Addins

I have just used the Solidworks wizard to try and create an addin for
Solidworks but I think I need some help.

I created a VB.Net Add-in using the SolidWorks VB.Net Add-in Wizard in
Visual Studio 2003. It created the Addin just fine. I have added a Windows
form to that Addin and so far so good. But what now.

The Wizard has created the an Addin folder under the SolidWorks folder and
has added the DLL to that directory.
How do I get that form to run in Solidworks?
I tried to register the DLL using regsvr32 but I get an error saying that no
entry point was found in the DLL. Am I supposed to register this DLL?
Again what do I need to do to get the form to run in solidworks.

Thanks
Fred

 

SW needs some registry entries to identify & load your addin.
Check "Using SwAddin to Create a SolidWorks Add-In" in apihelp 2004
SW creates the entries for you automatically if you:
- load the addin dll in SW (yes, there is a *.dll file type you can
"load"...)
-or- drag & drop the .dll file on an empty SW frame
You'll need to do this only once, of course.
If you intend to distribute your addin, your installer program will have to
create the entries.

 

Thanks Philippe,

I managed to get to work on my computer by dragging the dll into Solidworks.
It now works fine on my PC but now I want to run it on one other PC.

I tried copying all of the files created by the wizard that were in my
..\solidworks\Addins folder to the other PC, also in its .\SolidWorks\Addins
folder. I then dragged the dll into SolidWorks but it didn't work. I also
tried File|Open the dll file but it did not register, nor did I get any
error message.
I tried using: regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\SolidWorks\Addins\SwVBAddin1.dll"
but that failed as well.

Any Ideas why this would fail.

Also, how do I unregister an Addin from Solidworks? I know I can uncheck the
checkbox to prevent it from loading but how do I remove it from the Addin
list.

Thanks
Fred

 

As I said :
"SW needs some registry entries to identify & load your addin.
Check "Using SwAddin to Create a SolidWorks Add-In" in apihelp (...)
If you intend to distribute your addin, your installer program will have
to create the entries."

If you deploy your add-in in your own organization, maybe a .reg file is
enough :
Below is an example : copy the lines between the ---- in a text file. Name
it "something.reg"
Replace the E1769... code with the CLSID of your own add-in, change the
description and title. Double click the file to insert its content in
registry...
To remove the add-in, you'd need to remove the entries. This is typically
done with an installer/uninstaller program. I use www.ginstall.com .
Remember that .NET add-ins require .NET Framework to be installed on target
machines...
------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Solidworks\AddIns\{E1769FB3-7CFE-4882-A739-CEF9
250AF7D0}]
@=dword:00000001
"Description"="SolidPlus AddIn"
"Title"="SolidPlus"

 

Thanks again Philippe. I only want to install this on two PCs so I am not
too interested in buying an installer.

To get the CLSID I presume I still need to register it using regsvr32 which
does not seem to work for me.
Perhaps this is because of the .NET Framework. I am installing on a PC
running XPPro. Doesn't XPPro come with the .NET Framework installed?

Sorry for my ignorance but this is all new to me.

Thanks
Fred

 

some are free... and you'll need one to do clean uninstalls...

the CLSID is the same as the "Guid" which is generated by the sw addin
wizard and can be found in your source code.
..NET uses regasm.exe instead of refsvr32. Use a command like:

regasm myTest.dll /regfile:myTest.reg

to generate a .reg file that you can merge with the one I described earlier.
All you have to do then is to "run" this .reg file on the target machine.

No, it doesn't. Use "Windows Update" or the 1st disk of your VisualStudio to
install the Framework.
Note that your simple add-in will weight at least 37 Mb only because of
this, which partly explains why .NET is not widely used for SW add-ins yet.

"Smile, tomorrow will be worse..."

 

Thanks again for all of your help Philippe, but I still haven't had much
luck.
I installed the .NET Framework on the other PC then tried to add the addin
to Solidworks by just dragging in the addin.
This time it did seem to register something but nothing that works. In the
SW Addin list I now have an extra check box without a title. If I check that
check box I get an error message saying that SW can't run the addin yet this
is the same addin I am using on my PC.
Any other ideas.

Thanks
Fred

 

well, if your addin works fine on once PC and not on the other one, it can
be:
- differences in the registry. check with regedit, make sure you used
regasm...
- differences in used DLLs (.NET was supposed to avoid the dll-hell...)
That's why addins are installed by installers, and why it is a (hard) job to
develop addins...
Sorry, maybe someone else knows better, but your posts confirm my intuition
that .NET isn't ready for such uses...

 

You could try using Windows Installer to distribute your dll with the
supporting libraries and files. I think if you already have Visual Studio
(.NET or other) you can download and use WI for free from Microsoft. There
is a help file that comes with it, but basically it should automatically
determine what supporting files are needed (in some cases you have to help
it a little). It can register not just your dll but also the supporting ones
that your project references without hassling with registrations on the
target computer.

http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload...download/platformsdk/sdkupdate/psdkredist.htm

Make sure that all the files you need are in the list. Those that are part
of the "protected" windows system files will not get copied to the new
machine, but the others should be. Make sure that anything special or
unusual that your project references gets included in this list. You might
also want to check the register property of each of these files if the first
attempt doesn't seem to do it. Click build and it will create an
installation file in the location you chose. You will end up with a file
that has an msi extension. The other user double-clicks this file to
install, and it should be automatic from there.

Another approach to try anyway...
Brenda