Application Programming Interface (API)

Woodwork for Inventor provides an extensive set of tools that allow you to manipulate the properties of furniture products during construction and extract the necessary information to start the furniture manufacturing process. The set of features of this system covers most of the needs of furniture construction. It is true that there is a wide variety of furniture businesses in the world that dictate their own working logic in the construction of furniture and there are various ways to automate the construction processes and make them more efficient. An example of such an application would be the configuration of a piece of furniture, where it is possible to manipulate not only the dimensions of the product and its composition, but also the materials used in Woodwork for Inventor. This is done through programming, which makes it possible to create additional software functions that make the designer's work easier and more automated.

Autodesk Inventor has its own Application Programming Interface (API) ecosystem, which allows the functionality of this CAD system to be extended. Woodwork for Inventor is an example of such an extension. It is exclusively built on the Autodesk Inventor API.

Now Woodwork for Inventor also has the possibility to use some of the functionality to create Autodesk Inventor add-ons. This is the first version of the Woodwork for Inventor API, which will extend its functionality in the future and will allow the manipulation of virtually any Woodwork for Inventor functions and generated data from the user application being developed.

Currently, the Woodwork for Inventor API allows manipulation of the following system functions:

1.	Scan the materials assigned to a part or its faces.

2.	Assign materials taken from the Woodwork for Inventor material database.

3.	Manage material textures.

4.	Manage oversizes of workpieces.

Applications can be developed in C#, VBA and iLogic environments.

What you need to know to integrate the Woodwork for Inventor API into your applications based on Autodesk Inventor API:

1.	You need to be proficient in the part of Autodesk Inventor that allows you to model the part.

2.	You need to have mastered the Woodwork for Inventor application itself. At this point, it is sufficient to be familiar with working with material assignment, texture and oversize management.

3.	In general, you must have a basic understanding of programming and how to work with objects and collections of objects.

4.	A good understanding of how the Autodesk Inventor API works is required. In particular, you need to have an understanding of what a b-rep of a part is, be able to navigate the part’s topology from within the program, and access faces.

5.	You have to be familiar with the Woodwork for Inventor API objects and the functions they perform.