Autodesk Inventor Autodesk® Inventor™ software serves as a flexible development platform for building specialized mechanical design applications, as well as for interfacing with upstream, downstream, and enterprise applications for manufacturers. To learn more about Inventor, visit the Autodesk Inventor product center. What’s New in the APIAutodesk Inventor 2009 includes several API enhancements. These are discussed in the PowerPoint presentation contained within the “Inventor 2009 API Overview.zip” file below. The comments in this presentation provide additional detail and also discuss associated samples which are available in the “Inventor 2009 API Samples.zip” file below. A complete list of changes in the API for Autodesk Inventor 2009 can be found in the "Changes since last release" topic accessed from the Homepage of the programming help within Autodesk Inventor. Programming ToolsTechnology
Inventor exposes its programming interface using a COM Automation interface. You can access this interface using most of the popular programming languages available today including Microsoft Visual C++®, VB, Delphi, and C#. Autodesk Inventor includes Microsoft’s VBA, the most popular programming environment in the world. Software Development Kit (SDK)Using the default installation of Inventor will install the Inventor Software Development Kit (SDK). The SDK is divided up into two pieces; user tools and developer tools. To use either one you need to install it using either the DeveloperTools.msi or the UserTools.msi in the SDK directory. Installing the UserTools.msi will create a UserTools directory that contains several subdirectories containing various related utilities. These utilities provide useful functionality for users of Inventor and the runtime is delivered for them to use. The source code is also provided to allow programmers to use them as examples or to customize them to meet their requirements. Installing the DeveloperTools.msi will create a DeveloperTools directory that contains many samples written in different languages, some additional documentation, header files for C++ programmers, and some utilities including wizards to help with creating add-in programs. ApprenticeAutodesk Inventor Apprentice is a free COM server enabling standalone applications to have query access to Inventor Documents. Access includes assembly structure, solids topology and geometry, plus query/edit access to file references and document properties. Apprentice is installed as part of Inventor and is also installed as part of the freely available Inventor View which can be installed from here. Documentation and samples are included as part of the Inventor SDK. DocumentationAutodesk Inventor includes extensive application development documentation built into the help system under its Programming Help. Below is the object model chart that can help to provide an understanding of the breadth of what is exposed through Inventor’s programming interface. (It is also delivered as part of the SDK) Autodesk Inventor Object Model For those with little previous programming experience, the paper below provides a brief overview of Inventor’s programming interface and illustrates this with examples using iProperties. The following resource will help you get started with programming Inventor. It assumes familiarity with Autodesk Inventor and general programming concepts. DevTV: Introduction to Inventor Programming
A self-paced video tutorial demonstrating how to get started developing with Autodesk Inventor.
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Autodesk® Inventor™ Suite leads the industry in the breadth, depth, and quality of third-party companion applications. Not only is Autodesk Inventor the best-selling 3D mechanical design software, it’s also the leading platform for providing specialized 3D design functionality. More than 100 Autodesk Inventor Certified applications are currently available, with more coming every day. Become a partner and unlock a new market for your Autodesk Inventor companion products. Partner products bearing the Autodesk Inventor Certified Application logo provide the highest level of interoperability because they use the Autodesk Inventor API (application programming interface) and meet Autodesk’s quality guidelines and testing criteria. | 
