Static *.lib files from Platform SDK.

alt160 · Post by **alt160** » Jul 18, 2005 18:13

There are several .lib files that are part of the Microsoft Win32 Platform SDK that do not have a .dll counterpart.

How can i use these libraries in FB?

DrV · Post by **DrV** » Jul 18, 2005 18:24

You could rename them libxyz.a (where the original filename was xyz.lib) and put them in FreeBASIC\lib\win32. Then you'd need to port the relevant headers if they aren't already. Which libraries specifically are you speaking of?

mjs · Post by **mjs** » Jul 18, 2005 18:29

Hmm ... does this really work? I thought there were some problems regarding name-mangling and other stuff ...

Regards,
Mark

DrV · Post by **DrV** » Jul 18, 2005 19:03

I'm pretty sure it works - mingw .a files are the same format as Microsoft LIBs, if I remember correctly. Maybe I missed some problems?

mjs · Post by **mjs** » Jul 18, 2005 19:41

The .lib file format should be the same, but AFAIK the M$ .o files are slightly different. That's the reason why NASM has two different COFF output formats but I don't know what the difference is ...

Regards,
Mark

DrV · Post by **DrV** » Jul 18, 2005 19:57

I was under the impression that mingw used M$ COFF format for object files, but M$ didn't follow the COFF format exactly, so, for example, DJGPP COFF objects are a little different from Microsoft COFF objects. I'm pretty sure that mingw uses the PE COFF format.

alt160 · Post by **alt160** » Jul 18, 2005 20:01

There are some really *cool* functions i'd like to get to with VB.NET that are part of the Exchange Developer Kit (EDK) that are only available as .lib files. There are full headers for each and are part of a full install of VC++ 6.0.

I'm trying right now to stumble my way thru creating a dll in VC6 that exports the methods in EDKMAPI.LIB.

I'm close, but i'm missing some libraries in my link list.

Eventually, i need to wrap all the EDK libraries.

Thanks,

mjs · Post by **mjs** » Jul 18, 2005 20:22

DrV wrote:I was under the impression that mingw used M$ COFF format for object files, but M$ didn't follow the COFF format exactly, so, for example, DJGPP COFF objects are a little different from Microsoft COFF objects. I'm pretty sure that mingw uses the PE COFF format.

The PE COFF format is the executable format *g* - I guess you meant to object COFF format. Hmm ... I simply don't know it if they're different or not ...

Regards,
Mark

mjs · Post by **mjs** » Jul 18, 2005 20:26

alt160 wrote:I'm trying right now to stumble my way thru creating a dll in VC6 that exports the methods in EDKMAPI.LIB.

So using the .lib files directly didn't work? Just try it as suggested by DrV:

Create "valid" library file names:
Code: Select all
```
copy *.lib lib*.a
```
Add the path to the compiler switches
See option "-p"
Add the library to the compiler switches
See option "-l" ... so when your library is "libkernel32.a", then you should specify "-l kernel32"

Regards,
Mark

DrV · Post by **DrV** » Jul 18, 2005 20:29

mjs wrote:
DrV wrote:I was under the impression that mingw used M$ COFF format for object files, but M$ didn't follow the COFF format exactly, so, for example, DJGPP COFF objects are a little different from Microsoft COFF objects. I'm pretty sure that mingw uses the PE COFF format.
The PE COFF format is the executable format *g* - I guess you meant to object COFF format. Hmm ... I simply don't know it if they're different or not ...

Regards,
Mark

Actually, PE is also the object file format. :) http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/pl ... ECOFF.mspx

alt160 · Post by **alt160** » Jul 18, 2005 20:57

I'll try the suggestions for renaming the libs to *.a

Its gonna be awhile as i have to convert some rather complex C header files...any tools out there to automate this effort? (*.h to *.bi)?

Thanks much guys!

DrV · Post by **DrV** » Jul 18, 2005 21:13

For converting C headers to FB headers, v1ctor wrote a swig wrapper for FB: http://www.freebasic.net/temp/swig_fb.zip - but it's not finished yet.. you'll probably need to edit the results by hand.

If you're going to use these in VB.NET eventually, you'll probably want to write your own conversion tool anyway, since VB.NET's Declare syntax is different than FB's in subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways, though I haven't touched VB.NET in almost 2 years, so I don't remember much about it :).

alt160 · Post by **alt160** » Jul 18, 2005 21:21

SHWEET! I'll check out that wrapper...

So far, as long as the exported functions support CDECL standards, VB.NET has no problems. I have created many DLLs in PowerBASIC for VB and VB.NET without issues.

Only caveats are strings... need to pass ByRef in VB if you want to have the DLL modify its contents. .NET doesnt allow direct memory access very easily due to its garbage collector implementation.

So, the ByRef works well, as long as the strings are small, like no more that a CPU page (4096 on intel).

For large strings...file streams seems to work well, or else deal with COM. which sucks ass. (which i'm sure you'd agree.)

Post by **v1ctor** » Jul 19, 2005 4:21

Btw, FB follows VB when declaring string params, BYVAL AS STRING will pass the string data address, BYREF will pass the string descriptor, so you have to use BYVAL with strings if they are passed to/from C libs.

That doesn't mean the strings can't be modified inside FB, nor that a copy will be made.

Weird but was added to be compatible with the Win API headers borrowed from VB.

etko · Post by **etko** » Jul 21, 2005 22:13

Pure VB and VB.NET are two completely different languages and compilers. If I'm right VB.NET generates only bytecodes.

Static *.lib files from Platform SDK.

Static *.lib files from Platform SDK.

I'm a mapi coder...

Re: I'm a mapi coder...

Hmmm, i'll give it a try.

SHWEET. I'll check it...