How do I get a Windows 8 app to work!

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This is starting to do my head in. I want to build an App to do some minor control stuff using a USB attached board I've used for ages. All I need to do is include a library (Win32) that is used to send commands.

I have the win 8 app building fine. I then add the extern "C" functions for the stuff in the DLLs and a call to one of them. Predictably fails with a link error. I add this dll to the folder and the .lib to the project all compiles fine but when I run it I get an "unable to activate windows store app 'lskdfjlsdf uuid stuff ' The process started but the activation request failed with error the application didn't start.

Helpfully the eventvwr contains the same reason for the application not starting. If I take the .lib out of the list to link and remove the call to an on dll function all works okay.

Apart from the fact this is massively unfriendly I have no idea why this doesn't work. I suspect it is something to do with RT? I've tested this working in C++ under the desktop version, but under the modern ui version no dice :-(

Anyone got an idea?

Trevor

Posted 15-Apr-14 11:08am

tre4

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 15-Apr-14 17:20pm

Not clear at all. Not enough information. Perhaps some code samples could help...
—SA

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tre4 · Answer 1 · 2014-04-15T21:46:00

Hi Sergey

Okay. I'm not at home with the code but let me try and explain without.

I have a win32 dll that I wish to use functions from.

Using Visual Studio express 2013 I have created a windows 8 directx(xaml) app.

To that App I have added a class USBControl.

in USBControl.h I have added some extern statements something like the following

extern "c"
{
__declspec(dllimport) int somefuntion(int input);
}

As yet I have done nothing to fill out the class further as I have been unable to get the application so far running. This is planned to be the base of the overall operations for these imported functions.

I added to the project directories the dll in which the function lies and a .lib file that has the exports in it.

I added the .lib file to the linker additional libraries.

If I now compile the code it builds and runs perfectly.

If however I add a call to somefunction(0) anyway in the code the app compiles perfectly but fails to run with the error message "unable to activate windows store app" {a load of stuff including a guid of some sort} "error the application didn't start".

Presumably this is occuring when the app tries to run the code in the dll (though I will do something tonight to verify this).

If feels like the code in the dll cannot be run by the app. All links okay but when executed it causes a failure and a none to informative MS error message.

Hope this makes it clearer.

Trevor