Connect to SOLIDWORKS Document Manager Application from API

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Activating Document Manager

Document manager requires the developer license which can be requested via SOLIDWORKS customer portal

Follow the steps below:

Login to customer portal
Click API Support link under My Support section

Select Document Manager Key Request link

Select the option either to resend existing key or generate new one

Fill the request form and select the functionality required for your software (refer Supported Functionality section to select the right functions)

Document Manager supported functionality

It usually takes several business days for key to be generated. Once generated it will be sent via e-mail. The key is generated in the following format:

CompanyName:swdocmgr_general-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_previews-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_dimxpert-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_geometry-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_xml-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_tessellation-00000-{31 times}

Exception below will be thrown if API is called which doesn't belong to a group for which licenses were generated.

Class is not licensed for use (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040112)

Registering Document Manager

Document Manager is automatically registered with the following applications

SOLIDWORKS
eDrawings
SOLIDWORKS Files Explorer
SOLIDWORKS PDM
SOLIDWORKS Document Manager SDK

To manually register the Document Manager run regsvr32 utility and pass the path to swdocumentmanager.dll (usually installed to C:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared\swdocumentmgr.dll with Document Manager SDK).

Run Windows Command line with administrative right with the following command

regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared\swdocumentmgr.dll"

Notes

Document Manager key must not be shared outside of the organization
Software developed using Document Manager key can only be redistributed in the binary format
- That means that the customers of your software do not need to get the license key from SOLIDWORKS
- That also means that this key cannot be used in VBA macros outside of the organization, but can be used in VSTA macros (if source code is not redistributed)
- Document Manager is backward compatible until the SOLIDWORKS 2015 but it is not forward compatible. For example it is possible to read/write legacy data with newer version of Document Manager key for SOLIDWORKS 2015 onwards.
- Document Manager key generated before SOLIDWORKS 2015 is both backward and forward compatible with older versions of SOLIDWORKS
- Document Manager license key should be updated with every new release of SOLIDWORKS to support newer versions
Important for .NET developers: the swDocumentManager.dll is not the same as SolidWorks.Interop.SwDocumentMgr.dll which is added as the reference to the project. The later one doesn't contain any implementation - this is just an interop to access COM objects implemented in swDocumentManager.dll

Code Examples

VBA

Add the reference to swdocumentmgr.dll. The dll can be usually found at C:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared. Document manager license key might be too long so VBA editor will not be able to compile the macro. Refer the Too Long VBA Macro Line troubleshooting article for the solution of this issue.

Const SW_DM_KEY As String = "[CompanyName]:swdocmgr_general-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_previews-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_dimxpert-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_geometry-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_xml-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_tessellation-00000-{31 times}"

Dim swDmClassFactory As SwDocumentMgr.swDmClassFactory
Dim swDmApp As SwDocumentMgr.SwDMApplication

Sub main()

    Set swDmClassFactory = CreateObject("SwDocumentMgr.SwDMClassFactory")
    
    If Not swDmClassFactory Is Nothing Then
        Set swDmApp = swDmClassFactory.GetApplication(SW_DM_KEY)
        Debug.Print swDmApp.GetLatestSupportedFileVersion()
    Else
        MsgBox "Document Manager SDK is not installed"
    End If
    
End Sub

C#

Add the reference to SolidWorks.Interop.swdocumentmgr.dll. The dll can be usually found at C:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared. Uncheck the Embed Interop Types option in the reference properties.

using SolidWorks.Interop.swdocumentmgr;
using System;

namespace CodeStack
{
    class Program
    {
        const string SW_DM_KEY = "[CompanyName]:swdocmgr_general-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_previews-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_dimxpert-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_geometry-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_xml-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_tessellation-00000-{31 times}";

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            SwDMClassFactory classFactory = Activator.CreateInstance(
                Type.GetTypeFromProgID("SwDocumentMgr.SwDMClassFactory")) as SwDMClassFactory;

            if (classFactory != null)
            {
                SwDMApplication dmApp = classFactory.GetApplication(SW_DM_KEY);
                Console.WriteLine(dmApp.GetLatestSupportedFileVersion());
            }
            else
            {
                throw new NullReferenceException("Document Manager SDK is not installed");
            }
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports SolidWorks.Interop.swdocumentmgr
Imports System

Module CodeStack

    Const SW_DM_KEY As String = "[CompanyName]:swdocmgr_general-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_previews-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_dimxpert-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_geometry-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_xml-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_tessellation-00000-{31 times}"

    Sub Main(ByVal args As String())

        Dim classFactory As SwDMClassFactory =
            TryCast(Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID("SwDocumentMgr.SwDMClassFactory")), SwDMClassFactory)

        If classFactory IsNot Nothing Then
            Dim dmApp As SwDMApplication = classFactory.GetApplication(SW_DM_KEY)
            Console.WriteLine(dmApp.GetLatestSupportedFileVersion())
        Else
            Throw New NullReferenceException("Document Manager SDK is not installed")
        End If

    End Sub

End Module

C++

Add the path to swdocumentmgr.dll (usually C:\Program Files\Common Files\SOLIDWORKS Shared) into the Project Properties->C/C++->General->Additional Include Directories

#include "stdafx.h"
#import "SwDocumentMgr.dll" raw_interfaces_only
#include <iostream>

#define SW_DM_KEY L"[CompanyName]:swdocmgr_general-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_previews-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_dimxpert-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_geometry-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_xml-00000-{31 times},swdocmgr_tessellation-00000-{31 times}"

int main()
{
    CoInitialize(NULL);

    CComPtr pClassFactory;

    if (SUCCEEDED(pClassFactory.CoCreateInstance(
        __uuidof(SwDocumentMgr::SwDMClassFactory), NULL, CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER)))
    {
        CComPtr pDmApp;

        if (SUCCEEDED(pClassFactory->GetApplication(SW_DM_KEY, &pDmApp)))
        {
            long latestVers;

            HRESULT r = pDmApp->GetLatestSupportedFileVersion(&latestVers);

            if (SUCCEEDED(r))
            {
                std::cout << latestVers;
            }
            else
            {
                std::cout << "Failed to get version";
            }
        }

        pDmApp = NULL;
        pClassFactory = NULL;
        ::CoUninitialize();
    }
    else
    {
        std::cout << "Document Manager SDK is not installed";
    }
    
    std::cin.get();

    return 0;
}

References

Online Document Manager API Help Documentation