Using Functions and Classes from DLL project in Application project in the Same Solution

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VS2010

Hello,

I have a solution that has two projects in it. One project is the game engine, which is a DLL. The other project is an application which is supposed to use the game engine.

I'm trying to test some of the functions I've coded into the engine in the application, and I've added the necessary include directories to the project, but when I build the solution VS complains about unresolved externals, which are all in the game engine.

/Edit: How do I make VS output a .lib file for the DLL project? I'll be able to solve this problem if there's a .lib file.

Thanks in advance!

Posted 15-Apr-12 11:40am

Member 7887373

Updated 15-Apr-12 12:39pm

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Albert Holguin · Answer 1 · 2012-04-15T15:51:00

Solution 3

Have you tried setting the dll project as a dependency to the application? If you configure it that way, the dll project should compile first and create any products related to that project before compiling the .exe. That should get you what you need.

Posted 15-Apr-12 15:51pm

Albert Holguin

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Member 7887373 16-Apr-12 18:30pm

I have set the DLL project as a dependency to the application, it complains about unresolved externals. This is quite frustrating. Note in case I haven't made clear, I'm using Visual Studio 2010.

Albert Holguin 16-Apr-12 19:07pm

Which project is complaining about the unresolved externals? The exe? Remember that you have to explicitly tell the linker that there's a dependency on the .lib file that was generated by the other project.

Albert Holguin 16-Apr-12 19:08pm

...and try to take a deep breath... everything works out in the end... :D ...I've had a pretty frustrating day as well...

nv3 · Answer 2 · 2012-04-15T12:03:00

Without a .lib file it's going to be hard work. You can load the DLL from your application with a call to LoadLibrary. Then you have to ask for a function pointer of each of the functions you want to use with calls to GetProcAddress. Via the function pointers you can then call the functions of your DLL.

If the DLL contains C++ class objects, you probably need only to ask for the functions that create such objects. Then use the .h file with the class definitions to call the functions of such classes (which all need to be virtual functions). That way, the number of functions you need to ask for via GetProcAddress is relatively small.

Before getting started on this you might want to check whether there is really no .lib file available for your game engine DLL.

Espen Harlinn · Answer 3 · 2012-04-15T12:58:00

Solution 2

You can try to follow the procedure outlined here:
How To Create 32-bit Import Libraries Without .OBJs or Source[^]

Best regards
Espen Harlinn

Posted 15-Apr-12 12:58pm

Espen Harlinn