2025 add in

[NRHartness]

I am trying to develop a new add in for autodesk inventor 2025 using the inventor add in template in visual studio. In my previous add ins I followed along with a KETIV tutorial to get them set up but i don't see a good tutorial for 2025. I haven't added any custom code yet. i am just trying to set up a template that I can use. Currently it won't open inventor. I tried creating a launch profile with the .exe path but that didn't solve the issue. What do i need to do to configure the new template?

[bradeneuropeArthur]

The add in is normally loaded in Inventor via the add-in manager.

Inventor will not open with a add-in it is the other direction as mentioned above.

A standalone app (exe) can possibly open Inventor via createobject or getobject.

[NRHartness]

Maybe I explained poorly. The goal of the add-in is not to launch inventor. There are inventor add in templates for visual studio that were configured in the past so that when you run the code it opens autodesk inventor automatically so that you can test the add-in. The template updated so what I am trying to figure out is how to get that functionality back using the new template.

[cidhelp · Accepted solution]

If you want to start Inventor 2025 for debugging your addin from visual studio, Jelte de Jong has decribed this here: http://www.hjalte.nl/tutorials/80-creating-an-addin-inventor-2025-and-later

[bradeneuropeArthur]

you could also do this

[JBerns]

@cidhelp / @JelteDeJong,

I developed the add-in for Inventor 2025 using Jelte's tutorial mentioned above, but I get "not implemented" and "Object variable or With block not set" errors and when I run the tool:

Any suggestions what I might check to resolve the errors?

If it helps, I have attached the Visual Studio project in a Zip file.

Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to your replies.

Regards,

Jerry

[mateusz_baczewski]

Hello,

I took a look at the code, and the issue is that you’re specifying the wrong GUID for the iLogic add-in in Inventor. The GUID should be “{3BDD8D79-2179-4B11-8A5A-257B1C0263AC}.”

[JBerns]

@mateusz_baczewski,

Why do you say that I am specifying the "wrong" GUID? The "3BDD..." is just an example that Jelte shows. He specifically states to generate a new GUID and add it to the files, YourAddinNameHere.addin, StandardAddInServer.vb, and ThisRule.vb.

I have checked my code to ensure the generated GUID is the same in all those files.

Jelte_Addin_2025-07-14_0900.addin
---------------------------------
<Addin Type="Standard">
	<ClassId>{26A9A051-ACB3-436D-925C-4825072FB651}</ClassId>
	<ClientId>{26A9A051-ACB3-436D-925C-4825072FB651}</ClientId>
	<DisplayName>Jelte_Addin_2025-07-14_0900</DisplayName>
	<Description>Jelte Inventor 2025 Addin created 2025-07-14 at 0900</Description>
	<Assembly>Jelte_Addin_2025-07-14_0900.dll</Assembly>
	<SupportedSoftwareVersionGreaterThan>29..</SupportedSoftwareVersionGreaterThan>
</Addin>



StandardAddInServer.vb
----------------------
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports System.Windows
Imports System.Windows.Controls
Imports Inventor

' Change the GUID here and use the same as in the addin file!
<GuidAttribute("26A9A051-ACB3-436D-925C-4825072FB651"), ComVisible(True)>
Public Class standardAddInServer
    Implements Inventor.ApplicationAddInServer



ThisRule.vb
-----------
Imports Inventor

Public Class thisRule
    Inherits abstractRule

    Private searchText As String
    Private iLogicAddinGuid As String = "{26A9A051-ACB3-436D-925C-4825072FB651}"
    Private iLogicAddin As ApplicationAddIn = Nothing
    Private iLogicAutomation = Nothing
    Private outputFile As String = "c:\TEMP\seachedRules.txt"

I am confident I should not be using Jelte's GUID in my addin. I even tested using Jelte's generated GUID value and the same errors resulted.

Community, please correct me if I am mistaken.

Regards,

Jerry

[JBerns]

@mateusz_baczewski,

After more debugging, I tried my unique GUID in the files, Jelte_Addin_2025-07-14_0900.addin and StandardAddInServer.vb.

However, I used the GUID as you stated in the file, ThisRule.vb.

The code works now. My apologies to you. I did not realize that "{3BDD8D79-2179-4B11-8A5A-257B1C0263AC}" is a static value for the iLogic Addin GUID.

Clearly there are a lot of nuances to learn about Inventor 2025 addins.

Thank you, Mateusz, for identifying my error and your patience for this addin newbie.

Regards,

Jerry

[mateusz_baczewski]

@JBerns 

Alright, I’ll try to explain this to you. You’re right that your .dll add-in should have a new GUID so that Inventor can recognize it. Other add-ins work in a similar way — each has its own GUID that Inventor needs to identify. You need to remember that when referring to an add-in, you must provide its GUID, not the GUID of your own add-in. That’s why, if you want to refer to:

iLogicAddin = ThisApplication.ApplicationAddIns.ItemById(
    "{26A9A051-ACB3-436D-925C-4825072FB651}")

you need to provide the correct GUID for that add-in, which for iLogic is: {3BDD8D79-2179-4B11-8A5A-257B1C0263AC}

To check the GUIDs of individual add-ins in Inventor, you can use this code to display all add-in GUIDs in the log.

Sub main
	Dim addins As ApplicationAddIns = ThisApplication.ApplicationAddIns	
	For Each addin As ApplicationAddIn In addins
		Logger.Info(addin.DisplayName & " - " & addin.ClassIdString)
	Next
End Sub

To sum up, for your code to work correctly, it should look like this:

 Sub Main()
     If (IO.File.Exists(outputFile)) Then
         IO.File.Delete(outputFile)
     End If
     searchText = InputBox("Text to search for", "Search")

     iLogicAddin = ThisApplication.ApplicationAddIns.ItemById(
         "{3BDD8D79-2179-4B11-8A5A-257B1C0263AC}")
     iLogicAutomation = iLogicAddin.Automation
     Dim doc As AssemblyDocument = ThisDoc.Document

     SearchDoc(doc)
     For Each refDoc As Document In doc.AllReferencedDocuments
         SearchDoc(refDoc)
     Next

     Process.Start("notepad.exe", outputFile)
 End Sub

[JBerns]

Thank you, @mateusz_baczewski (Mateusz), for the helpful examples. I hope you saw my response in Message 9.

[mateusz_baczewski]

@JBerns 

Hi,

I just saw this—I’m glad I could help, and I wish you the best of luck diving into the Inventor API.