I've read through the docs but I can't seem to work out how to declare a function that can to be loaded from a specific dll. The calling convention is cdecl. Is there a sort of equivalent loadlibrary() machanism? I tried to link the function via a lib file but the linker says "Error 43: Not a Valid Library File", even though the file is used by other apps on the computer.

HMS

After I posted this message I noticed that loadlibrary and getprocaddress are available from the windows module. Anyone got an example showing how to use the GetProcAddress function in D?

HMS

In article <c74emg$fe2$1@digitaldaemon.com>, snowflake says...
>
>I've read through the docs but I can't seem to work out how to declare a function that can to be loaded from a specific dll. The calling convention is cdecl. Is there a sort of equivalent loadlibrary() machanism? I tried to link the function via a lib file but the linker says "Error 43: Not a Valid Library File", even though the file is used by other apps on the computer.
>
>HMS
>
>

I've written the std.loader module, which will hopefully appear in the next release of the compiler/library.

That doesn't help you now, though, does it?

You can just declare

extern(Windows)
{
    void *LoadLibraryA(char *libName);
    int FreeLibrary(void *hLib);
    void *GetProcAddress(void *hModule, char *procName);
}

and proceed with them

"snowflake" <snowflake_member@pathlink.com> wrote in message news:c74emg$fe2$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> I've read through the docs but I can't seem to work out how to declare a function that can to be loaded from a specific dll. The calling convention is cdecl. Is there a sort of equivalent loadlibrary() machanism? I tried to link the function via a lib file but the linker says "Error 43: Not a Valid Library File", even though the file is used by other apps on the computer.
>
> HMS
>
>

>After I posted this message I noticed that loadlibrary and getprocaddress are available from the windows module. Anyone got an example showing how to use the GetProcAddress function in D?

It just so happens that I was working on the very same thing yesterday. :)

GetProcAddress returns the address of an export on the dll.  You can cast this value to a function handle (see below) or a variable address if desired.  More explicit information can be found at MDSN:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dllproc/base/getprocaddress.asp

The quick and dirty D version goes something like this:

import std.c.windows.windows;

alias (*HelloWorldHandle)(/*put your handle parameters here*/);

void LoadLibraryExample(string libraryFileName){
HANDLE hLibrary;

//make sure you have a trailing \0 when you cast to a c-style string!
hLibrary = LoadLibraryA((char*)(libraryFileName ~ "\0"));

if(hLibrary){
HelloWorldHandle helloWorld =
(HelloWorldHandle)GetProcAddress(hLibrary,(char*)("HelloWorld\0"));
if(!helloWorld) throw new Exception("Failure to load HelloWorld handle.");
}
helloWorld(/*put your handle arguments here*/);
FreeLibrary(hLibrary);
}
else throw new Exception("Failure to load library: " ~ libraryFileName);
}

Thanks for the information. The question now is how do I declare a function pointer for the dll method I want to load. In C I would use:

typedef int (*ADDITIONFUNCTION)(int a,int b);
ADDITIONFUNCTION addFunction;

addFunction = (ADDITIONFUNCTION) GetProcAddress(hDll, "fnDemoDll");

Herbert Sauro

In article <c74g00$h1b$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Matthew says...
>
>I've written the std.loader module, which will hopefully appear in the next release of the compiler/library.
>
>That doesn't help you now, though, does it?
>
>You can just declare
>
>extern(Windows)
>{
>    void *LoadLibraryA(char *libName);
>    int FreeLibrary(void *hLib);
>    void *GetProcAddress(void *hModule, char *procName);
>}
>
>and proceed with them
>
>"snowflake" <snowflake_member@pathlink.com> wrote in message news:c74emg$fe2$1@digitaldaemon.com...
>> I've read through the docs but I can't seem to work out how to declare a function that can to be loaded from a specific dll. The calling convention is cdecl. Is there a sort of equivalent loadlibrary() machanism? I tried to link the function via a lib file but the linker says "Error 43: Not a Valid Library File", even though the file is used by other apps on the computer.
>>
>> HMS
>>
>>
>
>

Perfect, thanks! I just sent another post but ignore it, your email answers my question.

