How to activate the SolidWorks add-in "FeatureWorks" with C#?

Question

I am building a program in C# that uses the SolidWorks API.

When I create a new instance of SolidWorks with the command:

sldWrks = (SldWorks)Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID("SldWorks.Application"));

the application is loaded but the add-ins are not.
Specifically, the add-in I am interested in for this program is FeatureWorks.

How can I get SolidWorks to start with the add-ins active?
Do I need to set the options in some text file in the SolidWorks installation folder or perhaps modify the registry keys?

Answer 1

You have to load it with the call:

swApp.LoadAddIn(FileName);

Here's the documentation from SolidWorks.

Here's how I turned on the PDM Add-in. I'm sure it would be similar to FeatureWorks. Here was using a C# Windows Forms app (hence the MessageBox calls). Hopefully this gives you enough for you to figure out the rest.

private SldWorks.SldWorks ConnectToSW()
    {
        SldWorks.SldWorks swApp = null;

        try
        {
            //try to connect to an existing open instance of SolidWorks:
            swApp = (SldWorks.SldWorks)Marshal.GetActiveObject("SldWorks.Application");
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            //try to open a new instance:
            try
            {
                swApp = new SldWorks.SldWorks();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Can't connect to SolidWorks and can't open a new SolidWorks instance.\n" + ex.Message, "Error connecting to SolidWorks", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);
                return null;
            }
        }
        swApp.Visible = true;

        //now also try to make sure PDM add-in is enabled:
        try
        {
            string appPath = swApp.GetExecutablePath();
            appPath = appPath.Substring(0, appPath.LastIndexOf('\\')) + "\\SOLIDWORKS PDM";    //e.g. C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS -> C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS PDM

            string pdmAddinPath1 = $"{appPath}\\PDMSW.dll";
            string pdmAddinPath2 = $"{appPath}\\epdmlib.dll";

            //try the first addin dll
            if (!File.Exists(pdmAddinPath1))
            {
                DialogResult dlgRes = MessageBox.Show($"Can't load the PDM add-in:\n\n{pdmAddinPath1}\n\nPlease manually turn on the PDM Add-in in SolidWorks and click OK to continue", "Enable PDM Manually", MessageBoxButtons.OKCancel, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
                if (dlgRes == DialogResult.Cancel) throw new Exception();
            }
            try
            {
                swApp.LoadAddIn(pdmAddinPath1);
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                throw;
            }

            // try the second addin dll
            if (!File.Exists(pdmAddinPath2))
            {
                DialogResult dlgRes = MessageBox.Show($"Can't load the PDM add-in:\n\n{pdmAddinPath2}\n\nPlease manually turn on the PDM Add-in in SolidWorks and click OK to continue", "Enable PDM Manually", MessageBoxButtons.OKCancel, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
                if (dlgRes == DialogResult.Cancel) throw new Exception();
            }
            Cursor.Current = Cursors.WaitCursor;
            try
            {
                swApp.LoadAddIn(pdmAddinPath2);
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                throw;
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show($"Couldn't load the PDM addin.  Nothing about this is going to work right.\n\n{ex.Message}", "PDM Add-in not found", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation);
            //return null;
        }

        return swApp;
    }