Maltacad Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 I would like to do some customisation of Autodesk Inventor. I am familiar with Autolisp, however from what I've seen till now, Inventor can be customised using vb.net, visual c++ or c#, which I am not familiar with. Does anyone know if I can use Autolisp? And is it worth using Autolisp or do you suggest I use other languages? Thanks. Quote
SEANT Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 Inventor has never had a Lisp based api. VBA has been available from the beginning but would likely be a poor starting point now. The .NETs seems sensible, as that api is already widespread and will likely be available for an increasing number of applications going forward. Of course, if you’re hardcore, nothing is more fundamental than c++. Quote
Lee Mac Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 I would love to learn C++, but I have no clue where to start... whether I need to learn another language first, or dive straight in with no experience... Quote
SEANT Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 Have you downloaded VS2008 Express? I see you are still using AutoCAD 2004, so your options may be limited with regard to using that for AutoCAD customisation. It should work quite well for any other programming activities. Quote
Lee Mac Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 I shall have to look into VS2008 -- I assume its free? Quote
SEANT Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 Yes, the Express edition is free. The Standard edition requires a few hundred dollar investment but it does offer some nice amenities. Quote
Lee Mac Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 Yes, the Express edition is free. The Standard edition requires a few hundred dollar investment but it does offer some nice amenities. Ahh yes, but a few hundred pounds that I can't afford as a student... Quote
SEANT Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 I've never looked into it but perhaps Microsoft has a setup similar to AutoDesk. Maybe you can get a sweet deal, on VS2008 Profesional even, with that student ID. Quote
Lee Mac Posted May 12, 2009 Posted May 12, 2009 I've never looked into it but perhaps Microsoft has a setup similar to AutoDesk. Maybe you can get a sweet deal, on VS2008 Profesional even, with that student ID. Ahh good point Sean, I'll see what I can do Quote
Maltacad Posted May 13, 2009 Author Posted May 13, 2009 Inventor has never had a Lisp based api. VBA has been available from the beginning but would likely be a poor starting point now. The .NETs seems sensible, as that api is already widespread and will likely be available for an increasing number of applications going forward. Of course, if you’re hardcore, nothing is more fundamental than c++. No I'm not really hardcore hehehe, but I need to customise Inventor for a project I have. Why is VBA a poor starting point? I started reading a bit about it and I've learnt that Inventor even has VBA embedded in it. I found this which I'm following http://www.smallguru.com/2008/08/introduction-to-autodesk-inventor-api-and-customization/ What do you think? And which particular language do you suggest given I'm not hardcore? Quote
SEANT Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 I’ve done quite a lot of VBA programming from the AutoCAD side, and can say it is a good architecture. It has, however, been “discontinued” by Microsoft in favor of .NET. The numerous applications that have embedded the VBA Integrated Development Environment (IDE) are only continuing to do so to give their customers time to switch to the alternatives. At some point in the near future Microsoft will make available the Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA) IDE. That will likely use VB.NET, and perhaps any/all of the .NET languages. That will probably replace the VBAIDE used in AutoCAD, Inventor, etc. For the most part a particular language choice is a matter of preference. The only rational I’ve ever heard in favor of one was that most professional programmers use a C base language, and C# would likely be their choice. The speculation is that more “professionally” written C# examples may be available. Quote
Maltacad Posted May 13, 2009 Author Posted May 13, 2009 Thanks Seant...however, bear with me because I'm not very familiar with computing jargon. You mean can I use VBA (for which I have a preference, given it's inbuilt), or not? Quote
SEANT Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 You can. It is just that you will probably need to re-write it with a different language within a few Inventor releases. Quote
Maltacad Posted May 13, 2009 Author Posted May 13, 2009 You can. It is just that you will probably need to re-write it with a different language within a few Inventor releases. I see...thanks...and one last question, have you ever tried to customise Pro-E?? Do you know what languages can be used for it? Quote
SEANT Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 I see...thanks...and one last question, have you ever tried to customise Pro-E?? Do you know what languages can be used for it? I have not. I do understand that the Pro-e code base is designed to accommodate multiple platforms (Windows, Unix, etc.) Consequently, PTC may not adopt the .NET paradigm as fast as the other CAD vendors. Quote
Maltacad Posted May 13, 2009 Author Posted May 13, 2009 I see...so what kind of languages are used for Pro-E, do you have any idea? For example, can Autolisp be used? Quote
SEANT Posted May 13, 2009 Posted May 13, 2009 I couldn't saw with certainty which languages are supported by pro-e. I would be surprised if Lisp were one of them, though. Quote
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