Question

Is there a way to view a solidworks file without converting it to an edrawing?

Answer 1

The eDrawings data is embedded into the file. This is great for viewing drawings. You don’t have to load the part or assembly. Use the IEModelViewControl.

void OpenDoc( 
   string FileName,
   bool IsTemp,
   bool PromptToSave,
   bool ReadOnly,
   string CommandString)

Parameters
FileName:
Fully qualified path and filename

IsTemp:
True to delete the local copy of a remote non-eDrawings file when that file is no longer open, false to not

PromptToSave:
True to show a dialog if the user exits without saving the file, False to not show a dialog

ReadOnly:
True if the file is read-only, false if not

CommandString:
Specify an empty string (“”); do not specify Nothing, Empty, or vbNullString