I saw InterLink Requirements:
·Windows 10/11
·Patran 2024+
·Excel 64-bit (Demos require Excel for Office 365 or Excel 2021 or later)
· C++17 (To use the CPP helper with variadic templates, auto, and modern STL behavior)
Can the previous software versions be supported? Such as Win 7, Patran 2013-2022, Office 2010.
Earlier versions of Patran would require modification to the DLL source code (there is a new enabling method in Patran 2024 that was added by Hexagon/MSC because of incompatibility discovered with Patran 2023). Regarding Excel, earlier versions in theory can be used, but if not 64-bit then the .xlam helper would need rewrite to interface with the DLL (pointer stuff). The Excel demos wouldn’t work as they take advantage of auto-expanding arrays added v2021/365.
Thanks for your reply.
I’m interested in the new enabling method. Does MSC provide relevant documents?
FractureProof 29/01/2026 8:20 am
@andy Not really, in general the documentation that explains accessing Patran from a DLL or vice-versa is not great, you can check out the sections on “WRAPGEN” and dbaccess, however without any additional background / experience doing something functional will be extremely challenging.
Actually, I started using WRAPGEN in Patran 2013. It may be that the functions I use are relatively basic, so the dll compiled by Patran 2013 library can be used normally under Patran 2024, and no problems have been found so far. But I’m worried about some hidden bugs, so I became interested when you mentioned that Patran 2024 had changes for WRAPGEN.
FractureProof 29/01/2026 9:20 am
@andy Not a change in WRAPGEN, rather in Patran 2023 they upgraded QT version. Using WRAPGEN the PCL function ui_wid_set() was called in order to trigger a Patran event. Some sort of conflict with the new QT version caused incompatibility with (best guess) virtual displays; would crash Patran immediately if using Azure VMs, or Windows Accessibility tools i.e. Magnifier, also suspected problems with Windows Surface / touch screen devices.
Hexagon/MSC added a new PCL function ui_wid_callback() which set a widget’s callback string directly into the event manager as a quick hack/fix.
