A Wizard for Inventor .NET Addin Development

It is a user-friendly multi-page and real-sense wizard for helping program Inventor .NET Addins.  The latest version is Inventor .NET Addin Wizard 2015 (InventorNetAddinWizardPro 2.x).  It can be downloaded if the left image below being clicked.  It can be purchased on right if proper information being input and the Buy Now button pressed. 

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• Developers can specify which Inventor product and version to work with.

• If the particular Inventor version has some flavors such as Inventor Standard or Inventor Professional, they will be listed out too for people to choose.

• The specified Inventor executable can be launched automatically from the Visual Studio debugger if opted.

• The Inventor API COM Interop assembly is defaulted to the one residing in the Inventor installation folder and can be changed to any other good.

• The specified Inventor API COM Interop assembly will be referenced into the project automatically.

• An Inventor file such as a part file (.ipt) and an assembly file (.iam) can be specified for the Inventor to load automatically at start up.

• The Inventor Application Addin Server (Inventor.ApplicationAddInServer) is supported and can be generated with a different class name from the project name.

• The GUID of the Inventor Application Addin Server is provided a default value and can be changed to anything else valid in case the naming convention for the GUIDs is followed.

• An Inventor Addin manifest file if applicable will be created automatically with all necessary nodes properly filled out during the Visual Studio project creation.

• A copy of the same Inventor Addin manifest file will be deployed into the right spot (the proper user roaming folder) automatically during the project creation.

• A link to the copy of Inventor Addin manifest file will be added to the project in case review or update is necessary in the future.

• The display name and the description of the Inventor Addin in the manifest file are provided with some default values and can be changed to something more meaningful in the wizard.

• The Addin data version, UI version, supported version greater than and less than, user un-loadable, and hidden or not can all be specified in the same wizard page.

• The Addin load behavior such as ‘Load on Inventor Startup’ and ‘Load on Demand’ can be chosen from all good options at the same time.

• Not only the ClassId and the ClientId nodes of the Addin manifest file will be filled out properly and automatically but also the Assembly node will have the full path and name of the resultant Inventor addin DLL.

• For Inventor versions that do not support the manifest file (.AddIn) or COM Free Registration, the COM Interop Registration approach will be used intelligently.

• The Inventor Ribbon UI is supported.

• The Inventor Ribbon environment such as Part or Drawing can be specified.

• A Ribbon Panel with many good options will be created and added into the specified Inventor Ribbon environment automatically.

• The Ribbon Panel name and client id are provided with some good default values and can be changed to anything else more meaningful.

• A Ribbon Button with many good options again will be created and added into the Ribbon Panel just created as above.

• The Ribbon Button display name, description, and tool-tip can be specified in the same wizard page.

• The Ribbon Button internal name will be created automatically based on a good naming convention.

• The Ribbon Button will be provided a nice default icon and it can be changed to anything more meaningful once again.

• The Ribbon Button creation is optional and not forcible.

• The addin assembly name can be different from the project name at the project creation time.

• The resultant Inventor Addin assembly can be registry free depending on the Inventor product and version selection.

• A lot good and necessary namespaces are imported into the auto-generated source files automatically and ready to use right away.

• Many reusable global objects such as the Inventor Application object and the Addin Server class ID are cached in a good central class.

• Inventor Ribbon Button callbacks are also organized into a central place class automatically.

• An Inventor Button helper class is provided and it contains a lot reusable good properties, methods, and signatures.

• No redundant namespaces will be added for the addin server class and those helpers.  Only good and necessary namespaces will be added to avoid confusion in case the assembly needs to be referenced into some other projects with the same programming language or different.

• Dozens of Inventor API Event Handler item wizards are provided.

• C#, VB.NET, and C++/CLI languages are supported for the project wizards and the former two for all other wizards, coders and widgets.

• Both Visual Studio fully fledged editions and Community ones are supported by the same package.

• Visual Studio 2015, 2013 and 2012 are supported in a single package.

• Both 32 bit and 64 bit environments are supported.

• Many different Inventor versions are supported, e.g. 2019 back to 2010, by a single wizard.

• Manifest Navigator Widget is provided.

• RegEdit Launcher Widget is provided.

• Inventor Locator Widget is provided.

• Data Collector Coder is provided.

• Ribbon Creator helps generate Inventor Ribbon code.

• MiniToolbar Creator helps generate Inventor MiniToolbar code.

• AppMenu Appender helps generate Inventor Application Menu (File Browser) code.

