>
what are the main advantages of adn and what kind
> of vb/vba support do they have? what kind of resources are
> available? please don't just reply and say to goto the adn site because
> i've read it. i'm looking for comments from current members and how they
> like.
The main benefit to ADN is getting you software. You need to test under
the Frenh version of LDDT and the German version of MDT? They'll send it
to you.
There's also a huge on-line database of support questions. They are
usually more technical than wha't available to the general public on
PointA. Occasionaly, there's source code and/or sample files.
ADN also had marketing programs if you are interested in developing
program commercialy. They'll help you advertize and you can list products
on their web site for sale. Although, several developers I know have set
up their own web site sales seperate from Autodesk's various reasons. I
haven't used either of these.
You also often get beta software for testing applications with so your
apps are ready (almost) when the product is released.
There's also a dedicated team of consultants who you can ask questions to
and will answer them as best they can. The range of help they offer is
all over the place. There's times when it seems you have to explain til
you're blue in the face to get them to understand what you are talking
about and then they'll often answer incorrectly. You sometimes need to be
persistent and show them they are incorrect before they dig further and
get you what you are looking for. As an example, I asked about what the
codes were for the Qleader dialog settings and they told me they weren't
accesable but from ARX until I showed them where they were stored and how
to extract them. Only then did they dig in and cough up a list of the
code meanings. On the other hand, I've had top notch support from anyone
and everyone involved with Inventor questions.
You use to also have access to special newsgroups but they've since shut
down the ADN news server. There wasn't much traffic in them anyway other
than the ARX group and they've since added a public ARX group here.
They also offer training for ADN members. There's been a lot of Inventor
API training as of late. Advanced ARX training, etc. Most of this you
need to pay extra for if you take it.
--
Sincerely,
Darren J. Young
Minnesota CADWorks, Inc.
P.O. Box 7293
Saint Cloud, Minnesota 56302-7293
Phone: (320) 654-9053
WWW: http://www.mcwi.com
