Hi,

Making an addon for Solidworks (external executable, written in VB.NET), I always used to set swApp using = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application"). It worked, with a little issue of creating an invisible instance of Solidworks if it wasn't running when I ran my application. However, certain a person using my application with Solidworks Student Version has reported an error which indicates that my application cannot connect to his Solidworks instance. As I do not have access to a Student Version, I cannot check why, but I suspect the problem lies in this specific line. Can somebody advise me how should I set the swApp so it always connects to the running Solidworks instance, regardless of the version, and does not create a Solidworks ghost instance if my application was executed prior to running Solidworks?

I have tried the following lines, which I found in the official Solidworks API page, as well as various forum threads:

swApp = CreateObject("SldWorks.Application")  //didn't work with the Student Version, also creates a ghost instance of Solidworks;

swApp = Application.SldWorks //gives a warning "'SldWorks' is not a member of 'Application'

swApp = Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID("SldWorks.Application")) //also creates a ghost instance of Solidworks;

swApp = GetObject(, "SldWorks.Application") //gives a "Cannot create ActiveX component" error;

swApp = CType(System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("SldWorks.Application"), SldWorks) '= Application.SldWorks //gives a "Operation unavailable" error.

Can somebody point out the right way to do this, please?