Customized Tasks

If the tasks provided with the SOLIDWORKS Task Add-in do not meet your needs, you can modify them or create your own task add-in.

Customizing Existing Tasks

With programming knowledge, you can modify the script that underlies the Convert and Print tasks.

Use the Advanced Scripting Options dialog box to view and modify the task code while you are configuring the task from the Administration tool.

  • When configuring a conversion task, on the Output File Details page, click Advanced Scripting Options.
  • When configuring a print task, on the Files page, click Advanced Scripting Options.

Creating Custom Task Add-ins

Programmers can use the SOLIDWORKS PDM API to create an add-in to execute tasks for specific environments.

Creating a task add-in requires programming in Visual Basic .Net, C#, or C++.

A task add-in extends the capabilities of the task executor. For example, a task add-in could open files in Microsoft Word and save them to another format such as .html.

You can program the task add-in to:

  • Send parameters and data to the task executor as part of the task instruction
  • Execute any MS-DOS®/Windows command
  • Run any Windows program with an arbitrary number of parameters
  • Give commands to any Windows program
  • Access and send commands to installed resources like printers and plotters

When you install the add-in to the vault, you add the tasks it defines to the Tasks node by creating new tasks.