Custom Addin location

[sellis]

Is there a way to change Addin location? Currently it is C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Inventor Addins\. Up to this point we have synced this folder between CAD users so when I update an addin everyone gets the current version.

This is becoming a problem as IT locks down and blocks more stuff. If this location could be moved it would allow us to use a cloud folder or a network drive. Ideally it would use Vault but I don't see any support for addin storage. Hope I'm missing something.

Any ideas? This must be a common issue... 

IV 2021, Vault 2021, Windows 10

Thanks

Stan

[pball · Accepted solution]

There are a few options.

Addins can be saved under the user AppData folder which might get around any reasonable IT locking down. I personally have my custom addin saved under a folder in this folder.
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins

Another option is hosting the DLL on a network drive. The .addin file still needs to reside on the local machine for Inventor to read it and then load the DLL. The following line in the .addin file can be changed to have a custom path. Someone else posted this before as a solution for easy updating since every PC would be pointed to a single DLL.

<Assembly>serverpath\name.dll</Assembly>

[sellis]

That worked perfect.

I did need to got to "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Inventor Addins" and edit the "*.Inventor.addin" files as rebuilds did not rewrite the files though files in original VS projects were changed.

Thanks!

[sellis]

I did some experimenting and I can add app files to Vault and run a simple addin to copy them to local vault folder. I will need to see if I can copy them down at inventor startup before addins are loaded or if I need an external program to do that after inventor exits. Seems like a cleaner solution as network and mapped drives will not need to be available.

When I have time I will give it a try.

[kreavesVRTSA]

You can create a separate add-in that check to see if the custom add-ins are loaded, and if not, get them from their published location. This be performed on-load or on-dispose of the add-in.



The add-ins are loaded based on the GUID that is used to identify them, think alphabetically.