About development of Solidworks addin

SOLIDWORKS API/VBA Macros
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Hi everyone,

  1. Do anyone know what programming language is used in making Solidworks API and addin?

Is python or C# available? if yes, are there any functions that cannot be called out comparing with Visual Basic.NET.

  1. Also, are there any open source/ paid platform that provide libraries of objects for API development?

Many Thanks!

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  1. Since the SOLIDWORKS API is part of SOLIDWORKS, I would probably venture to say C and C++ using MFC. No one actually knows this for sure. I’m not sure what the benefit is in knowing this?

  2. You can write add-ins for SOLIDWORKS using C#. I’m not sure about Python.

  3. Try xCAD by @artem (Highly recommended ) and AngelSix’s SolidDNA.

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Thanks for the mention, @AmenJlili .

@Ryan, take a look at this video Implementing SOLIDWORKS® Top Ten List Ideas 2020 from scratch using xCAD.NET. xCAD is free and open-source (MIT license) and it provides an abstraction layer over APIs making CAD neutral development possible. I will publish a new video soon where it shows how the same code base can be used for targeting the SOLIDWORKS API and SOLIDWORKS Document Manager API. Other CAD implementations are in plans as well.

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You can use any language that support COM, so Python is a possibility, I have heard. I develop add-ins only in C#.

I love SolidDna and I help to improve it. The code is very readable, but the architecture is a bit complex. Artem’s code is less readable so I find it hard to work with, but the end result seems easy to use.

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Hi Ryan,

Plz send me an email (jjzwaard@solidworks.expert / jjzwaard@studiozwaard.nl) to get a free license of AddItIn, an SolidWorks add-in builder that doesn’t require programming skills to build, update en deploy your add-in. I’ll give you a short introduction if you like.

Thanks to AddItIn, I am sure that all my macros work in SolidWorks and perform even much faster. I don’t have to waste my time creating add-ins.

Kind regards,

JJ

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