabling all other revit plug ins (enscape, revizto etc.)
all my revit versions 2019 to 2022 are also all up to date on latest service packs/patches from Autodesk
uninstalling latests beta version of BHoM and installing numerous Alpha versions. same error persists

However still getting the same error. Appreciate any help you or Pawel can shine on this situation.

thanks,
Jeames

[pawelbaran]

Thanks for the nudge @FraserGreenroyd. Have never seen this, but it looks like an error on startup of BHoM UI inside Dynamo (not related to #1303). I am passing the question to @adecler as he did some 99% of the work on this aspect - @adecler, does the error sound familiar to you?

[FraserGreenroyd]

Hi @JeamesH , apologies we've been quite tied up with the changes to Reflection last week. We can't replicate this on our side, can you confirm what DLLs you have in the following folders (@pawelbaran please shout if I've forgotten a folder we should check):

• C:\ProgramData\BHoM\Assemblies
• C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Dynamo\Dynamo Revit\2.0\packages\BHoM
• C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Dynamo\Dynamo Revit\2.3\packages\BHoM

[JeamesH]

Hey Fraser, no worries - thanks for getting back to me.

Dll's in folder look like the following
C:\ProgramData\BHoM\Assemblies

C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Dynamo\Dynamo Revit\2.0\packages\BHoM

C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Dynamo\Dynamo Revit\2.3\packages\BHoM

thanks,
Jeames

[FraserGreenroyd]

Hmm, that all looks to be in order, the 2.0/packages/BHoM/bin folder should contain the same DLLs as the C:/ProgramData/BHoM/Assemblies folder as well, though 2.3/packages/BHoM/bin should only contain the Dynamo_Engine and Dynamo_UI DLLs.

From my understanding from the BIM team, BHoM is currently only compatible with 2.0 and 2.3 versions of Dynamo, and Revit 2022 is using Dynamo 2.5+, but that wouldn't explain why Dynamo for Revit 2019/2020/2021 is throwing the error.

I'm wondering if there's potentially some prior conflict that Dynamo can't resolve - it may be worth cleaning out all of these folders (if they exist) of any BHoM reference:

• C:/ProgramData/BHoM
• C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Dynamo\Dynamo Revit\2.0\packages\BHoM
• C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Dynamo\Dynamo Revit\2.3\packages\BHoM
• C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Dynamo\Dynamo Core\2.0\packages\BHoM
• C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Dynamo\Dynamo Core\2.3\packages\BHoM
• C:\Users[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\BHoM - this one is a very legacy reference and was changed to ProgramData in this work but might be causing a conflict with Dynamo if it exists
• It may be worth checking there aren't any other users on the machine that might have installed BHoM previously to an App Data folder causing conflicts? (It shouldn't do, but I'm scraping the bottom of my knowledge barrel on Dynamo as it is 😭 )

Then once they're all emptied, rerunning the installer (it should ask if you want to reinstall - could ask it to do an uninstall and then a reinstall just to let it clear up anything else that might be conflicting).

If that doesn't work then the next course of action would likely be to try and attach the Dynamo Toolkit as a debugger to the Dynamo start up process to see if it can capture any additional information, but I doubt that would reveal anything more than the original Dynamo output. The frustrating part is, neither @pawelbaran nor I can reproduce the error (which makes it very hard to try and debug!).

[pawelbaran]

Thanks @FraserGreenroyd for summarising our discussion. One thing to correct (and highlight): BHoM UI should not ever be present in Dynamo for Revit 2021 and above. So as another step in the investigation, I would check how does the error occur in the highest versions of Revit - what version of Dynamo are they loading? If it is not 2.0 or 2.3, was there any manual intervention to the assemblies?

I am trying to think of the root of the problem, and as far as the issue makes sense for Revit 2018-2020, it sounds pretty enigmatic for the higher versions 🙈

[JeamesH]

Hi @FraserGreenroyd and @pawelbaran

thanks again for putting so much time into this. I may have found the solution. We actually use a lot of custom dynamo packages (clockwork, rythym, datashapes to name a few) IF I remove all these packages from my custom package path which loads them into Dynamo, BHoM loads fine and dynamo no longer has an error opening.

If the custom packages are pathed aswell as BHoM then thats when the loading errors start. I will go through 1 by 1 and load my custom packages and see which one cause the issues. I will also ensure all custom packages are up to date as a secondary exercise. Happy to keep you in the loop as loading the packages will likely highlight which one is causing the conflict and you may be able to look at it further.

I can confirm 2019 thru 2021 revit and dynamo work fine. Dynamo is obviosuly updated by autodesk vias patch these days. it seems to work BHoM seems to play nicely with Revit and 2022 and dynamo 2.12. will keep exploring but seems like Ive found a way forward for now as the issue seems rooted to one of the other custom packages I use.

thanks again,
Jeames