Hi kind of a newbie question.
So apparently this library is popular for this sort of thing:
http://extracting.codeplex.com/
When I download that all I get is a .dll
I can't find documentation on their api, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this .dll (I know how to load in functions from DLLs and such, but how when I don't even know whats in it?), can someone help me out.
start a new c# project. Open the add reference dialog and use the broswe tab, select the dll.
now open the object browser - you will see all the functions etc
edit: of course you can also download the source code from codeplex; always the ultimate form of documentation
There's a link on the same page pointing to the API documentation containing sample usage.
There is a link to an example on the codeplex site
http://extracting.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Web%20Data%20Extracting%20and%20Analyzing%20Framework%20API&referringTitle=Home
They have limited documentation on the codeplex site, available here.
I would recommend checking that documentation to see if it meets your needs, and asking any addition questions in their Discussions Page.
To use the functionality of the DLL from your project, right click on your project file in the Solution Explorer and choose "Add Reference..". You will be presented with a dialog to choose the reference you want to add. To choose the DLL from this library, browse to it from the Browse tab.
Once you've added the reference, you won't notice a whole lot of difference - all adding a reference does is give you access to the classes that are defined withing that DLL (called an "Assembly" in .NET terms). Think of it like getting a new set of "built-in" classes in your project that you can now use. You'll want to find some documentation or ask for help on the site to learn how to use these classes.
if you are using visual studio, you can just include the dll into the reference folder of your project and then use the "using" keyword to include the library into your namespace ...
If this is a .NET assembly, then reflector will tell you what classes and methods are available. You can also reference the DLL from a C# project and then press "ctrl-alt-j" to bring up the object browser to see that data inside of Visual Studio.
You can download the source code from that page.
Look at the classes and namespaces. You can add a reference to the DLL to your project and add "using" with the namespace of the DLL to the top of any code files you need to use it in in order to have access to the classes.
Additionally you can look at some of the examples posted.
Load the dll into .net Reflector. This will list the contents of the dll and any code comments associated with the API.
Related
Coming from Java world and now learning .NET 7 development in addition, I'm embarrassed to say, I cannot figure out how to open/view relevant API Reference documentation from within the IDE.
When I right-click a Dependency (Package) in Solution Explorer, I would expect an option to open the documentation which accompanies the given NuGet package. In short: How to open this documentation? (i.e. not for a specific class, but for a package as a whole)
When I right-click a namespace in say a using Foo.Bar directive in the code editor, I would expect an option to open the documentation for Foo.Bar (show of classes, etc). I cannot find such an option.
If I hover over a class name or right-click a class I would expect an option to display documentation for that class (its description, which methods does it have?, which properties? .. and so on).
I understand as much as that the equivalent of JavaDoc is some XML stuff which is typically bundled with each NuGet package. It is basically this that I would like to browse in HTML form. Or some other form which provides me an overview of which classes and interfaces exists, their methods, cross refs, and so on.
I'm aware of the F1 option in the code editor. However, it only works for stuff which is from Microsoft (it does an MSDN search).
For all the packages I use, I can see the XML file exist on disk, so for sure it is there.
I use various third-party libraries and some of them are kind enough to publish API Reference documentation on their website .. if you can find it. It all looks slightly different in terms of skin (I can live with that), but there doesn't seem to be a convention for how this documentation is made available to the library user as I'm used to in Java world. So I need to hunt for it?
Please help a newbie.
IDE: Visual Studio CE
Language: .NET 7
I can see that this would be helpful, but what you are looking for doesn't exist. There's no centralized location for the documentation of non-microsoft packages. So if you want an overview over the classes of such a package, it's best to google for it (or visit the project's github page).
There are several ways to get to the information you want/need:
If you want to know the methods/properties of a class, just type a dot after an instance of the class to see the possible elements in a menu. If documentation exists, the description of the different methods will also be shown, together with the required parameters.
If you want to know about all the classes in a namespace, you can do the same, just explicitly type the namespace to get the list of classes.
Of course, you can also use a tool such as Ildasm or jetbrains dotPeek to get the class structure of an assembly/nuget package.
None of this is really a HTML documentation, but as said, that only exists if the package providers generate and provide it.
I just downloaded UnRAR.dll from http://www.rarlab.com/rar_add.htm package includes C# sample project when I run in VS 2010 after selecting .rar file for extract I am getting below error message
and when I add reference unrar.dll I am getting below error
Please help / point me what I am missing?
UnRAR.dll is not a .NET assembly so it cannot be used as a project reference.
It is a native DLL so you'll have to use P/Invoke to access its methods or write a C++/CLI wrapper around it.
There's some sample code in this MSDN forum thread that should provide a decent starting place and show the necessary approach.
There also appears to be a fairly complete wrapper included in the Blue Mirror CD/DVD Indexer project.
It should also be noted the SevenZipSharp includes support for this out-of-the-box. I haven't used it myself, but it might be worth checking into.
