Using (ANSI) C and C++ DLLs (i.e. "unmanaged" code) from C#

[E.T. Grey]

Hi,

I have some C/C++ DLLs I have written and I want to use C# & WinForms to
create the GUI.

For the life of me, I cannot find any references/documentation (and this
includes the MS site!) that shows *clearly*, how to:

1). Use C functions exported in a Win32 DLL from a C# application (in
this case the GUI mentioned above) - I need to be able to pass
structures, pointers to structures and callbacks (i.e. pointers to
functions)

2). Use C++ objects exported in the C++ DLL from within the C# GUI


Any help will be much appreciated (last 2 hours searching google/MS site
has been a complete waste of my time)

 

[Mattias Sjögren]

1). Use C functions exported in a Win32 DLL from a C# application (in
this case the GUI mentioned above) - I need to be able to pass
structures, pointers to structures and callbacks (i.e. pointers to
functions)

You use P/Invoke for this.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconconsumingunmanageddllfunctions.asp

2). Use C++ objects exported in the C++ DLL from within the C# GUI

Write wrapper classes in managed C++.


Mattias