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DriveWorks Pro SDK

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DriveWorks Pro SDK

DriveWorks Pro has been built with a fully documented Application Programming Interface (API) allowing you to create your own plugin to DriveWorks using Visual Studio or Visual Studio Express.

To get you started programming with the DriveWorks API we have created a Software Development Kit (SDK) that includes the reference assemblies that you will need, the complete documentation as well as some Visual Studio Project Templates.

The DriveWorks Pro SDK is updated with each major release of DriveWorks, allowing new features and enhancements to be incorporated.

To obtain the DriveWorks Pro SDK please send an email request to apisupport@driveworks.co.uk.

The DriveWorks Pro SDK is made freely available to all customers with a valid subscription contract.

Introduction

There are two main types of extensibility in DriveWorks:

  • Project Extender - Adds functionality to a DriveWorks project.
  • Extension Library - Enables DriveWorks to be extended in many ways.

The table below details some common uses of extensibility in DriveWorks.

What do you want to do?What DriveWorks extensibility concepts apply?What else is there to know?
Create a Macro, e.g. to load some data from a text file into a running specification.Project ExtenderIt's also worth looking into Specification Macros, these often mean that you don't need to create an actual macro in code.

You can also increase the capabilities available to Specification Macros by creating a Specification Flow Task in an Extension Library.

Create a User Defined Function, to supplement the functions such as Sum, VLookup, and so on that are built-in to DriveWorks.Project Extender
Add functionality to DriveWorks using SDK examplesProject ExtenderThis code shows how to get started implementing these features . Examples show the required references, imports statements, attributes and objects. We have included examples for C# and VB.net
Create a Specification Flow Task, to add additional capabilities to the Specification Flow/Specification Task toolbox.Extension Library
Create a Custom Document, to supplement the documents that are already built in to DriveWorks.Extension Library
Create a Custom Table, to supplement the documents that are already built in to DriveWorks.Extension Library
Create a plugin to Listen for Model Generation Events, to interact with the model generation process, e.g. to implement a PDM plugin, or do some sort of post processing.Extension LibraryIt is also possible to create SOLIDWORKS and Document macros which are called by DriveWorks during generation at certain points during the generation process.
Create a plugin to Listen for Specification Events, to interact with the specification process, e.g. to implement a PDM plugin, or do things at certain events during a specification.Extension LibraryIt is also possible to create SOLIDWORKS and Document macros which are called by DriveWorks during generation at certain points during the generation process.
Something Else...Extension LibraryIf you're doing anything that isn't a macro or function, you probably want an extension library.