Herbert Sauro


In article <c75it6$26gf$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Eric Anderton says...
>
>>After I posted this message I noticed that loadlibrary and getprocaddress are available from the windows module. Anyone got an example showing how to use the GetProcAddress function in D?
>
>It just so happens that I was working on the very same thing yesterday. :)
>
>GetProcAddress returns the address of an export on the dll.  You can cast this

etc

I was a bit premature in my reply, I don't understand your use of the alias keyword, I thought alias tokk two parts, the thingk to alias and the alias name, but in your example you only have one of these, i.e

alias (*HelloWorld)(/* args got here*/);

I don't understnd how you are declaring the function pointer type.

Herbert Sauro

In article <c76119$2sbv$1@digitaldaemon.com>, firefly@fssc.demon.co.uk says...
>
>
>
>Perfect, thanks! I just sent another post but ignore it, your email answers my question.
>
>Herbert Sauro
>
>
>In article <c75it6$26gf$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Eric Anderton says...
>>
>>>After I posted this message I noticed that loadlibrary and getprocaddress are available from the windows module. Anyone got an example showing how to use the GetProcAddress function in D?
>>
>>It just so happens that I was working on the very same thing yesterday. :)
>>
>>GetProcAddress returns the address of an export on the dll.  You can cast this
>
>etc
>
>

>I was a bit premature in my reply, I don't understand your use of the alias keyword, I thought alias tokk two parts, the thingk to alias and the alias name, but in your example you only have one of these, i.e
>
>alias (*HelloWorld)(/* args got here*/);
>
>I don't understnd how you are declaring the function pointer type.

Ack.
Leave it to me to post a suggestion without compiling it first, as I didn't
include the return type. It should read:

alias void (*HelloWorldHandle)(/*args*/);

Now, this should look like the good-old C/C++ style for a function pointer.  D also provides a more succinct way of doing this (and less misunderstood syntax IMO).

function(/*args*/) HelloWorldHandle; //Same thing, but no 'alias' required

Hope this clears things up.

Thanks Eric, the new syntax works for me. The only issue now I have is specifying the calling convention, I need to specify cdecl. I'm currently getting an access violation which I assume is due to a bad calling mechanism.

Herbert

In article <c768it$67u$1@digitaldaemon.com>, Eric Anderton says...
>
>>I was a bit premature in my reply, I don't understand your use of the alias keyword, I thought alias tokk two parts, the thingk to alias and the alias name, but in your example you only have one of these, i.e
>>
>>alias (*HelloWorld)(/* args got here*/);
>>
>>I don't understnd how you are declaring the function pointer type.
>
>Ack.
>Leave it to me to post a suggestion without compiling it first, as I didn't
>include the return type. It should read:
>
>alias void (*HelloWorldHandle)(/*args*/);
>
>Now, this should look like the good-old C/C++ style for a function pointer.  D also provides a more succinct way of doing this (and less misunderstood syntax IMO).
>
>function(/*args*/) HelloWorldHandle; //Same thing, but no 'alias' required
>
>Hope this clears things up.
>
>

>Thanks Eric, the new syntax works for me. The only issue now I have is specifying the calling convention, I need to specify cdecl. I'm currently getting an access violation which I assume is due to a bad calling mechanism.

This is just a shot in the dark, but have you tried prefixing the handle
definition with "extern(C)"?

extern(C) function(int foo) bar; // maybe this will create the right call type?

After looking over Walter's D documentation again, I think the "extern" statement gets double-duty when compared to C/C++.  Where in C we use "extern" to mean "declared later/elsewhere", D uses it for that as well as the calling convention.  Add to that the fact that DMD makes multiple passes on any given source file, and it really shifts the meaning more towards being a call-type declaration.

Again, no D compiler in sight until I get home... so here goes nothing, right?

- Eric

from: http://www.digitalmars.com/d/htomodule.html

__cdecl, __pascal, __stdcall

int __cdecl x;
int __cdecl foo(int a);
int __pascal bar(int b);
int __stdcall abc(int c);


become:

extern (C) int x;
extern (C) int foo(int a);
extern (Pascal) int bar(int b);
extern (Windows) int abc(int c);