Submitting Revit Plugins with External Libraries

[LightStanza]

We've run into issues installing our plugin that uses external C# libraries (particularly for web sockets).  When the plugin is launched from visual studio code in any version for Revit (2018, 2019, 2020), things work  as expected.

However, when using an installer (which only includes our plugin .dll file), it seems like only Revit 2019 works. In 2018 and 2020, the tab for our plugin simply does not show up, making it unusable.

If we include the .dll files for the external (i.e. non-Revit API or standard windows) libraries in the installer, that seems to solve the problem for Revit 2018, but 2020 still does not work.

Does anybody know the proper way to package and submit a plugin with external libraries that will work across Revit versions?  Or are there other reasons that the tab might just not appear in some versions? Thanks!

[Moustafa_K]

it is too difficult to give you a proper answer, as what you mentioned can have many possible reasons causing this.

but typically check when you build your project are all the dlls in your debug/Release folder are copied to Revit DLL addin folder?

There are 4 possible locations to include your dll files
" 

a. User Addins:----------------------------------------> %appdata%\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\

b. Machine Addins (for all users of the machine): --->C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\

c. Addins packaged for the Autodesk Exchange store: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\

d. Autodesk servers and services:--------------------> C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Revit 2016\AddIns\
"