SolidDNA: an open-source framework

SolidDNA is an open-source framework for building SOLIDWORKS add-ins. It acts as a layer between your code and the SOLIDWORKS API.

It was created by SOLIDWORKS legend Luke Malpass and it's currently forked and maintained by us.

SolidDNA is written in C# and designed for building add-ins with the .NET framework.

When a SOLIDWORKS API is unclear, unhelpful or not intuitive, we create a better version in SolidDNA. Three examples:

1. Creating an add-in or a toolbar takes only a few lines of code
2. When SOLIDWORKS returns null to signal an empty array, we return an (empty) list. No more casting and null checks.
3. We use actual enums instead of integers

If you want to access an API that is not in SolidDNA yet, you can still access it via the UnsafeObject property on every SolidDNA object.

We use SolidDNA all the time. It's the foundation of our products Drew and Lightning and we use it every time we build a custom add-in for our clients.

When we notice we're building the same logic time and time again, we add it to SolidDNA so the whole world can use it.

The code to SoldDNA is open source and freely available on Github. It even includes a bunch of templates, tutorials and two helpful tools.

We'd love your help, so if you have a question, a feature proposal or a bug fix, just create an issue or a pull request. 

• Check out the source code on Github
• Download the package from NuGet
• Learn how to get started with our blog post (coming soon)
• Watch the original getting started videos by AngelSix