GetProcAddress ...

I load a DLL dinamically...

But I want to call a function from it passing arguments...

How should I use GetProcAddress??

__
OK..
let me try to explain better...

my .cpp file should load a dll.
Then the .cpp should call few methods in the dll.
Well im able to call the methods with no parameters but im unable to call the methods with parameters.

How do I proceed?

And that is your own DLL or one provided by the system?

There shouldn't be any problem when you call stuff from system DLLs, just use _stdcall to mark your function pointers. It gets tricky when you create your own stuff.

Win API designers chose to create all Windows DLLs in way so they can be used from different languages so entry points to functions are not designed as normal C functions, but like pascal functions. That is why you have those _stdcall keywords.

When you create your own DLLs, you can have _stdcall or _cdecl entry points. I always use _cdecl because this way my function names do not get mangled, everything is natural to C conventions and I have never used other languages to call these DLLs so why bother.

Code:

typedef void (*FuncNoParams)();
typedef void (*FuncWithParams)(int value);

...
...
HMODULE module = LoadLibrary("MyDLL.dll");
if (module)
{
    FuncNoParams noParamFunc;
    FuncWithParams paramFunc;
    
    noParamFunc = (FuncNoParams)GetProcAddress(module,"FooNoParams");
    if (noParamFunc)
    {
         noParamFunc();
    }

    paramFunc = (FuncWithParams)GetProcAddress(module,"FooWithParams");
    if (paramFunc)
    {
        paramFunc(0);
    }

    FreeLibrary(module);
}

...
...
DLL import/export header - MyModule_DLL.h

Code:

#pragma once

#ifdef MYDLL_EXPORTS
    #define MYDLL_API __declspec(dllexport)
#else
    #define MYDLL_API __declspec(dllimport)
#endif

DLL module header

Code:

#pragma once

#include "MyModule_DLL.h"

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif

MYDLL_API void FooNoParams();
MYDLL_API void FooWithParams(int value);

#ifdef __cplusplus
}    
#endif
...

DLL implementation

Code:

#include "MyDLL.h"

void FooNoParams()
{
}

void FooWithParams(int value)
{
    value;
}

I did not test this code but it should get you extremely close to a working DLL and a client that can load and use it.

idelovski, I intend to use both.
...
VirtualAce, I tested your code with my own DLL. I did exactly as in your code (with necessary changes, according to my DLL), but it's not working.
At least, now I can understand better how functions are loaded from explicit linking.

I'll keep researching...
If I find something that works I'll post here!

What part of my code is not working? Could you show me how you are using it?

VirtualAce, yes of course:
[Executable]

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <windows.h>

typedef int (*TheFunc)(unsigned int);

int main()
{
   TheFunc _TheFunc;
   HMODULE Module = LoadLibrary(LPCWSTR("C:\\RedQueen.dll"));

   if (Module)
   {
      _TheFunc = (TheFunc) GetProcAddress(Module, "BeepMe");

      if (_TheFunc)
      {
		  std::cout << "PROCESSING... " << std::endl;
		  _TheFunc(0xFFFFFFFF);
      }

      FreeLibrary(Module);
   }
   else
   {
      std::cout << "DLL Failed To Load!" << std::endl;
   }

   std::cin.get();

   return 0;
}

You can see that in this line...

Code:

HMODULE Module = LoadLibrary(LPCWSTR("C:\\RedQueen.dll"));

... I used LPCWSTR because VC++ is rejecting without it.

[DLL import/export header - Import_Export.h]

Code:

#pragma once

#ifdef REDQUEEN_EXPORTS
#define REDQUEEN_API __declspec(dllexport)
#else
#define REDQUEEM_API __declspec(dllimport)
#endif

[DLL module header]

Code:

#include "Import_Export.h"

#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif

	REDQUEEN_API void BeepMe(unsigned int);

#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif

#include <Windows.h>

[DLL implementation]

Code:

#include "RedQueen.h"

void BeepMe(unsigned int Hex)
{
	MessageBeep(Hex);
}

...
I used MessageBeep() from WinAPI. MessageBeep Function (Windows)
I'm using it just for simple tests.

Do you have a line defining REDQUEEN_EXPORTS in your DLL?
[ie #define REDQUEEN_EXPORTS]

So that the Import_Export.h header defines the functions as 'exported' from the DLL and the app defines them as 'Imported'.

Ie this code fires correctly in both the DLL (exports) and the app (imports).

Code:

#pragma once

#ifdef REDQUEEN_EXPORTS
#define REDQUEEN_API __declspec(dllexport)
#else
#define REDQUEEM_API __declspec(dllimport) //is the 'M' instead of a 'N' a typo?
#endif

... I used LPCWSTR because VC++ is rejecting without it.

This is because you have selected use unicode character set in your project settings. You can also set it to multi-byte or off.

GetProcAddress() has absolutely zero to do with parameter passing. It just looks something up by name and hands you a pointer. It's up to you to cast this pointer to an appropriate function pointer type (specifying the correct calling convention, parameters, and all that jazz), and then you can call through the function pointer passing the correct arguments. That's what VirtualAce is trying to show.

Code:

HMODULE Module = LoadLibrary(LPCWSTR("C:\\RedQueen.dll"));

Your typecast is wrong...

Code:

HMODULE Module = LoadLibrary((LPCWSTR)"c:\\RedQueen.dll");

if you're in C or C++ what you most likely need is the unicode version of the string literal...

Code:

HMODULE Module = LoadLibrary(L"c:\\RedQueen.dll");

I do wonder why you need GetProcAddress() in this case...
If you have the DLL loaded and have used #include to read in the header with the function prototype you should be able to call it like any other function...

Code:

BeepMe(50);

That's the whole point of exporting the functions from the DLL... so you can use them like any other.

For example the GetProcAddress() function is actually in kernel32.dll ... but you don't have to do anything special to use it other than including the header and linking with the library.

Originally Posted by CommonTater

Code:

HMODULE Module = LoadLibrary(LPCWSTR("C:\\RedQueen.dll"));

Your typecast is wrong...

Code:

HMODULE Module = LoadLibrary((LPCWSTR)"c:\\RedQueen.dll");

Functional style type casts are perfectly fine in C++. The real issue (as you pointed out), is that he is casting a multibyte string to a wide character string.

Originally Posted by bithub

Functional style type casts are perfectly fine in C++. The real issue (as you pointed out), is that he is casting a multibyte string to a wide character string.

Yep, he's likely to end up with something like (LPCWSTR)L"string text"

That L prefix or _TEXT() wrapper, makes all the difference.

When I first started out with Unicode --aside from a 5 Excedrin headache-- I learned the hard way that Pelles C has quite the sense of humour to it...

I tried typecasting to wide string like our friend did and promptly received the dreaded error message: "More than 100 errors, try to improve yourself" ... and just about fell off my chair laughing.