I have got a dll from another program on my computer.
According to its name it could have the functionality that I need for my own c# project.
It seems to be also made with c#.
Is it possible to find out the functions in it and use them?
If it is a C# DLL then you can add a reference and use it. If it is a native DLL then you'd need to do some reverse engineering.
However, what you are describing is not the normal way to do about developing software. To write decent software you need to have good documentation for the libraries that you use. Trying to guess how a library is meant to be called is a recipe for disaster. Development should be based on a solid and deep understanding of the tools you are using.
Visual Studio provides the Object Browser if you want insight about a DLL (for those written in .NET involving IL).
screenshot of object browser http://blogs.msdn.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-65-29/4774.wmob04.jpg
Borrowed from this msdn blog
However, if you need more control or want the ability to not only include the library but view the source (in most instances) and step through it (debugging), I suggest grabbing .NET Reflector.
You can just reference the dll you want in your project and use Object Browser to see what Methods etc you can access.
Step 1: Add reference
Step 2: Choose dll
Step 3: View in Object Browser
Step 4: Browse Library
Step 5: Find what you need
Happy Coding :)
Absolutely! If you can add it as a reference by right-clicking your project references, clicking add reference, and then browsing to it, it should be compatible with the version of .NET that you are using. At that point, try to instantiate it and see if you can go to definition on the instantiation. Crude but an effective way to get used to using external dlls.
If it really is a C# DLL, then you can add it as a reference to your project and then use the Object Browser to see what namespaces and classes it contains.
Related
I am currently writing my GUI program in C++/CLI. (I know, not good. And I am not sure about it ever since I first thought about switching to C#. Another Question of mine).
Another question here that might convince me is, if there is anything compareable to the Settings-Designer in C# that I can use in C++/CLI. I got it working with my own implementation of the Settings-class but it is kind of error-prone. So, are there any designers or functions I can use in C++/CLI to make the app- and user-Settings management easier?
No. The missing feature in the C++ IDE is the code generator that auto-generates code from the setting designer. Microsoft just never invested the energy to create the VS add-ins required to support it, code generators like this were only implemented for the VB.NET and C# IDEs. Multiple reasons for that, a bit beyond the scope of this Q+A.
You can still use the settings designer, you just have a jump through a few hoops. Empowered by the excellent support for language interop in .NET, you can simply add a C# class library project to your solution. Then Project > Properties > Settings > click Create. On the toolbar, change the Access Modifiers combobox from Internal to Public so your C++/CLI code can use them. Add your settings as usual.
Add the project reference to your C++/CLI project and you can now use ClassLibrary1::Properties in your code just as you would in a C# app. Just a different namespace.
One more hoop, saving the tricky one for last, you have to copy the app.config file from your C# project to your C++/CLI's build directory. Use xcopy in a post-build event to do that, final name must be yourcppapp.exe.config. God help you if you have to merge other .config settings, that's very hard to automate. Fwiw, best to go with the flow, you are in C++ land now. It is supposed to be hard, otherwise anybody could do it :) Settings only work for small monolithic LOB apps anyway, not the typical C++ target.
I am creating a class diagram in Visual Paradigm and I am struggling with one thing. How do I specify that a class is in fact a form. So when I export the diagram to code, it wont become a normal class but instead it will become a form. A form which can hold buttons, ListBoxes, etc.
Thank you!
You intend to specify in your Visual Paradigm (VP) diagram a dependency on Form which is a class available in the .NET framework.
It seems there is no clear explanation how to do that specific operation in the VP documentation. However, there is an article that covers the topic with Java SE classes. This article uses the Java platform sources (available as a zip file in the JDK since Java 6) to extract the classes in a specific project. Then the reversed project is registered as a referenced project in your model project.
It seems this is possible to do a similar operation with .NET dlls instead of Java sources (have a look at the linked article - the screenshot for step 2). For that you have to identify the relevant dll(s) in your environment: I guess the Microsoft .NET framework, not Mono. According to a Microsoft documentation, the appropriate file would be something like System.Windows.Forms.dll. You should be able to find that file in your environment. On the identification of the relevant dll(s), I can't help you further (being myself a Java developer working on Linux).
Beware: your library project should be quite important as you will have all the dll classes represented. This is probably the reason why the documentation makes the reversal in a separated project and not in the real model project (another reason could be the possibility to use the classes in other projects).
I have a problem with two projects. My main project is in C++. Another one is in C# and it is measuring current network bandwidth (updated every second). What I need to have is that C++ project can get those values.
Mt first thought was to let the C# export calculated values to .txt file. Another project could read those values. But problem is that it would mean that both would use that file at the same moment what seems to be impossible (or maybe I could synchronize it somehow?)
I was reading a lot about creating and using library, but it looks complicated to me.
Are there any other ways to do that?
Please, I need help...
The simplest way is using stdin / stdout for this purpose. Just write the values to Console from the C# program and read it from pipe in the C++ program.
