Extend a C++ app by creating a .NET component

[Timothy Dean]

I have an app created in C++/MFC that runs on PocketPC and I want to be able
to allow customers to extend it by using .NET. I would like to be able to
create an inproc automation dll that could be called from C++. I realize
there is no out of process COM capability in Windows CE. I am able to use
inprocess automation COM dll's to create C++ components that can be called
from C++. I want to be able to do the same thing with .NET. So I need to
be able to call .NET functions from C++ and call C++ function from .NET.
What would be the best way to do this? Thanks.

Timothy Dean

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

Nope. You can't do that because you can't host managed code in an unmanaged
application. If you want to pass data around for processing, you might be
able to come up with some scheme to extend it with .NET (the customer writes
an application which creates a point-to-point message queue with a specific
name, which your application then drops data into, and their application
processes it, dumps the result into yet another message queue, where your
application finds the processed data, etc.)

I think you're better off limiting them to using C++ and inproc COM.

Paul T.