# Element Parameter Value --\> String Conversion Issue

**URL:** <https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/element-parameter-value-string-conversion-issue/100622>\
**Category:** Revit\
**Created:** [April 22, 2020, 3:40am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/element-parameter-value-string-conversion-issue/100622 "2020-04-22T03:40:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![coby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/coby/32/506582_2.png) [@coby](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/coby)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 3:40am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/element-parameter-value-string-conversion-issue/100622/1 "2020-04-22T03:40:33Z")

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I used the Rhino.Inside ‘Get Element Parameter’ component to extract specific parameter values. However, for some reason the output does not think it’s a string, even when I feed it through a Text node. at the next component I always get a ‘Invalid Cast: String \>\> String’ error.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/3X/6/9/6970ab7327663c4a33c3403a35e8e1f32d74197f.png)

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**Author:** ![Rickson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/rickson/32/690545_2.png) [@Rickson](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/Rickson)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 11:12am UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/element-parameter-value-string-conversion-issue/100622/2 "2020-04-22T11:12:36Z")

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its the null items, they aren’t removed by clean tree either. Sort of like an `<empty> ` list but a little nastier.

text length will give you a real null to cull by.

Btw, the Get/Set parameters are extremely slow (its deep in the database), Inspect Element will be a lot quicker.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/uploads/default/original/3X/8/8/88bf3975e8d4a735a219f32048dcb079513d5fdd.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![coby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/coby/32/506582_2.png) [@coby](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/coby)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/element-parameter-value-string-conversion-issue/100622/3 "2020-04-22T16:42:48Z")

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Oh man, yeah Inspect Element really wins out aside from being a large component once you active all parameters. Also, I was able to get the Cull to work using text–\> Null Item and then using the Invalid Item output but your way with the text length is equally good (if not slightly faster). Thx!

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**Author:** ![eirannejad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/mcneel/user_avatar/discourse.mcneel.com/eirannejad/32/477962_2.png) [@eirannejad](https://discourse.mcneel.com/u/eirannejad)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 4:48pm UTC](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/element-parameter-value-string-conversion-issue/100622/4 "2020-04-22T16:48:11Z")

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See this also for upcoming feature (Cull Null)

> [@Geometric Element Component Missing?](https://discourse.mcneel.com/t/geometric-element-component-missing/100079/2):
>
> Hi, We renamed it to reflect better what it does, but we forgot the icon. It should allow you to reference any Graphical Element from the Revit document, by Graphical means that it has a graphical representation in the Revit View. We also added some new features to it. Now it allows you to collect Graphical Elements from a saved Selection Filter or in a Rule-based Filter you have saved in you Revit model. Also since Grasshopper can manage elements from diferent documents in the sa…