Inventor AddIn with .NET Core 3.1 or .NET 5.0

[mr]

Hey Community,

In the past I wrote some specific AddIns for Inventor, especially for our company.

Now I want to start with new ideas for some AddIns and I'm not sure wich framework I should or can use.

My Idea is to use the .NET Core framework because of some special benefits with it, but I'm not sure wether Invetor supports AddIns written in this framework.

Has someone used this framework before and can report some positiv experience with it?

I just want to avoid trouble by using an unsupported framework for my AddIn.

[bradeneuropeArthur]

Make a copy of your project and test it out.

I think it will work!

[mr]

This is what I have done in the meantime, but the result is not as I desired.

I used a new untouched original visual studio project template from the Inventor SDK 2022 and converted it to several standards with the folliwng results:

- .NET Core 3.1:

The AddIn is listed in the Inventor extensions list, but Inventor isn't able to load the AddIn.

- .NET 5.2:

Same as for .NET Core 3.1

- .NET Standard 2.1:

The AddIn is listed and Inventor is also able to load the AddIn, but if I add the EntityFramework.Core from the NuggetPackages, without using it, Invetor isn'T able to load the AddIn anymore

For now I'm sure if I did something wrong, or if Inventor simply does not support this frameworks.

[jjstr8]

I'm not surprised that a .NET Core/5 addin wouldn't load.  Have you tried adding EntityFramework to a .NET Framework addin?  I'm currently using VS2019 with .NET Framework 4.7.2 for IV2019.

[mr]

What's the reason you're not surprised that .NET Core / 5 didn't work with Inventor?

I've already added EntityFramework 6 to my .NET Framework 4.8 project, but I also have problems using some of the features of EntityFramework.

The reason I choose .NET Core / 5 is because I start with some new ideas and a new project. And I think .NET Core / 5 is a future-proof framework.

I just want to avoid my add-in being based on an old, unsupported framework in a few years time.

[jjstr8]

My surprise is not really based on anything concrete, just past occasions where Inventor gets touchy with certain implementations in addins. At this point I'm not worried about .NET Framework going away anytime soon. Even with 4.8 being labelled as the "final" version, Microsoft is not setting an end date for Framework. That being said, I hope we can jump into .NET 5.0 addins without much headache. I don't have DB needs for Inventor addins, but I've done a little EF6 outside of that. I suggest posting your issue, you might get a response.

[pockybum522]

Take a look at: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ilogic-api-vba-forum/inventor-net-5-add-in-net-core-followup... for a working (Albeit VERY basic .NET 5 Add-In)

[pockybum522]

I was informed that my project was still a .NET Framework app. No idea how that happened. I have done more research and take a look in that thread and there should be what you want now with a true .NET 6 app