Invoque .lib from c# project?

[Marty]

Hi,

Can we invoque a .lib file that is made in c++ from a c# project?

Thanks
Marty

 

[at]

Would it not be better to first turn the .lib into something executable like
a dll or similar?

If you insists everything is possible but the costs are way too high.

 

[Marty]

I just did a test to compile the .lib into a DLL.

I tried to reference this DLL in my C# project. It didn't work, it was
not a valid COM component. I should wrap the DLL/Lib code first to make
it COM.

I don't know where to start with that. Do you have any idea or tutorial
to suggest to me, I appreciate a lot!

Thank you
Marty

 

[at]

Don't you have the source? Guess not.

So, somebody else has provided a .lib that you could link your own thing
with, right?

Now, you want to use this from C# so you know what is in the .lib?

I don't know about wrapper creation but it can be done for sure.

Have a good search for something like "using a dll from C#", you get what I
mean.

If you have msdn it might be in there as well and there is always google.

 

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Marty,

What you will want to do is export your functions in a DLL, or create a
COM object wrapper. Then, you can access the functionality through the
P/Invoke layer, or through COM interop.

Hope this helps.

 

[Willy Denoyette [MVP]]

No you don't, you can call the exported functions using PInvoke interop.

Willy.

 

[Suriyanto Lee]

Assuming you know the method signatures in the library, after compiling
it to dll, then use PInvoke to call it from C#. Exposing it as COM will
be too complex and will slow the performance down considerably.

If this lib/dll is a vital component and will be used by multiple
applications, I would create a wrapper for it in Managed C++ so it will
be exposed as .NET component. Not only will that be easier to use
because you don't need to declare all the PInvoke from C#, but
performance will be slightly better because you can use the IJW feature
in MC++ in the wrapper.

Suriyanto

 

[Marty]

Thank you everybody, I'll try the PInvoke.
Regards,
Marty