An excellent description of the learning process Darren!!!
(I, myself have a legible keyboard permanently embedded into my forehead)
--
Perry Leets
Inovec Optimization and Control Systems
Eugene, Oregon
"Darren J. Young" wrote in message
news:MPG.1a71c0f6efaf94869896c3@discussion.autodesk.com...
> > API code can be lengthy and has a higher level of difficulty and
hierarchy. Is there not just a simple VBA/IV book?
>
> I think you're misunderstanding slightly. API stands for Application
> Programming Interface. That's what VBA inside Inventor does. VBA,
> AutoLISP, ARX in AutoCAD, they are all APIs.
>
> A book in VBA/Inventor would be an API book.
>
> > Without books, where did you guys learn your stuff?
>
> If you want to know how to program inventor. Pick up a good book on
> Visual Basic. (I learned from VB in 21 days but as Sean said, it takes
> more than 21 days).
>
> Once you know the programming language, you need to use Inventor's
> Object Model with it. If you have documentation of the object model, you
> theoretically can program any software be it AutoCAD, Excel, Outlook or
> Inventor.
>
> The trouble with Inventor is that internally, it's a complex application
> despite having a great easy to learn GUI (Graphical User Interface).
> Inventor's Object model is complex and it takes a lot of trial and error
> for all of us for much of it. The rest is learned from other people
> who've done the "trial and error" method on something before you did.
>
> As an example, an Inventor IDW to AutoCAD DWG conversion utility I wrote
> about 6 months ago was written by a combination the following...
>
> 1) Prior knowledge of Visual Basic and Win32 programming
> 2) Prior AutoCAD VB experience (learned at the time from others and
> trial & error)
> 3) Inventor code I examined from I believe Kent Kellers site.
> 4) A web site explaining how to launch an ActiveX.Exe process so that
> the actual processing of the files were done in a separate memory thread
> so that the main interface didn't bog down because of the heavy duty
> processing Inventor & AutoCAD were doing. My "Pause/Resume" buttons then
> very responsive and not dependent on what Inventor or AutoCAD was doing
> at the time.
> 5) Trial & Error experimentation of the Inventor Object Model
> 6) Tid Bits I picked up here from lurking.
>
> So as you can see, some was a piece of cake, I'd dome similar things.
> Others were nothing more that beating my head against the wall for 18
> hour days so I'd meet my deadline and get to go on vacation. And others
> were handed to me on a silver platter, like some of the ideas I got from
> looking at code on Kent Keller's site (thanks Kent) who I assume beat
> his head against the wall with trial & error or got it from someone else
> who did.
>
>
> At least that's how I "learned" even though I don't consider myself as
> having "learned" I still know nothing because the object model is so
> huge. We all just know "parts" with possibly the exception of Brian
> Ekins @ Autodesk who created most of the Inventor API's anyway. We all
> then come here to share our "parts".
>
> Is there a task that you'd like to do and don't know where to get
> started?
>
> --
> Darren J. Young
> CAD/CAM Systems Developer
>
> Cold Spring Granite Company
> 202 South Third Avenue
> Cold Spring, Minnesota 56320
>
> Email: dyoung@coldspringgranite.com
> Phone: (320) 685-5045
> Fax: (320) 685-5052
