SOLIDWORKS Toolbox includes a library of standard components (parts) that users can insert into their assemblies. SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM can be configured to manage the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox. Third-party product data management (PDM) applications can also manage the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox. Either way, the advantages of using a PDM application to manage the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox include:
- Document management of Toolbox parts. Toolbox parts can be automatically checked in or out of the PDM vault as they are accessed or modified.
- Access control of Toolbox parts. User accounts and group permissions can be set up to provide security for the Toolbox.
- Decentralization of the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox. Toolbox parts can reside in one or more vaults that are hosted by one or more archive servers.
The SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Browser Application Programming Interface (API) is designed specifically to allow third-party PDM applications the ability to manage the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox. The SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Browser API provides programmatic access to the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Browser, the PDM document manager, and the Toolbox Configurator (Welcome to Toolbox Setup dialog). The Toolbox Browser API contains functions that you can call from Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), VB.NET, C++ 6.0, C++.NET, and C#.NET to directly access and automate the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Browser environment. It is assumed that you are familiar with at least one of these programming languages. The SOLIDWORKS API SDK contains add-in templates in C++, VB.NET, and C# that you can use to develop an add-in that integrates your choice of PDM application with the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Browser. The SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Manager Example (VB.NET, C#), downloadable from the SOLIDWORKS Forums, shows you how to do this. See Getting Started.
This online reference manual documents the interfaces, methods, properties, enumerations, and events available in the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Browser API.
NOTE: All of the sample code supplied is provided on an as-is basis, and is only intended to demonstrate ways of using the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Browser API. No representations or warranties are made regarding these samples. Any licensed user of SOLIDWORKS Toolbox is free to use any or all of these samples in connection with building applications related to SOLIDWORKS Toolbox and is granted a royalty-free, non-exclusive license for these samples, or parts thereof. Intellectual property rights of the samples remain with SOLIDWORKS Toolbox. Any confidentiality provisions of the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox license apply to the samples.