SolidWorks Add-ins

246 Pages·2009·3.84 MB·English

SolidWorks 2009
API
Advanced Product Development

Written by Luke Malpass
AngelSix.com

Published by AngelSix
©2008-2013 Luke Malpass
[email protected]

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any
information storage or retrieval system, without prior written
permission of the publisher. Provided source code may be
exempt from this right if existing copyright notice is left in the
code file on redistribution.

Published by AngelSix – AngelSix.com

First Edition
Trademark Information
SolidWorks and PDMWorks are registered
trademarks of SolidWorks Corporation.

Excel, Word, Visual Studio are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Photoshop is a registered trademark of
Adobe.

WinRAR is a registered trademark of RARLAB
products.

Other brand or product names are
trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders.
Contributors
Following on from my last book “SolidWorks 20008 API:
Programming & Automation”, the feedback and enthusiasm for the
follow-up book has been great.
As well as the success of the first book and the feedback being
driving factors for this book I also enjoy sharing my knowledge and
experience to a wide audience. And so, I hope you enjoy this book as
much as the first!
For those of you who have been waiting for this book for months
sorry for the delay but I wanted to make sure I could dedicate myself
to this next book to make sure the standards you expect are kept up!
Introduction
Firstly this book is written with the presumption that the reader has
adequate knowledge of SolidWorks API programming (either from
experience or from reading my previous book) and so complete
beginners may struggle as basic steps are overlooked.
This book focuses a lot more on hardcore API programming
techniques and methods focused around the add-in area of
SolidWorks.
Purely .Net (no VBA this time folks).
As well as covering the API, we go ten steps further and move on to
something I have personally never found in any programming book
on the market, presumably because those who have the knowledge
do not wish to share it; actual real-world product development step-
by-step from concept to design, on to licensing, installation, sales,
distribution and marketing! After all, is that not where this journey is
meant to lead?
The topics covered will include SolidWorks Add-ins, in-process
coding vs. Standalone, planning and production, the development of
a fully-functioning complex event and notification hooked
application, creating your very own installer that installs your add-in,
registers with COM, and creates desktop/start menu shortcuts and
much more. You will even be taught on using Photoshop CS4 to
create a logo and packaging for your product!
This book is truly a full product lifecycle journey and beginners right
through to industry pro’s will learn a thing or two from at least one
chapter.
As always, all feedback is greatly appreciated, please send
comments to [email protected].
This book presumes the reader has intermediate knowledge and
understanding of computer programming and experience in any .Net
programming language would be beneficial, and is savvy with
SolidWorks and informed of its API.
I have tried to give the best explanation of all code provided on its
purpose, and what the point of every line of code is. I hope you enjoy
reading this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Download source-code for this book:
HTTP://WWW.ANGELSIX.COM/CODE/SW2009.ZIP
Table of Contents
Contents
Setting Up ........................................................................ 11
Download and Install Visual Studio Express ............................. 13
The Project Setup ................................................................... 14
SolidWorks Add-ins ........................................................... 19
The Basic Add-in ..................................................................... 20
Testing the Add-in .................................................................. 38
Manually Registering for COM ................................................ 41
Menu’s & Property Pages ................................................... 43
Creating Menus ....................................................................... 44
Property Manager Pages ......................................................... 53
Property Page Controls ........................................................... 67
Call-backs ................................................................................ 73
Add-ins Vs Stand-alones .................................................... 74
Key Differences ........................................................................ 75
Pros and Cons ......................................................................... 76
Making the right choice .......................................................... 78
Hybrids ................................................................................... 79
Planning and Product Design .............................................. 80
Why plan? ............................................................................... 81
Pre-development Stage .......................................................... 82
Initial Development Stage ...................................................... 89

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Table of Contents
Adding Functionality ............................................................... 90
Debugging and Testing ........................................................... 91
Methods of Debugging ............................................................ 92
Development ................................................................... 106
The Blueprint ........................................................................ 107
The Add-in Class ................................................................... 109
The PMP Layout ..................................................................... 117
Toggling Pages / Reacting to Events ..................................... 140
Setting up Hooks ................................................................... 144
Part Events ............................................................................ 146
Assembly Events ................................................................... 148
Drawing Events ..................................................................... 155
Tidy Up .................................................................................. 169
Enhancements ....................................................................... 171
Methods of Deployment ................................................... 174
Manual Installation ................................................................ 176
SFX Archives .......................................................................... 177
Installation Packages ............................................................. 182
Creating An Installer .............................................................. 195
Licensing Your Product ..................................................... 231
Overview ............................................................................... 232
Self-implementation ............................................................. 233
Corporate Licensing .............................................................. 234

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Table of Contents
Distribution and Sales ....................................................... 235
Preparing your Product for Market ....................................... 236
Online Distribution and Sales ................................................ 242
In-Store Distribution and Sales ............................................. 245
Marketing ............................................................................. 246

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