The sample you are talking about use
[DllImport("unrar.dll")]
to access the functions inside the library.
This DLL should be visible when the test project runs.
So you should copy it into the BIN\DEBUG folder or in a
folder where your project runs.
(VS 2008)
I'm using a C# library for my VB.NET project. And the method summary/notes or what they are called do not show in intellisense. Is this supposed to be like that? Or is there something I must do to fix it? And if not, will VS 2010 be able to do this?
EDIT: Still unresolved. Now building library dll + xml file, but how to import the xml file in my vb project?
See image: http://i52.tinypic.com/25kh5xw.png
In C# library, go to the properties on the build tab, and check the checkbox for including XML documentation and specify the name and path. After that include the new library in your VB.Net project.
one reason could be resolved by importing the namespace needed
another reason could be due to faulty writing
if you send the code where the problem is we might be able to help you
If you're using source control (TFS or Github) then you need to the following:
Check in ( Push) for safe return point (base line)
Delete the references from the project.
Delete the custom dll's from the solution.
At this point the libs are marked as [removed], if you would add them again at this point, they will just be marked as [changed] again. This did not include the summaries for me.
Check in (push). dll's are now removed from source control as well.
Drag and drop the dll's (including xml) into the solution (I recommend using this method for including dll's
Add references to these dll's via Browse.
Check if you have summaries.
Check in (push).
I'm trying to see if it is possible to pull data from a DLL. I did some research and found that you can store application resources within a DLL. What I couldn't find, was the information to tell me how to do that. There is a MS article that explains how to access resources within a satellite DLL, but I honestly don't know if that is what I'm looking for. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165653.aspx I did try some of the codes involved, but there are some "FileNotFoundExceptions" going on.
The rest of the DLL information is showing up: classes, objects, etc. I just added the DLL as a resource in my Visual Studio Project and added it with "using". I just don't know how to get at the meat of it, if it is possible.
If dlls are .net, you can use reflection.
Using System.Reflection;
....
Assembly A= Assembly.LoadFrom(YouDllFileName);
string[] STA;
STA= A.GetManifestResourceNames();
// STA contains all the resource names in the dll
...
// to extract them
Stream str= A.GetManifestResourceStream(STA[I]);
// then, you can make that stream became a file if you wish
You can also extract a .net assembly resources by using ildasm
I'm not totally sure what you might be running into based on your description, but a couple of general pointers...
If what you are trying to find is files you've added to the project you do this:
Right click on the resource in solution explorer, hit properties and set the "Build Action" to "Embedded Resource".
For strings and icons, add a .resx file to the project and insert them in there. If that's what you're doing and still running into issues, check the Build Action.
There is two types of dll.
Managed dll - dll that writen on any .net language (like csharp)
The link that you provide is working with managed dlls.
Unmanaged dll - classic c/cpp dll.
in this case you need to link between managed (your code) and unmanaged.
To find what the type of your dll, you need to add this dll as reference.
In visual studio open project, right click on references(in Solution Explorer).
Then "add reference"->browse-> add your dll.
Then at references, you can see your dll.
Right click on him, and add view in Object Browse.
If you see something like class "c" inside namespace "b", you working with managed dll.
In Object Browser you can learn a lot about your dll (maybe this is more important, than just extract resources)
At this point you can do the way that "Daniel Dolz" answer to you.
Since you say you are able to add the DLL in a using directive you can probably use the methods that the DLL exposes. If you do not have the documentation for the DLL then you may just have to try using the object browser to see what it has to offer.
assume:
using MyDll;
you should them be able to call the methods like this:
string x = MyDll.SomeType.GetValue();
is that what you were asking?
After someone creates a DLL in C# using the Microsoft Visual development environment, how would another programmer take that code, make a new project that includes the DLL's source and make a GUI that uses the DLL'S API?
I have already done the following four steps:
1) In the Solution Explorer right-click "References" and select "Add Reference ...".
2) Select the "Browse" tab.
3) Navigate to the DLL and select it.
4) Add the appropriate "using" directive to the top of the code.
What is next? After I declare a new object, how do I see what methods to use?
View Menu -> Object Browser
You should be able to look at the objects/methods and so on contained in the DLL and publicly exposed.
You should be able to use intellisense and the object explorer as always. Without the source that will be your best bet.
I don't have any code off the top of my head but have you investigated the Reflection library?
You should be able to figure out and run everything you need with that...
you can load the DLL via the .NET Reflector tool from red-gate and see all of the api and even how it was implemented http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/
Well...
Suppose your library is called MyLib.DLL
You would do:
MyLib ml = new MyLib();
ml.YourMethodsShouldAppearHere(); //If they are public of course.
;)
You can open any .NET DLL in this 3rd party tool called ".NET Reflector". This tool will allow you to view all the types/methods/properties and even decompile the code contained in the DLL.
.NET Reflector is similar to the object browser in Visual Studio, but is way more powerful.
If you haven't tried Reflector yet, I highly recommend it (it's really easy to use)!