• QAT Appender helps generate Inventor QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) code.

• AddinServer Updater helps update the GUID of Inventor AddinServer class.

• Namespace Replacer helps replace namespaces.

• Transaction Starter helps generate Inventor .NET transaction usage code.

• ErrorManager Manager helps generate Inventor .NET ErrorManager usage code.

• Assembly Occurrence Looper helps generate Inventor .NET occurrence iteration code.

• Assembly ReferencedDocument Looper generates .NET Referenced Document iteration code.

• Assembly ReferencedFile Looper helps generate Inventor .NET Referenced File iteration code.

• LIB Locator helps locate the Inventor .NET library.

• LIB Organizer helps organize all available Inventor .NET libraries.

• LIB Upgrader helps upgrade the Inventor .NET assembly reference.

• Project Inspector retrieves important information of the current Inventor .NET Addin project.

• Manifest Verifier verifies the external manifest file (.addin).

• Manifest Deployer deploys the external manifest file (.addin) if any in the current project.

• Debug EXE Setter sets the Debug Executable project setting.

• Many other coders and widgets are provided, e.g. Import Images, Backup Project, etc.

 

Download Inventor .NET Addin Wizard  

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Comments

[Daniele Piazza]

Hi, I've just installed the add-in wizard. In VS2008/VS2010 I receive an error when creating the new project: "Value cannot be null. Parameter name: path1

[Spiderinnet2]

The issue has been fixed in the 0.1.1 build. Please find and download it from the same link. Let's know how it works this time.

[Noctiscross]

Hi, I´ve just installed the add-in wizard in VS2010.
I reveive an error when creating or debugging the project:

Der Befehl ""C:\Program Files\InventorNetAddinWizard\Bin\mt.exe" -manifest "C:\Users\*****\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\InventorNetAddinCS2\InventorNetAddinCS2\InventorNetAddinCS2.X.manifest" -outputresource:"C:\Users\*****\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\InventorNetAddinCS2\InventorNetAddinCS2\bin\Debug\InventorNetAddinCS2.dll";#5" wurde mit dem Code 216 beendet. InventorNetAddinCS2

[Spiderinnet2]

It's weird. It works well on my side in the VS2010.

Not sure if you were trying the latest build which is #0.1.1. The early build 0.1.0 did have some issues as reported by Daniele. If you already have the new build but still get the problem, there might be something that the InventorNetAddinWizard hasn't been fully tested on yet such as some non-popular OS, Inventor, 32bit environment or even hybrid.

By the way, since the MT.exe is to make the Inventor .NET addin assembly registry free which is only supported by the Inventor 2012 and onward, please double check not an old version is used.

If these are not helpful enough, would you mind providing some detailed such info then?

[Spiderinnet2]

Hi Noctiscross again, just in case, the Visual Studio Express is supported as well. Just tried it in the VBE 2010 and the Inventor 2012 on Windows 7 64bit and found eveything worked well there too. The auto-generated project compiled well, was ready to be launched by the Inventor from the debugger window, and even could be debugged in the VBE without any necessary manual tweaks or hacks.

[Noctiscross]

Sh... Using IV2011...
How can I get a registered Version without using the mt.exe?
I tried to delete the entry

""C:\Program Files\InventorNetAddinWizard\Bin\mt.exe" -manifest "$(ProjectDir)InventorNetAddinCS5.X.manifest" -outputresource:"$(TargetPath)";#5"

Is this correct or do I have to change any other settings?

Thx 4 your help!

[Noctiscross]

P.s.
Using win7 32bit with IV2011

[Spiderinnet2]

Ah, that' why.

Yes, remove the mt.exe please. However, those registry keys have to be added manually for inventor 2011. 32 bit Win7 should be fine.

[Daniele Piazza]

I installed the #0.1.1 but still no way to load the add-in. VS2010 complains "The Add-in 'Inventor .NET Addin Coder' failed to load or caused an exception" and ask to remove the addin. No error message, Error number: 80040154.
I checked your dll's using reflector but everything seems fine about dependencies. Win7 x64, Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2010 Version 10.0.40219.1 SP1 Microsoft .NET Framework Version 4.0.30319 SP1Rel.

[Spiderinnet2]

Daniele, please try the latest build with #0.4 which can be found from the same link.

It has addressed some issues, reported or not. Its Inventor Addin project wizard has been enhanced to support COM registration for Inventor versions older than 2012 and fully tested in many Inventor versions from 2009 onward to 2013 running on Windows 7, Vista, or XP with 64-bit or 32-bit chips.

