DLL Error with VB .NET Program

Ok, so i was looking around on google about how to incorporate DLL's written in C with VB .NET GUI's because its stupidly simple to create one in VB and C is faster. So I want to learn how to mix the two and i found a page of an example thats supposed to do just this (here: http://www.codeproject.com/Purgatory/c_dll_in_vb.asp ). But when I execute the code, I always get this error:

An unhandled exception of type 'System.EntryPointNotFoundException' occurred in Call_C_dll.exe

Additional information: Unable to find an entry point named ReturnInParam in DLL vcdll.dll.

VB Code:

Code:

Public Class Form1
    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
 _
| Windows Form Designer Generated Code |
 -

    <DllImport("vcdll.dll", CallingConvention:=CallingConvention.Cdecl)> _
    Private Shared Sub ReturnInParam(ByRef Stan As Integer, _
        ByRef Message As String)
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim Num As Integer = 8
        Dim Message As String = "Hey"
        ReturnInParam(Num, Message)
        MessageBox.Show(Message)
    End Sub
End Class

C Code:

Code:

#include <WINDOWS.H>


      LPCSTR DisplayStringByVal(LPCSTR pszString)
      {
          return "How's it goin? ";
      }

      
      void ReturnInParam(int* pnStan, char** pMsg)
      {
           long *buffer;
           char text[7] = "Hallo ";
           char name[sizeof(*pMsg)];
           
           strcpy(name, *pMsg);
           *pnStan = *pnStan + 5;
           
           buffer = (long *)calloc(sizeof(text)+sizeof(*pMsg), sizeof( char ) );
           *pMsg = (char *)buffer;
           
           // do not free the buffer, because it will be used by the caller
           //   free( buffer );
           strcpy(*pMsg, text);
           strcat(*pMsg, name);
      }

the name and path of the dll is correct so whats wrong? thanks

Before you compile the C file there is a final step to do:
define the library and function in Simple.def file as follows:

Code:

LIBRARY Simple
      DESCRIPTION 'Sample C DLL for use with .NET'
      EXPORTS
        DisplayStringByVal
        ReturnInParam

This tell the VB where to locate the function Entry Point. If you don't provide this declaration then you will get message just like this

Code:

An unhandled exception of type 'System.EntryPointNotFoundException' occurred in Call_C_dll.exe

Additional information: Unable to find an entry point named ReturnInParam in DLL E:\Temp\simple.dll.

Can we assume you have a DEF file included in your project and have changed the library name to match your DLL project?

You need to make sure you're exporting the functions in you C DLL that you need to reference from the outside.

Also, you may want to do some reading up on the different types of strings.. as you may find that you interchanging ANSI C strings and B strings isn't so trivial

Good luck.

Yes, you can assume that. I want to use Dev-C++ as the IDE for writing the DLL's but it seems that tutorials like to cover VC++. So I think I just need to know how to include the .def file while using Dev-C++. I can get things to work while using VC++ but its a student version so everytime you run a program compiled with it, a message box pops up saying "you can't distribute these files for commercial use blah blah blah we here at microsoft are gay blah blah we suck have a nice day" ..something to that effect. lol


Can you elaborate as to what you mean by exchanging ANSI C and B strings please?


For some reason, Dev-C++ generates the .def file and this is what it comes out as:

Code:

; dlltool --base-file C:\DOCUME~1\TIMHAN~1\LOCALS~1\Temp/cca03608.base
--output-exp circlearea_devcpp.exp --dllname circlearea_devcpp.dll
--output-def libcirclearea_devcpp.def --no-export-all-symbols
--add-stdcall-alias --exclude-symbol=DllMainCRTStartup@12 --def
C:\DOCUME~1\TIMHAN~1\LOCALS~1\Temp/cca03608.def
--output-lib libcirclearea_devcpp.a
EXPORTS

but this is how my def file looks from VC++:

Code:

EXPORTS
         DisplayStringByVal
	ReturnInParam

K so I got bored with their example and wanted to try out what I had gathered from reading things. I made a program to calculate the area of a circle, here's my VB code:

Code:

Private Declare Function ReturnVersion Lib "C:\Documents and Settings\Tim Hansen\My Documents\Visual Studio Projects\circlearea_devcpp.dll" () As Long
    Private Declare Function circlearea Lib "C:\Documents and Settings\Tim Hansen\My Documents\Visual Studio Projects\circlearea_devcpp.dll" (ByVal area As Double) As Double


    Private Sub About_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles About.Click
        ' Report Version Number
        Call MsgBox(ReturnVersion())
    End Sub

    Private Sub Bye_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Bye.Click
        Application.Exit()
    End Sub

    Private Sub Calculate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Calculate.Click

        Dim area, radius As Double

        radius = InputBox.Text
        area = circlearea(radius)

        OutputBox.Text = Str$(area)

    End Sub

    Private Sub Clear_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Clear.Click
        InputBox.ResetText()
        OutputBox.ResetText()
    End Sub

and here's my C++ code:

Code:

#include "stdafx.h"

BOOL APIENTRY DllMain( HANDLE hModule, 
                       DWORD  ul_reason_for_call, 
                       LPVOID lpReserved
					 )
{
    return TRUE;
}


int ReturnVersion(void)
{
	int version = 1;
	return version;
}

double circlearea(double radius)
{
	double area;

	area = 3.1415926535 * (radius * radius);

	return area;
}

and finally, here's my .def file:

Code:

; dlltool --base-file C:\DOCUME~1\TIMHAN~1\LOCALS~1\Temp/cca03432.base --output-exp circlearea_devcpp.exp --dllname circlearea_devcpp.dll --output-def libcirclearea_devcpp.def --no-export-all-symbols --add-stdcall-alias --exclude-symbol=DllMainCRTStartup@12 --def C:\DOCUME~1\TIMHAN~1\LOCALS~1\Temp/cca03432.def --output-lib libcirclearea_devcpp.a
EXPORTS

the .def file was automatically generated by Dev-C++ and if i modify it by taking out everything before "EXPORTS" and adding ReturnVersion and circlearea after exports, it will not work with the VB interface.
So I have two questions: How do I get it to work? lol
And how can I call each function seperately? Because the same code in MSVC++ works but I get a message saying its a limited version of the program and when I ask for the version, it gives me a message that has "circlearea" for the title and then in the message has "7479125..." (probably whatever random junk is chilling in my ram) Do I need to create a seperate cpp file for each function? Thanks

Hello,

The best way for me to elaborate is to point you at a helpful resource.

Good luck!

why thank you