‘Swift Prints’ updated for Inventor 2017

Inventor 2017 is making it’s way into the hands of users now and with that, ‘Swift Prints’ has been updated and refreshed for 2017. This update is mostly under-the-hood improvements which make way for some exciting new features.

Some changes you’ll notice are a streamlined toolbar. The Swift Prints command button is now called ‘Print’ on a stand-alone ‘Swift Prints’ panel. The extra button that brought you to cadtoolbox.com has been removed. Hey, you paid for the app… the app is advertisement in itself.

SwiftPrints_ScreenShot2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The app also now utilizes Autodesk’s entitlement API. What that means is you’ll need to login to Autodesk360 from within Inventor to verify you have a valid license of Swift Prints in order to use it. Sorry, this is a case of one person ruining it for everyone. If you’ve already purchased multiple licenses under one email address, you can contact me so I can add the list of authorized users in your company who own a license.

There are a few cool new features already in the works, this update paves the way for those to happen. Enjoy!

 

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Permanent link to this article: http://cadtoolbox.com/2016/03/30/swift-prints-updated-for-inventor-2017/

Inventor won’t reload add-in toolbars!

So here I am toiling away on making some updates to the two apps I have in the Inventor App Store, Swift Prints and Design Notes. I’ve been trying to correct an issue where if a user manually unloads the add-in the custom toolbar will be removed and then when they manually reload the add-in, the toolbar reloads.

Load-Unload

The toolbar does currently unload but a reload does nothing and you have to restart Inventor to get the custom toolbar back again. After fiddling with the code for a few hours, looking through the API documentation, posting to all the forums I know I still couldn’t resolve the issue.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I found this post from 2012.

I’m  add Add button on exists inventor ribbon  tab  After reload my add-in from Inventor buttons is invisible

Please help me solve my problem

The post doesn’t contain a solution, but it did get me thinking. Certainly someone else solved this issue. I was going to try and download another Inventor add-in in the app store to try the behavior. The first one I downloaded had the same behavior as my add-ins and the toolbar didn’t reappear. Ok, fluke… right? Try another… same issue. Try another… same issue… Try another… I couldn’t find a single add-in in the Autodesk App Store (yet) that works correctly.

This is the offending API code:

oPanel.CommandControls.AddButton(m_ButtonDef, True, True)

From what I understand, Inventor does not properly destroy the button definition on unload of the add-in and a subsequent reload will fail because it thinks the button is already on the Ribbon panel.

To all of you who also develop apps, try it out on your add-ins and let me know your results. You can post a reply here or tweet me at @cadtoolbox

 

…for now, my OCD programming prevents me from eating, sleeping or thinking of anything else until I figure this out.

 

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Permanent link to this article: http://cadtoolbox.com/2016/03/07/inventor-wont-reload-add-in-toolbars/

Tip: StackExchange for 3D Printing

If you’re one of those people who is into 3D printing and are looking for a place to ask questions or lend some advice to others, I encourage you to check out 3D Printing Stack Exchange.

The Q&A community dedicated to 3D printing has 588 users and averages 203 visitors per day.

3D Printing Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for 3D printing enthusiasts. It’s 100% free, no registration required.

Some of the typical questions on the community are:

  • Is it possible to use an aftermarket controller on a MakerBot?
  • How small can I expect FDM 3d printers to print?
  • What are the best air filtration options for enclosures?

 

As useful as a resource as StackExchange is, it would also be cool to see a community dedicated to CAD users. Do you agree?

 

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Permanent link to this article: http://cadtoolbox.com/2016/02/16/stack-exchange/

Localhost making you Muy Loco?

Every once in a while I come across one of those handy computing tips that are almost impossible to find but that can relieve hours of headaches. If you’ve upgraded your workstation to Windows 10, use the new Microsoft Edge browser and have a need to create and or test some website designs or other projects locally using your local IIS http://localhost instance, you’ll find that the Edge browser can’t connect.

You might spend hours trying to figure out which firewall setting has it blocked only to discover it’s not firewall related. Microsoft Edge browser runs with network isolation by default for security reasons. To fix the issue, open a command prompt as an Administrator and enter the following command:

CheckNetIsolation LoopbackExempt -a -n=Microsoft.Windows.Spartan_cw5n1h2txyewy

Once you do this, you’ll be able to view localhost from the Edge browser without any issues.

 

 

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Permanent link to this article: http://cadtoolbox.com/2016/02/15/localhost/