Inventor API Training

[BrianEkins]

I'm considering developing an Inventor API training course and could use everyone's input about what you would prefer.

I developed all of the original Inventor API training material and used it to teach a lot of classes.  But there was always more I wanted to do but didn't have time.  Now that I'm working on my own I can prioritize things differently and things have a changed a lot since those original classes and there are now new options available for teaching.  Here are some things I'm considering.

1. Video instruction.  This would be many short video lessons along with exercises and tests.  I'm currently investigating the Udemy platform for this but would be interested in opinions about Udemy or other similar services you may have used.
   
   The advantage of video instruction is that it's quicker to get to market and I could have classes available sooner than with other teaching methods.  Video instruction will also allow me to more easily break up the class into modules so that I could release them individually over time.  For example, there can separate classes such as "Introduction to the Inventor API", "Part Modeling", "Assembly Modeling", "Drawings", etc.  By breaking up the material into smaller classes I can start releasing it sooner and by modularizing the topics it benefits students by allowing them to only choose the sections they need.
   
   For me, the big disadvantage of video instruction is that it can be difficult to use as a reference. It can be good to learn concepts but it's hard to go back to when there are small details you need a refresher on. And for programming, I know I continuously go back to my reference material to look up specific syntax or workflows.
   
   
2. Book. An alternative to video instruction is a book. A book is difficult to beat when used for reference.  A good book has a good index and it's easy to mark pages of interest to make it easier to reference in the future.
   
   A big disadvantage of a book is that it takes longer to develop and would be harder to justify breaking up into a series of books to allow portions of it to be available sooner.  With books, there is also the option of an eBook versus a printed book.  Personally, I have a strong preference for printed books and developing the material for either takes the same amount of time.
   
   
3. In-Person Training. Classroom training is what I did for the original Inventor API classes but I think with the wide use of video conferencing "in-person" has a much broader definition now.  A newer training technique of the last few years is the "boot camp" style of training classes.  These are usually several days long where everyone is together at an off-site location and you spend approx. 12 hours per day going through the material.  I've attended one of these classes and found it both enjoyable and also very rewarding. You learn a lot in a short amount of time. I also had the class material to use as a reference after the class. But this type of training is also relatively expensive and requires enough interest to fill a class to make it worthwhile for the instructor.  With the video or book training, the cost is reasonable and you can go at your own pace.

What type of training would you like to see? And what topics are the most important to you that you like to see covered?

[AlexFielder]

I'm thinking that a list of solutions for common workflows pinned here (or somewhere) would enable more people to find the answers they need without double-posting/repeating the questions of others. It doesn't answer your question directly however.

From my own experiences of training Inventor and iLogic, it's always difficult to gauge a trainee's experience/aptitude for the subject ahead of the training course. All too often "I've programmed Inventor with iLogic" turns out as "I copied some code once and it worked" which means you're left either blindly following the (IMHO) not great book content or running users through the basics of Object-Oriented-Programming in just a few hours before ending up creating something super-specific for their needs which in all honesty they probably have very little idea how to maintain, even if it is < 50 lines of code.

This "anyone can program iLogic" problem is how we ended up with an iLogic solution (created by an old employee) for a customer that (whilst it worked) had over 10,000 lines of code. I did eventually manage to reduce the line count by ~80-85% but I think you get the point.

Personally, when I'm investigating a potential solution, I use a mixture of the information here (powered by Google search), a custom Google Chrome search string that gets me information straight from the API documentation and a tool called "Hound" - Hound is a source code search engine that allows you to pull in sources from as many different repos as you have access to (it doesn't AFAIK support tls connections currently, so if you're redirecting traffic to https:// it won't work). I'm happy to share my repos list with the community if people want to use it.

