After a Navisworks .NET addin/plugin has been created, it is pretty easy to deploy for both Manage and Simulate.
We only need to create a sub folder under the ‘Plugins’ folder of the Navisworks product installation path and put the .NET assembly into the sub folder. However, the sub folder name and the file base name have to match each other; otherwise, Navisworks (either Manager or Simulate) will not find and load the addin (plugin).
Let’s take the Navisworks Simulate 2012 for an example. If it’s installed to the default given path, the installation path should be:
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Navisworks Simulate 2012
We need to create a sub folder, ‘Plugins’, if it does not exist yet, under the above path first, create a folder with the same name as the assembly base name under the ‘Plugins’ folder next, and copy the assembly to it last. If the assembly file name is ‘NNAW.NavisworksNetAddin1.dll’ for example, its full path should look like the following, for it to be found and loaded by the Navisworks Simulate 2012.
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Navisworks Simulate 2012\Plugins\NNAW.NavisworksNetAddin1\ NNAW.NavisworksNetAddin1.dll
By the way, we'd better prefix the assembly name with the developer or client id, otherwise, naming conflicts may happen.
The imposition of matching the folder name with the assembly base name is there anyway, good or bad, and we have to follow it. It is not hard but still somewhat tedious and error prone. Fortunately, if the Navisworks .NET Addin Wizard is used, all these will be taken care of automatically. The debug version of the assembly will be deployed to the right spot automatically and the assembly is ready to be loaded and tested with the single F5 key press in case the Visual Studio is launched ‘As Administrator’. Enjoy it.
Recent Comments