Addin Button Icon

ravindrathorat — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 07:14:12 GMT

Hi Team

I am trying to crate addin in C#. I have created sample addin. It works too. But I am trying to add icon for button. It not happening. Could you please provide code snippet to add button icon.

Re: Addin Button Icon

JhoelForshav — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:45:33 GMT

Hi @ravindrathorat
You need to convert your Icon to IPictureDisp in the two sizes 32x32 and 16x16. I don't know how you've set it up but I'm guessing you have an ico-file in your resources with these two sizes, or two different files maybe.

I don't typically write in C# but I made an attempt to give you an example here with a converter and how to set a button up:

using System.Drawing; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using stdole; // Step 1: The PictureDispConverter - converts .NET icons to COM IPictureDisp // Inventor's API is COM-based so it needs IPictureDisp, not System.Drawing.Icon public sealed class PictureDispConverter { // P/Invoke to OleAut32.dll - this is the Win32 COM function that creates IPictureDisp [DllImport("OleAut32.dll", EntryPoint = "OleCreatePictureIndirect", ExactSpelling = true, PreserveSig = false)] private static extern IPictureDisp OleCreatePictureIndirect( [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.AsAny)] object picdesc, ref Guid iid, [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] bool fOwn); private static Guid iPictureDispGuid = typeof(IPictureDisp).GUID; // PICTDESC structs describe the picture to COM private static class PICTDESC { public const short PICTYPE_ICON = 3; [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] public class Icon { internal int cbSizeOfStruct = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(Icon)); internal int picType = PICTYPE_ICON; internal IntPtr hicon = IntPtr.Zero; internal int unused1; internal int unused2; public Icon(System.Drawing.Icon icon) { // Convert the .NET icon to a Win32 HICON handle this.hicon = icon.ToBitmap().GetHicon(); } } } public static IPictureDisp ToIPictureDisp(System.Drawing.Icon icon) { var pictIcon = new PICTDESC.Icon(icon); return OleCreatePictureIndirect(pictIcon, ref iPictureDispGuid, true); } } // Step 2: In your Activate method - load the icon and create the button public void Activate(Inventor.ApplicationAddInSite addInSiteObject, bool firstTime) { var app = addInSiteObject.Application; // Load icon at two sizes - Inventor expects both large (32x32) and small (16x16) var largeIcon = new Icon(Properties.Resources.AppIcon, 32, 32); var smallIcon = new Icon(Properties.Resources.AppIcon, 16, 16); // Convert to COM IPictureDisp that Inventor understands IPictureDisp largePicture = PictureDispConverter.ToIPictureDisp(largeIcon); IPictureDisp smallPicture = PictureDispConverter.ToIPictureDisp(smallIcon); // Create the button definition with both icons var controlDefs = app.CommandManager.ControlDefinitions; var button = controlDefs.AddButtonDefinition( "My Button", // Display name "cmd_my_button", // Internal ID - must be unique CommandTypesEnum.kShapeEditCmdType, // Command type "{your-addin-client-id}", // Your addin's GUID "Tooltip text", // Short tooltip "Longer description tooltip", // Long tooltip smallPicture, // 16x16 icon largePicture, // 32x32 icon ButtonDisplayEnum.kDisplayTextInLearningMode ); if (firstTime) AddToUserInterface(button); }

If you don't get it to work - feel free to share more information about your project structure etc. Maybe even share your entire solution. Then I'm sure we'll figure it out

Re: Addin Button Icon

TylerWarner33 — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:17:24 GMT

@ravindrathorat

You can review the sample provided with the SDK that shows how to do this, update 2026 to the version you are using:

%PUBLIC%\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2026\SDK\DeveloperTools\Samples\VCSharp.NET\AddIns\SimpleAddIn

If you don't have the 'Developer Tools' installed, you would run the 'developertools.msi' file, again, update 2026 to the version you are using:

%PUBLIC%\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2026\SDK

A common error that prevents the image from loading is forgetting to include the 'StandardIcon' or 'LargeIcon' parameter when defining the ControlDefinition.

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Addin Button Icon

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