It also provides many item wizards, mostly about Inventor API Event Handlers. Enjoy!

[Spiderinnet2]

Noctiscross, please try the latest build with #0.4. It has fixed the issue you spotted, supported the COM registrations of Inventor 2011 and older, and much more ...

[Doug Gesler]

Very nice project you have going here. I've run into a slight problem and I know there is probably not an answer. But thought I would ask anyhow. I'm running Inventor 2012 and used your project to create an add-in to start a dialog. However that dialog has references to .net 4.0 framework and this requires 3.5 to load. Any solutions you heard of? I cannot change the references from .net 4.0. I've got another application that starts and monitors Inventor and it is 4.0. Your addin won't even load when compiled with 4.0.

[Spiderinnet2]

Doug, your guess was right. There's no good solution about it if the Inventor 2012 has to be used. The limitation is imposed by the Inventor 2012 instead of by our Inventor .NET Addin Wizard (InventorNetAddinWizard).

If the Inventor.exe.config were examined, things would be clear:

"Since Inventor 2012 is an unmanaged application that's built against .NET 3.5, we need to explicitly identify the framework version to use. Otherwise, it will pick up the latest version that's been installed."

You may want to uncomment the supportedRuntime version node in the file and change it to 4.0 to see if helps. However, doing so may prevent other addins built with .NET Framework Runtime versions other than 4.0 from loading.

You can try the Inventor 2013 which should load addins built with .NET 4.0 if it's an option for you.

[Doug Gesler]

Thanks for looking into it. I did try the supportedRuntime in the config, with no avail. I had to create 3.5 projects alongside the 4.0's and setup a build configuration in a new solution to use those. Works fine, just when I add/remove files, I'll have to do the same in 2 project files..small price to pay for now. Wish I could go to 2013, but maybe someday.

[Spiderinnet2]

Doug, glad to hear you found a solution about it.

[Mike]

Hi, I've just installed the add-in wizard. And in VB 2010 Express I get an error when trying to create a project: "Value cannot be null. Parameter name: path1".
I'm on Win7 64-bit (Swedish).
I downloaded it today from the link above.

[Spiderinnet2]

Hi Mike, tried the project wizard in the VB Express 2010 running on Win7 64bit on my end and succeeded. I am about to post something in detail about it soon.

It does not seem the Swedith OS matters. By the way, has any Inventor installed on your end? If some screenshots along with some details such as at which wizard page the error comes out could be provided, it would be helpful for trouble shooting. Thanks.

[Mike]

Hi, I have 3 versions of Inventor installed 2011-2013. The error occurs direct as I click OK on the 'New Project' page.
Is it my multiple installations that screws things up ?

[Spiderinnet2]

No. Multiple Inventor installations are fine and that's what the wizard is supposed to work with. On the other hand, if no Inventor installed at all, some issues might happen but that situation does not make much sense.

As mentioned earlier and demonstrated in the latest post, the same wizard worked well on my side for the VBE 2010. One thing I remember is that both Visual Studio and Express need the SP1 to be applied to work reliably. If it's something you haven't tried yet, it may be worth of. If it's already done, maybe you can try the same steps in VC# Express 2010 and see how things behave there.

[Mike]

Hi again, I installed VC# Express 2010 added SP1 but I get the same error as in VBE.

[Spiderinnet2]

Another thing you could try is to install VSE 2008 as well and see if things improve. The wizard may depend on something of that version.

[Mike]

Hi, I got it to work on a different computer.
Inventor 2011-2013 was allready installed, I installed VBE 2010 and the wizzard and everything worked. One difference as I see is that my main computer has a lot of programs installed and the other computer was clean with only inventor installed. Maybe a software conflict? If I ever figure it out i'll post it here. BTW the wizzard is great.

[Spiderinnet2]

Glad to hear you got it work and liked it! Welcome any other feedback in the future.

[Humberto]

Hi, I've just installed the add-in wizard #0.4. In VS2010 SP1 Inventor 2013 .net 4.0 framework I receive an error when creating the new project: "Value cannot be null. Parameter name: path1

[Spiderinnet2]

Reproduced the problem. It seems the build #0.4 does not work with the .NET 4.0 well during the project creation. It works with earlier versions though. The problem will be fixed in the next build.

Currently, please set the .NET Framework target as 3.5 in the New Project dialog before creating the addin using the InventorNetAddinWizard. After the project being succeesuffly created, please switch back to the .NET 4.0 manually. Then things should be fine.