Check out the Self-Paced Guide “My First Plug-in” presented by the ADN Inventor Team
www.autodesk.com/myfirstinventorplugin
Are you an Autodesk Inventor power user with an interest in becoming even more productive? Would you like to automate or extend the capabilities of Inventor, but are new to computer programming? If so, then this guide is designed for you.
“My First Plug-in” is a self-paced tutorial guide for a smooth introduction into the programming world. This is a “one-stop shop” learning path for users who know Autodesk products but are absolutely new to programming and are thinking about taking the plunge. In this guide, you will be working with the Autodesk Inventor API and the VB.NET programming language.
There are many resources available on the web for you to learn about the Autodesk Inventor API (Application Programming Interface), however, these resources tend to be designed for people who already know programming. This guide is different: it assumes no previous programming knowledge and yet helps you build your first plug-in quickly, without swamping you with details. You will have a working application within an hour of starting this material, irrespective of your current level of programming expertise.
The guide will start by reviewing the benefits of customizing Autodesk software before progressing onto lessons covering the use of the Autodesk Inventor API. The lessons will start by building a working plug-in before covering more detailed explanations of the underlying principles and further developing the application’s functionality.
Product: Autodesk Inventor
Programming Language: VB.NET
Application Programming Interface (API): Inventor API
If you have any feedback on this new guide let us know at myfirstplugin@autodesk.com
this is great, will definitely be checking this out, how come this post is here instead of in the customisation forum?
Scott Moyse
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RevOps Strategy Manager at Toolpath. New Zealand based.
Co-founder of the Grumpy Sloth full aluminium billet mechanical keyboard project
Does this apply to all recent Inventor version? Sorry not read it yet but will certainly be doing so. Great idea.
haven't read it yet, but I love the idea and hope to take a look at it real soon.
Thanks Wayne. I am not a power user. Infact I am barely a newbe user, but being a Solidworks
power user and just learning how to use Inventor, I will take all of the helpful tools I can get my hands on.
I've managed to hack my way through VB.NET via example code in order to streamline my Inventor use but will gladly go through this tutorial.
Thanks a lot Wayne Brill !!!!
Thanks Wayne! I'll check the guide when I've time for it...
Thanks for that, can anyone point me to a manual/tutorial if you want to build an add in that launches from within Autodesk inventor?
I've used the Autodesk template for visual studio which works, but I need to grasp the registering of the dll and how the add in displays in the menu bar.
Thanks
Hi,
If you search the "Mod The Machine" blog you will find many articles on Add-Ins. Lab 10 available in this post will show you how to make an Add-In. (The lab has steps to create a registry free Add-In that adds a button to the ribbon).
http://modthemachine.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/02/inventor-api-labs-step-by-step.html
Thanks,
Hi Wayne thanks so much for the tutorials and stuff you have been publishing! I have been following your posts as of recent regarding programming the Inventor API and its very useful. I have been through the first series of tutorials as well, posted I think in 2011 if I am not mistaken. I have learnt a lot back then and I hope to learn more with this new series. I am new to programming in general and basically started programming VB.net because I wanted to automate certain tasks in Inventor.
I would like to put in a request about programming (in-process) add-ins for Inventor if I may. Could you please give a bit more detail about this topic with more examples and general ideas and concepts? This is still a grey area for me, even after having gone through the lesson you suggested above. For the seasoned programmers out there that’s bumped into similar concepts before during their programming careers it might be a walk in the park. Us noob’s are struggling to keep head above water. Thanks anyway we do appreciate any help we get!
Cheers
Hello
Congratulations it looks like a great post, I want to Know if there's anyway to make a plug-in like a generator, that given such data it can generate a solid body.
Sounds like a great resource! I starded with AutoCad 9 and in my first few weeks I started customizing the menu code to build macros and make AutoCad work better for me. I also worked with autolisp programs to customize how Acad worked for me. I had Acad 2000 LT using lisp routines and tweeked the menu code so hard it screamed. I've worked with Inventor since Series 9 and have often wondered if there was any way of tweeking Inventor to make it more useful to me. I'm now working with 2015 Pro. and hitting walls with things I would like it to do for what I work with.
So where do I find this guide so I can start tweeking Inventor?
Frank
I think this needs to be updated. Entering the address given in the video:
..redirects to https://www.visualstudio.com/en-US/products/visual-studio-express-vs
Which of these versions on this page do I download?
Hi,
I would get Visual Studio Community:
"Visual Studio Community has all the features of Express and more, and is still free"
If you don't want Community, "Express for Desktop" will work.
Thanks,
Wayne
Thank you. Not having ever used this, are there significant differences with the interface that may confuse a total newb (...translated "me"...?
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