Inventor not recognizing my Add-in

els_ram · ‎10-03-2024

Hi everyone, I'm very new to Inventor as a whole but I was trying to make an Add-In of my own. Right now I'm just interested in making Inventor recognize my Add-in, I've been following certain tutorials but may have been doing something wrong because I couldn't make a single one of them work. I'm using C# with .NET 8. and Inventor 2025.

My first attempt was with Inventor's template, and my second attempt was with class Library WPF template from VS. Settings for my attempts included:

1. Changing debug profile and making it so it would open: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 2025\Bin\Inventor.exe

2. Checking out that my dotnet version was compatible with Inventor 2025

3. Supported software version greater than: Now, here I had some doubts because some tutorials and the template say it should be "29.." and others say that it should be "28..", I tried both on different attempts.

4. Generating my GUID, this wasn't in my template attempt because it already had one.

5. Inventor Interop reference configuration:

<ItemGroup>
<Reference Include="Autodesk.Inventor.Interop">
<HintPath>..\..\..\..\..\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 2025\Bin\Autodesk.Inventor.Interop.dll</HintPath>
<EmbedInteropTypes>False</EmbedInteropTypes>
<Private>True</Private>
</Reference>
</ItemGroup>

6. I created my .addin file and my StandardAddInServer.cs, in my AddInServer class I only included a simple try catch in my Activate method. I also checked that my GuidAttribute is the same as the one I used in my .addin.

The .dll name I used was the same as my addin: <Assembly>SimpleAddIn.dll</Assembly>

I have another question here, template comments say: "Assumes that SimpleAddIn.dll is underneath Inventor\bin"

Does that mean that my .dll needs to be under Inventor\bin and not under the folder that later on I chose, which was C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\$(TargetName)\", or does it need to be in both locations for Inventor to find it?

7. Just as a comment, In my attempt with no template I don't have a .X.manifest file, which I have in my add-in template attempt, I also saw that I have a post-build event that goes something like this:

The location is in my project file, is it necessary to have it?

8. Post Build Events, here I also had doubts because I saw that some people cleaned all events and others had it like this:

I understood that this post-build event would copy my .addin file into the target path which I chose out of these options:

All Users, Version Independent
Windows 7/8.1/10 - %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Autodesk\Inventor Addins\
All Users, Version Dependent
Windows 7/8.1/10 - %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Autodesk\Inventor 20xx\Addins\
Per User, Version Dependent
In Window 7/8.1/10 - %APPDATA%\Autodesk\Inventor 20xx\Addins\
Per User, Version Independent
In Window 7/8.1/10 - %APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins
I'm not sure if I chose the right one though, in any case, I tried with almost all of them.

When I run my application I get these files in my "C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\$(TargetName)\" path:

AddinName.addin, AddinName.dll, Autodesk.Inventor.Interop.xml,Autodesk.Inventor.Interop.dll and stdole.dll

From what I understood and please correct me if I'm wrong, Inventor would search for a .dll and a .addin files in those four locations and would show the add-in as an option in Tools-> Options-> Add-ins

What I've been failing to do is exactly that. When I run my application, it only opens Inventor, as if it is not locating my Add-in. At least that's what I think, I would love to read your answers, and thanks a lot in advance for the help 🙂 I would very much appreciate it.

@JelteDeJong

bradeneuropeArthur · ‎10-28-2024

You could better place all files under a folder "MyAddIn001"

%AppData%\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins

This is the most simple way to test the addin

Regards,

Arthur Knoors

Autodesk Affiliations & Links:

Curtis_Waguespack · ‎10-29-2024

@els_ram , I scanned but didn't see it ( might have missed it) , but what is the add-in name and folder name?

Most often I run into this when there is a space in the add-in name or the add-in folder name.

Hope that helps, Curtis

This might be of interest as well:

Bridging the Gap Between iLogic Automation and Inventor Add-Ins | Autodesk University

dave_taylor · ‎10-29-2024

What I do is place my .addin file in "C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Inventor Addins"

Then I have a line in the addin file '<Assebly></Assembly>" which points to the dll. All other files that are needed by the dll/addin goes in that location where the dll is too.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Addin Type="Standard">
    <!--Created for Autodesk Inventor Version 2022+-->
    <ClassId>{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}</ClassId>
    <ClientId>{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}</ClientId>   
    <DisplayName>Addin Name</DisplayName>
    <Description>Addin Description</Description>
    <Assembly>[path to addin dll]\addin.dll</Assembly>
    <UserUnloadable>1</UserUnloadable>
    <Hidden>0</Hidden>
	<SupportedSoftwareVersionGreaterThan>26..</SupportedSoftwareVersionGreaterThan>
	<LoadBehavior>1</LoadBehavior>
    <DataVersion>1</DataVersion>
    <UserInterfaceVersion>1</UserInterfaceVersion>
  </Addin>

That should load the dll in Inventor then if everything is found.

Inventor also does not like dll files that are not signed, so you might have to go into Addins Manager in Inventor and load manually if they aren't signed.

Dave Taylor
MCAD Solutions Engineer
Hagerman & Co.

Autodesk Certified Instructor - Platinum

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sergicasadogarcia · ‎10-29-2024

🤘Hi everyone,

I'm also new to add-ins, and recently I've been trying to convert my iLogic code to a C# add-in. At first glance, it’s very challenging to understand if you don’t have experience with BOM programming. I can’t fully address your issue, as that requires expertise from those with more experience. However, I can share the information I used to develop my add-in.

Thank you, @Curtis_Waguespack, for your contribution. I'm excited to learn from your knowledge.

Links of info:

Tutorial of addin by hjalte

Tutorial of addin by ekins

Thanks to everyone for share your knowleadge!

Regards.

Sergi Casado.

Please mark a "Solution as solved" when the issue is solved ! And a Like if it helps you.

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Inventor not recognizing my Add-in

Inventor not recognizing my Add-in

Inventor not recognizing my Add-in