Thread: DLLs - Explicit Linking

Good morning,
I wouldl like to ask your help; I am trying to link a dll library explicltly.
I use windows, in visual studio have created a new empty project, added a source file, changed its extension to .c, and written the following code:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

#include <windows.h>


int main()
{
    
       HANDLE hDLL = LoadLibrary("Library.dll");

        if (hDLL == NULL)
            
        {
                printf("Failed to load the library.\n");
        }
                    
        else
        
        {            
                printf("Library loaded.\n");
        }
}

I can build the project and execute it but always I get the output "failed to load the library". I tried to copy the dll library in every possible directory inside the visual studio project but the result is always the same.

I would like to ask you how can I get some hints (i.e.: a more useful error message) about why it is not possible to load the library.

thank you,
Alberto

Originally Posted by Salem

LoadLibrary function (Windows)

You get more information by calling GetLastError.

Watch out for the whole Unicode vs ANSI thing. Recent versions of visual studio default to Unicode.

Any string you pass into a Win32 API should use the TEXT() macro. This insulates you from having to worry about whether you're compiling for Unicode or ANSI.
Eg.

Code:

HANDLE hDLL = LoadLibrary(TEXT("Library.dll"));

Salem,
Thank you for your help, this solved the problem