Custom Inventor Add-In from 2018 no longer loads in 2020

[Anonymous]

Since upgraded to Inventor 2020, only one of my custom tools has failed to load. When I go to manually change it to load, it switched back to unloaded when I open the add-ins menu to check it.

Here is my .addin file, which is located at C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Inventor Addins

I place SampleTool.dll directly into C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 2020\Bin

<Addin Type="Standard">
  <!--Created for Autodesk Inventor Version 22.0-->
  <ClassId>{bc210232-db1f-4e35-9c46-6f8ec8d2752a}</ClassId>
  <ClientId>{bc210232-db1f-4e35-9c46-6f8ec8d2752a}</ClientId>
  <DisplayName>SampleTool</DisplayName>
  <Description>SampleTool</Description>
  <Assembly>SampleTool.dll</Assembly>
  <LoadOnStartUp>1</LoadOnStartUp>
  <UserUnloadable>1</UserUnloadable>
  <Hidden>0</Hidden>
  <SupportedSoftwareVersionGreaterThan>21..</SupportedSoftwareVersionGreaterThan>
  <DataVersion>1</DataVersion>
  <UserInterfaceVersion>1</UserInterfaceVersion>
</Addin>

Here is my .manifest file before I complied the tool.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">

  <assemblyIdentity name="SampleTool" version="1.0.0.0"></assemblyIdentity>

  <clrClass clsid="{bc210232-db1f-4e35-9c46-6f8ec8d2752a}" progid="SampleTool.StandardAddInServer" threadingModel="Both" name="SampleTool.SampleTool.StandardAddInServer" runtimeVersion=""></clrClass>

  <file name="SampleTool.dll" hashalg="SHA1"></file>

</assembly>

I have not been able to get this add in to load, on any of the computers in our office. Does anyone have any idea of why this would happen?

[JelteDeJong]

You could check dll refrence properties of "Autodesk.Inventor.Interop.dll".

Do you have a try/catch block in you function "StandardAddInServer.Activate()". Something like:

public void Activate(ApplicationAddInSite addInSiteObject, bool firstTime)
{
    try
    {
        // your code here
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
        // or some other way to show what went wrong
        // something like a MessageBox is also greate
    }
}

[Anonymous]

---

@JelteDeJong wrote:

You could check dll refrence properties of "Autodesk.Inventor.Interop.dll".

---

My values for Specific Version and Version match yours, although Copy Local is set to True. Could that cause any specific issues?

---

@JelteDeJong wrote:

Do you have a try/catch block in you function "StandardAddInServer.Activate()"

---

No, this is all I have for that function:

Public Sub Activate(ByVal addInSiteObject As Inventor.ApplicationAddInSite, ByVal firstTime As Boolean) Implements Inventor.ApplicationAddInServer.Activate
            ' Initialize AddIn members.
            g_inventorApplication = addInSiteObject.Application

            ' Connect to the user-interface events to handle a ribbon reset.
            m_uiEvents = g_inventorApplication.UserInterfaceManager.UserInterfaceEvents


            ' Add to the user interface, if it's the first time.
            If firstTime Then
                AddToUserInterface()
            End If

            InventorApplicationEvents = g_inventorApplication.ApplicationEvents

[JelteDeJong]

Im not sure about the best settings for dll refrences. (i just had problems once with wrong dll versions that is why i know its importend.)

The try catch block in VB would look like this.

Public Sub Activate(ByVal addInSiteObject As Inventor.ApplicationAddInSite, ByVal firstTime As Boolean) Implements Inventor.ApplicationAddInServer.Activate
	Try
            ' Initialize AddIn members.
            g_inventorApplication = addInSiteObject.Application

            ' Connect to the user-interface events to handle a ribbon reset.
            m_uiEvents = g_inventorApplication.UserInterfaceManager.UserInterfaceEvents


            ' Add to the user interface, if it's the first time.
            If firstTime Then
                AddToUserInterface()
            End If

            InventorApplicationEvents = g_inventorApplication.ApplicationEvents
        Catch ex As Exception
            g_inventorApplication.StatusBarText = ex.Message
        End Try
end sub

(in my privous post i expected you would work with c#. )  if this work and a exception is catched then you should see a message in you status bar. (usually you cant use a msgbox in a dll therfor the strange construction with the statusbar)

An other thought can u put a break point at the start of you Activate function does it stop there?

Just another tought

[Anonymous]

It's okay, most people here use anything but .NET but this add-in was made a while ago so I just manage with what I have.

I threw that Try-Catch into the sub, the message I managed to capture was: "The type initializer for 'SprayTechTools.Globals' threw an exception."

When I debugged, it got to g_inventorApplication = addInSiteObject.Application and then threw the error.