SOLIDWORKS PDM API: Data Card Add-in

Learn how to develop a custom SOLIDWORKS PDM Data Card add-in using C# and the SOLIDWORKS PDM API. In this course, you will build a custom button that extracts metadata from 3D models and automatically transfers it into drawings. The course covers metadata extraction, PDM events, debugging, triggering logic from data card buttons, and adding custom menus.

You begin with the Visual Studio requirements, create your project, and install the PDM add-in references. Next you work through the core pieces every PDM add-in needs: the EdmAddIn5 interface, GetAddInInfo with EdmAddInInfo and IEdmCmdMgr5, the OnCmd method, and the IEdmVault5 object. You also learn two practical ways to debug add-ins, one using notepad.exe and one using pdmdebugger.exe.

With that foundation in place, you build the real feature step by step: pairing each drawing with its model in the vault, extracting data from the model, writing metadata to the drawing, and running a complete sync between the two. You then debug the logic, trigger it from PDM events, and finish by adding settings to the add-in.

Who this course is for: SOLIDWORKS PDM administrators and developers with some C# experience who want to automate data card workflows. If you have not written a PDM add-in before, SOLIDWORKS PDM API: How To Write C# Add-ins is a good place to start.