Royalties for Add-in

No, you would not be required to pay a royalty to SolidWorks.

The API exists to facilitate just what you are contemplating.

I believe you can become a "gold" partner or something like that which means SolidWorks officially endorses you. You might have to pay money for that title. But I agree with previous poster that you can make an add-in without any licensing. For advertising purposes I would suggest you get the okay to maybe use the SolidWorks logo and name from whatever department handles that kind of stuff.

Jac> Hi guys.

Thank you very much for the good news Mr. Who and Tim. I guess that when time comes it is better I contact the italian branch of Solidworks. By the way, maybe you can give me your opinion if for reals my idea can have any potential. The add-in I am developing is a standard parts library (screws, nuts, pins, etc.) based not on set excel or access tables but on a syntax file name interpreter e.g. "Screw 7435-M6x30" (of file properties for those who use company's code for standard parts too). The user can thus create his own libraries simply telling the program what is the syntax used for its files contained in a folder. Also, for screws and pins there is an automatic tool that inspect the whole assembly, recognizes the hole features in each part, choose the right fastener according to some user customized conventions, and add them to the assembly using the smartmates. I am trying it and I swear it saves 20% of total time in designing a group. Plus some other small features that deal with those little, everyday, time consuming tasks we all hate. Also in the future I would like to create another tool that, selected two parts, and been told what type of screw you want to use, it places the proper holes, and of course, add the fasteners. That is not so easy but we'll see. What do you think of the whole project?

I've done quite a lot of work with the SolidWorks API and what you propose looks doable to me. It seems to me that SolidWorks already offers something like this through 3d partstream which contains libraries of parts. I haven't really used it but there are a lot of suppliers and you can grab just the configurations that you need.

What is the advanage of sizing parts based on file name? To use a different screw would you just rename the part? What if you have a lot of screws and need to change all of them?

I definitely agree that tools for adding components more easily through smartmates, hole finding, etc would be a big time saver. You will need to be able to quanitfy this time saving in order to really sell the product.

There are a lot of time savers that you could incorporate, but I wonder how marketable they would be. Lots of good ideas on these boards though!

Good luck.

Jac> Thank you very much for the good news Mr. Who and Tim. I guess that when

I think that you have some great ideas and hope to see what you come up with soon. One thing that you may consider that I believe is a weakness of the existing systems has to do with how the fasteners are displayed in the BOM. Ther needs to be a "link/ equation" between the part file name and the custom property that any perticular user may use as theri company standards. I personally like to use a "description" property, rather then the file name because of the restrictions in the file name for certain characters.

One other thing that you could do that everyone else seems to have neglected is to consider a dowel pin as a fastener. As with a screw there is a screw thread hole and there is a clearance hole the pin has a press fit hole and a clearance hole.

I especially like the last idea that you mentioned. Inventor has a similar system that does what you describe so this idea is long over due for SW.

Thank you very much guys for the advice. First of all I answer to Mr.Who. You are definitely right, there is a lot of

3D part suppliers and I don't won't to replicate their work. You are right it would be not appealing. But i have worked for some companies designing tool machines and I ansure you that everyone has its own libraries of shaft, gears, spacers, you name it. It is enough put all them in one folder, and give them consistent names or consistent properties and bam you have your own new library. Also part of the program is an, I hope, user-friendly tool that starting from an excel table and a prototype creates a new library. The idea of the file name (or description properties) stems from the idea that most people simply create new parts in the library renaming an existing one. I ensure you no one would update an excel or even worse an access database. Also with what results? Thank you though for the objection because this makes me understand what are the right factors to stress in presenting my project.

Then I must thank Ed because you now make me think better to the importance of dowels. Actually this involves quite harder topology issues, but I guess i will have to deal with them. You are right in saying about the the BOM. I think though that, even if I don't know it very well, you can do what you say using PDM Works. For me trying to compete with that program would be pure craziness. On the other side I know what you mean because I hate that too. What I did to speed up the process is simply creating a windows in which I have the list of the parts in the assembly. In this window I can mass renaming files (eg consecutive numbers), change the material, change the items of the property list. Not dramatic but it helps.

Thank you for your opinion guys. I hope to speak with you soon.

Jacopo

You are going to want to join the partner program. There are many benefits to joining the program just follow this link.

Jac> Hi guys.

Thank you very much for the information. Despite I have visited several times the solidworks website, I have always skipped this page, maybe thinking it was addressed to big companies, not just to "amateur" programmers like I am at the moment. Regards Jacopo