Inventor instance issue

[NachoShaw]

Hi

I am having an issue with Inventor after a recent service pack update. Previously, I could run my application and it would start the correct inventor version (2015). If inventor was already running, it would connect to it. This is managed with this code-

        Try
            _invApp = Marshal.GetActiveObject("Inventor.Application")

        Catch ex As Exception
            Try
                Dim invAppType As Type = _
                GetTypeFromProgID("Inventor.Application")

                _invApp = CreateInstance(invAppType)
                _invApp.Visible = True

                'Note: if you shut down the Inventor session that was started
                'this(way) there is still an Inventor.exe running. We will use
                'this Boolean to test whether or not the Inventor App  will
                'need to be shut down.
                _started = True

            Catch ex2 As Exception
                MsgBox(ex2.ToString())
                MsgBox("Unable to get or start Inventor")
            End Try
        End Try

        Try
            m_oServer = New Inventor.ApprenticeServerComponent
            AddInventorPath()
        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

Now, it is doing 2 irregular things-

1. even though I have no reference to inventor 2017, it starts inventor 2017 and not 2015. I am referencing V19 interop only

2. if Inventor is running, a brand new instance of inventor is created with NO SETTINGS. There are no projects available either. its like a brand new install version..

How can i

A. get the correct version I need to open

B. Stop this new instance being created and hook into the currently open inventor version?

Cheers

Nacho

[MechMachineMan]

Following these threads, it looks like there is no easy way of getting the specific version. Can I ask why you need a specific version anyways?

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/28473521/How-do-you-specify-the-version-of-access-to-use-...

Also, to get the active object/create a new one, look into using the vb.net GetObject() Function

ie;

GetObject("", "Inventor.Application")

and

GetObject(, "Inventor.Application")

[NachoShaw]

Hi

Thanks for the reply. Reason for a specific version is:

My client Company have not yet moved on from 2015 although, 2 people have 2016 installed and as we all know, there is no backward compatibility for files so if 2016 edits and saves anything (which it will through the application), the remaining 2015 users will no longer be able to access those parts.

I will try your suggestion and report back

Cheers

Nacho

[MechMachineMan]

Kind of what I thought. Seeing as you can't open a file that's ever been
opened and saved in 2016 in a 2015 version, I would think you need to have
a dedicated 2015 computer from which you use this code in order to actually
keep it saved down to the proper file version.

[NachoShaw]

Easier said than done mate.

the bigger issue is preventing a new instance of Inventor opening everytime the application runs. Oddly enough, it doesn't behave this way when I run from VS in debug. It only behaves like this when I compile it into an executable and run it independently...

Cheers

Nacho

[Anonymous]

Bump!

I realize this thread is a year and half old, but I'm having a similar (not exact, but close enough) problem and don't see a resolution. 

[NachoShaw]

Hi

Yes the solution to my issue was that the installer i was creating was set as administrator only. When i changed this, it resolved itself.

If you right click on the inventor shortcut and run as administrator, it will be like a brand new version as its not set up fort specific user (unless of course you set it up like that in the first place.

The standard install of Inventor is per user and all of the settings are per user also

hope that helps 🙂

[Anonymous]

Thanks Nacho,
So, not the same problem I'm seeing. I'm running Visual Studio 2017 in debug mode with a VB program I wrote a while back using Inventor 2014. I've since upgraded to Inventor 2018 and now the automation is throwing an error that it can't find a running instance of Inventor or start a new one. My start up code is exactly the same as yours (looks like we both used the same example code.)
Regards,
Keith
PS: OS = Windows 10 Enterprise, Version 10.0.162999

[NachoShaw]

have you changed the reference to the Inventor.Interop? it need to match the current version of Inventor.

you can find it here:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Autodesk.Inventor.Interop\v4.0_22.0.0.0__d84147f8b4276564

[Anonymous]

Thanks Nacho, that's what I was missing.