Virtual studio can't declare Inventor application.

[FINET_Laurent]

Hi,

I'm trying to make an EXE for inventor using Virtual studio.I've created a new project and tried to declare the Inventor application but I can't do it. I've looked through the internet, sample files etc..

Is there a secret trick to it ?

Regards,

FINET L.

[FINET_Laurent]

I'm refering to those lines  :

Dim oInventorApp As Inventor.Application
oInventorApp = GetObject( , "Inventor.Application")

The " Get Object " is not defined.. =C

[sundars · Accepted solution]

Hi @FINET_Laurent 

Did you mean Visual Studio? If it's visual studio you can create an Addin DLL which can be loaded into Inventor. Are you specifically looking to create a stand alone exe?

You can access the SDK samples here: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2021\SDK

- Run "developertools.msi"

- This will extract the SDK folders

- Navigate to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2021\SDK\DeveloperTools\Samples

- you will see sample projects which you can customize.

Hope that helps.

-shiva

[sundars]

Hi @FINET_Laurent 

objInventorApp = GetObject( , "Inventor.Application") is a microsoft call - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/language/reference/user-interface-help/getobject-functio....

It should work, if you have built the project correctly. Can you take a look at the standalone VBA sample programs in the SDK folder. They use the same logic and execute GetObject().

Thanks

-shiva

[FINET_Laurent]

I've changed to framework 5.0 and got the execute the command :

Imports Inventor

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Ola_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Ola.Click
Dim oApp As Inventor.Application
oApp = GetObject(, "Inventor.Application")
Dim oDoc As AssemblyDocument = oApp.ActiveDocument
End Sub

End Class

But the oApp is empty.. :C

[sundars]

Interesting. Did it use to work with .NET 4.7/4.8? I dont see why that would fail with .Net 5.0.

Can you check to see if you can call GetObject() on any other application?

-shiva

[sundars]

You could also try

Dim oApp As Inventor.Application = System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("Inventor.Application")

Reference:

https://adndevblog.typepad.com/manufacturing/2012/07/run-vba-macro-using-inventor-api.html

-shiva

[FINET_Laurent]

Thank you for taking your time to answer.

Unfortunately I'm out of the officie until monday..

I'll try those and let you know asap.

Also this is the very first time I'm using Visual Studio.. ^^'

Thanks again,

FINET L.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Laurent,

Another thing to watch out is that Inventor Apprentice Server is a separate install on top of Inventor now. If you need it, go to the following page.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/downloads/caas/downloads/content/inventor-apprentice...

Many thanks!

[FINET_Laurent]

Hi, I installed every thing but it's still not working... I have Inventor 2021 & Visual studio 2019..

[FINET_Laurent]

Tried too.. It's like the application doesn't exist...

[sundars]

Hi @FINET_Laurent 

After installing visual studio did you restart your computer (silly question - but just making sure). Another thing you can try is calling GetObject() on a different application - not Inventor, but notepad or paint or Excel and see if that works. If not, then there may be something else going on your machine. If it's only a problem with Inventor, then either there is something incorrect with your installation or your vba project.

If nothing else works, you can zip up your project with just the code which doesnt work and send it to usWe can try to take a look at it.

Thanks

-shiva

[FINET_Laurent]

Hi,

I indeed can't get any application object..

Anyway I tried using the addin template and got something to work (close the application when pressing a button), so I guess I'll go this way instead.

I'll dig further down to see if I'm configuring the project wrong or something...

Regards,

FINET L.

[bradeneuropeArthur]

@johan.degreef  had similar things with Excel.

He can maybe help you out!

[pockybum522]

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ilogic-api-vba-forum/getting-inventor-object-in-net-core/td-...

Please check out this post for how to Marshal a COM object in .NET 5.