Or maybe you'd like to extend your project to C++/CLI (.NET-based C++ extension) and directly reference your C# library.
As well as the other options outlined by the others, you also have the option of making the functionality of your c# code into a DLL and then calling that from your C++ code to allow you to use the functionality of the DLL to get network information. I have a how-to type link here on how to create a C# DLL. You can then reference said DLL in C++ and utilise its functionality as needed.
Hope this helps, and let me know if you need any further information:)
I am working on various projects and I need some help but not if this is possible.
What I have are various C# projects which I want to have a C# Library that all my projects can
use, lets call this library 1.
Library 1 can make use of another library. lets call this library 2.
All projects will always use library 1 but not all projects will use library 2 within library 1.
Therefore at the moment if I create a new C# project and include library 1, I then get an error saying that library 2 isn't available. I don't really want to import library 2 unless the main project actually requires it. Therefore is there a way to make it so library 1 can ignore the using directive if library 2 is not available.
Hope this make sense, thanks for any help you can provide.
You should not do what you're asking to do. If not all projects will need library 2, then you have two ways you should solve it:
Option 1: Refactor your projects so that library 2 is only included
when needed. If the executable project is the one that decides if
library 2 is necessary, then that's the project that should reference
it (or not).
Option 2: Just include library 2 all of the time. If the main executable doesn't
need it, so be it. But since library 1 references it, you'll need it.
I would suggest option 1. Just by asking this question, I think you have a dependency issue, and that's what should be fixed. There might be some complex solution for hacking around this, but that's not good for long-term maintainability.
I would also suggest googling Stable Dependencies Principle.
I was told by a colleague of mine that Visual Studio allows one to point to a .dll and auto-magically generate a C# wrapper class. Is this really possible? And if so, how does one go about achieving this? I've browsed the web, but have failed to come up with anything!
Thanks all!
Figured I'd share these resources as well,
How to: Create COM Wrappers
And courtesy of #Darin, Consuming Unmanaged DLL Functions
3 cases:
The DLL represents a managed assembly => you directly reference it in your project and use it
The DLL represents a COM object => you could use the tlbimp.exe utility to generate a managed wrapper
The DLL represents an unmanaged library with some exported functions. That's the toughest one. There are no tools. You will have to consult the documentation of the library to know the exported function names and parameters and build managed P/Invoke wrappers. You could use the dumpbin.exe utility to see a list of exported functions. Here's an article on MSDN about the different steps.
This certainly isn't possible with any DLL. Just a very specific kind, one that implements a COM server. The converter needs a good description of the exported types, that's provided for such servers by a type library.
A type library is the exact equivalent to metadata in a managed assembly. While it starts life as a standalone file, a .tlb file, it often gets embedded as a resource in the DLL. Good place for it, keeps the type descriptions close to the code that implements it. Just like the metadata in a .NET assembly.
Some tooling to play with to see type libraries (not sure if it works in Express): in Visual Studio use File + Open + File and pick, say, c:\windows\system32\shell32.dll. You'll see the resources in that DLL, note the TYPELIB node. That's the type library. It is binary so actually reading it isn't practical. For that, run OleView.exe from the Visual Studio Command Prompt. File + View Typelib and select the same DLL. That decompiles the type library back into IDL, the Interface Description Language that was originally used to create the type library. Highly readable, you'll have little trouble understanding the language. And can easily see how the .NET Tlbimp.exe can translate that type library into equivalent C# declarations.
Type libraries are old, they have been around since 1996. Originally designed by the Visual Basic team at Microsoft, as a replacement for VBX, the 16-bit VB extensibility model. They have been very successful, practically any Windows compiler supports them. But they are limited in expressive power, there is no support for things like generics and implementation inheritance. Notable is that the Windows 8 team has replaced type libraries for WinRT. They picked the .NET metadata format.
I know this question is fairly old and seems to have been answered sufficiently, but I just want to add one thought I think might be important.
I could be totally wrong, so please take my answer with a grain of salt and correct me on this if I am.
To be able to call members/fields in a DLL, the information needed to call them must be accessible in some form. That information should be all you need to write a wrapper. With that, you can determine all members/fields "form" aka method headers and so on.
In C# it is possible to load DLLs via reflection and get that information. I dont know about different DLL-Types as described above, but as I said, to call the members/fields this information has to be there in some form. So using reflection to get that Information, you could generate a new class e.g. "prefixOriginalname" and have it have the same members/fields as your original class, calling the members/fields of your original class and adding your desired extra functionality.
So
Every DLL (or peripheral document) gives you the information need to use its types. Namely everything that is implemented as "public"
You can access this needed information via reflection
Given 1. and 2., you can create a program to extract the needed information from DLL and generate wrappers accordingly.
As I said, I am not 100% sure on this one, because the other answers make it sound to me like that might be too difficult or even impossible for some reason.