ExtrabbitCode Inventor MetaReader

Document Categories

MetaReader recognizes what kind of Inventor document you opened - Content Center, Frame Generator, Weldment, iPart/iAssembly and more - straight from the file, shown as a colour-coded badge.

Every Inventor document carries readable markers about the subsystem that produced it - whether it came from the Content Center, was built by Frame Generator or Design Accelerator, is a weldment, or is an iPart/iAssembly factory or member. MetaReader reads those markers straight from the bytes (no Inventor needed) and shows the result as a colour-coded badge under the document name.

The summary card of a Tube & Pipe pipe, with a teal 'Piping' category badge under the name

Hover the badge in the app to see the full legend. A document is given the most specific category that applies, so a Tube & Pipe pipe shows as Piping rather than the broader Content Center.

ColourCategoryRecognized by
Content Centerthe Categories iProperty (the part's library categories)
Pipinga Content Center category with the TUBEANDPIPE mnemonic
Frame Generatorthe _com.autodesk.FG property set
Design Acceleratorthe FDesign property set (generic - it does not record which generator)
Weldmentthe assembly document subtype
Sheet Metalthe part document subtype
iPart Factorythe member table plus the Parameterized Template flag
iPart Memberthe member table without that flag (and not a model-state part)
iAssembly Factorythe same, for an assembly
iAssembly Memberthe same, for an assembly
Generalanything without a more specific marker

This is the file-readable counterpart to Inventor's DocumentInterests / HasInterest. Inventor's own add-in "interest" list lives in the proprietary RSeStorage database, which MetaReader does not decode - but the same information surfaces in the readable iProperties and property sets above. The category is also available from the command line - the info report prints a Category: line and the json output includes a primaryCategory field.

What it can't tell apart

The FDesign marker is shared by every Design Accelerator generator, so a bolted connection can't be distinguished from a shaft or a gear by the bytes alone - all of them read as Design Accelerator.

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