Developer Guide — Introduction
This section will document the complete development cycle of an Autodesk Inventor add-in, based on the Inventor Productivity Suite project and the practices established by MCAD.
Status: In progress. The index below reflects the planned structure; individual pages will be published over time.
Who this guide is for
Developers who create, debug, and deploy Inventor add-ins with .NET (C# / VB.NET), either a single plugin or a modular suite with several DLLs.
Planned index
1. Prerequisites
| Page | Content |
|---|---|
| Visual Studio 2022 | Installation and required workloads |
| .NET Framework vs modern .NET | When to use net48 vs net8.0-windows |
| Inventor SDK | Installation and Inventor API references |
2. Development
| Page | Content |
|---|---|
.csproj configuration |
Target framework, COM references, DLL copy |
StandardAddInServer |
Add-in entry point and lifecycle |
| Folder structure | Core, Ribbon, Commands, Services convention |
3. Debug
| Page | Content |
|---|---|
| Debug mode | Attach to Inventor, launchSettings configuration |
| Breakpoints and logs | Load diagnostics and production errors |
4. Deployment
| Page | Content |
|---|---|
| Single project | One DLL, one .addin, manual install |
| Multi-project | Solution with several module/feature DLLs |
| Installer generation | Signed MSI, InstallAware / WiX |
| Multi-version support | Inventor 2025, 2026, 2027 from one codebase |
| Production deployment | Code signing, CI/CD, catalog publication |
5. Inventor Productivity Suite — step by step
| Step | Content |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Suite overview and architecture |
| Single plugin vs suite | When to use each approach |
| Step 1 — Working baseline | Minimal add-in that loads in Inventor |
| Step 2 — Structure + AddInContext | Shared context between modules |
| Step 3 — Ribbon folder | Ribbon and panel XML definition |
| Step 4 — Commands folder | Commands and handlers |
| Step 5 — Services + Export PDF | First real feature with services |
Features documented in the source README
The Inventor Productivity Suite README already describes these implemented features:
- Export STEP
- Export DXF
- Edit iProperties
- Assign Material
- Auto Holes
- Export BOM
- Part Generator
- Icons on ribbon buttons
These pages will be added as subsections of the walkthrough when the guide is in active writing.
Relationship with Inventor Tools
| Aspect | Inventor Tools | Inventor Productivity Suite |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | End user | Developer |
| Architecture | Multi-DLL VB.NET + C# | Modular C# suite (.NET 8) |
| Inventor versions | 2025, 2026, 2027 | 2025, 2026, 2027 |
| Documentation | User guide | This guide (in progress) |
Next steps
- Migrate and adapt the development README into individual Markdown pages.
- Add code examples with syntax highlighting.
- Document the MSI build and signing pipeline.
- Publish a deployment checklist and multi-version support notes.
Meanwhile, see the Inventor Tools user guide for documentation of the MicroCAD tools already in production.