As much as people malign "Clippy", for new users it was an invaluable tool in getting used to the workflows required when learning the Office suite back in the day. Granted, it did get annoying to the point where most people turned it off, but perhaps the hand-holding provided by the "it looks like you're trying to {x}" mechanic could work as an addin or something? (And is almost what the Inventor team has been adding with the "What's new/changed" markers now available in Inventor 2019)

When I first picked up the Inventor API, the "My first Plugin" course that Autodesk published was a great help in getting add-ins running in back in 2009/2010(!) and now that we have the .addin method it's a lot easier so maybe your efforts could build on that?

[j.romo]

Sign Me In for a Book, Besides the points you make in favor, they look great in My Office Shelve.

But A good Video Tutorial is very wellcome i have purchased 2 ilogic trainig videos, they cover the very basics of Programming but dont go far to explain how the Object model Works, I still dont understand very much.

[tolgay.hickiran]

Video Instructions are always useful!

[oransen]

>>I'm considering developing an Inventor API training course and could use everyone's input about what you would prefer.

There's my online help file, but it is for mainly C++ programmers:

Ransen's Inventor CPP programming help file

I've found the most useful thing for me is having an index which points me to code fragments which illustrate how to do specific things.

Owen

[AlexFielder]

Hear, hear to an index of useful code fragments.

It's part of why I maintain my iLogic repo here:

https://github.com/AlexFielder/iLogic

I always tell my trainees that it's not finding the answer that's the problem, it's finding it again.

To that end I used to use Evernote to capture snippets I found useful. But that got unwieldy quite quickly.

Most recently I've been using Hound (as mentioned above) and found it to be most handy.

[tolgay.hickiran]

Awesome share Alex!

[CAD_CAM_MAN]

I believe any format from you would be of great value. As you point out videos are difficult to use as a reference and I do not take very good notes in a classroom setting. I would personally prefer a book or books. Books with lots of well typed examples / snippets and detailed explanations. PDF format to copy and paste, bookmark, or print as needed. Save it to my local hard drive so when our network or internet is down I can still access it!

Look forward to seeing your material whatever you choose.

[oransen]

"Books with lots of well typed examples / snippets and detailed explanations. "

I recently updated my online help for C++ (and a bit of C#) programmers ...

http://www.ransensoftware.com/Inventor-CPP/index.html 

...and I agree, there is nothing like an example to transmit information!

Owen

[DSantos23]

A book like this covering .NET would be awesome...

[oransen]

I'm about to update the C# part of my online Inventor help in a few days, I'll reply here...

[DSantos23]

Thank you for your service @oransen

Let me know if there's room for donations... I'd gladly pay for a book like that so why not donate then right? 

[william]

Video with supporting pdf examples/notes would be great. 
I have used linkedin learning (previously lynda) a lot in the past, and I like their format. 
For someone with no proper training on vb.net and object orientated programming, A useful addition would be covering the basics on this before getting started in iLogic. 

[tomislav.peran]

I vote for videos, I really want to get learning materials about Inventor API and waiting for the book is not a preference.

Also once the book is written I think it is much more complicated to make an updates.

[oransen]

I enjoy making educational materials, don't know why. I've seen such poor examples in the past maybe...!

Donate something to the charity most important to you...

[oransen]

Updated: http://www.ransensoftware.com/Programming_Inventor.htm

[mat_hijs]

In-person training is of course the most interactive way, but you will only be able to reach a small amount of people.

Video's can help a lot, it's often much easier to follow when someone is doing something and explaining what they are doing than it is to follow the same thing when it's plain text with some screenshots. It would also be easier to reach a large amount of people. However, you do have a point when saying that video's can be harder to go back to when looking for subtle details.

A book (and/or an e-book so you can search for certain words?) would probably be harder to follow for newbies, but might be easier for the more experienced among us, especially when going back to find something. The reach for this would probably be somewhere between in-person training and video's.

Maybe some kind of subscription, so you can always update the documentation and people will always have the most up to date version available?

If I had anything to say I would probably go for the book (and e-book), in combination with some video's that actually show some parts that are written in the book.

[DSantos23]

Videos on Udemy or LinkedIn Lynda would be awesome. I just don't know if the demand justifies it from a financial standpoint.