Help Me Get Up and Running With DLL

[Apostle]

Hi All,
I want to make single file encoder with lame_enc.dll.
I have DLL Manual and it tells me steps to follow is to fill BE_CONFIG and going with other stuffs. I'm newbee with this and I need help to get started.

Google didn't help me much, I tried in other places with no avail. I hope someone here will give me a shoulder of help to get started with this library.

Thanks for your precious time

[weaknessforcats]

I could help if you were using Windows.

[JosAH]

@weaknessforcats
".dll" is a windowism; us regular folks who might wear tennis shoes or an occasional python boot call it a ".so" object ;-)

kind regards,

Jos

[weaknessforcats]

So what do they call a DLL in Unix-land?

[JosAH]

@weaknessforcats
As I wrote above: a "shared object" (.so)

kind regards,

Jos

[Banfa]

Apostle it is not at all clear, are you trying to write a DLL or use a DLL? I assume you are using Windows?

[Apostle]

@Banfa
Sorry guys for late reply. I was out of the net for some time now
I actually want to use dll named lame_enc.dll found here:
http://lame.sourceforge.net/

I want to make simple MP3 encoder that encodes one file from wav to mp3
I have a manual here
http://www.fi.muni.cz/~qruzicka/Smid/man.htm
But I want to get started

I will appreciate your help!

[weaknessforcats]

Do you have a copy of Windows via C/C++ by Jeffrey Richter?

How to use a DLL is covered in excruciating detail there.

The only thing you need know at the outset is whether you want to use implicit or explicit linking. That is, do you call the DLL methods directly as you would other functions and let the compiler generate code to locate the DLL, load it, locate the funciton in the DLL and call that function each time you make a call (implicit linking) or whether you will load the DLL yourself and use GetProcAddress to locate the address of the functions in the DLL which you will keep around as function pointers to use in function calls later (explicit linking).

[Apostle]

I plan to use implicit, yet I cannot find the .lib file in lame distribution.
BTW I don't have that book!

[weaknessforcats]

You need that book.

However, if there is no .lib file distributed with the DLL then look at the .h file that is distributed. Do you see anything like __declspec(dllimport) in the function prototypes?

If not, you cannot use implicit linking but now have to do the linking yourself explicitly at run time using LoadLibrary, GetProcAddress and a bunch of function pointers.

If the __declspec(dllimport) is there then there must be a .lib file that contains the code necessary to call the function. This is a load of the dll (if necessary) an address lookup of the function in the dll and a call to that function using that address.

Please note: The DLLs export functions do not work in C++ due to name mangling. Be sure your code is all extern"C" when referring to DLL functions. Internal DLL functions can use C++ but the interfacing functions cannot.

[Apostle]

I really wish to but here in my country such technological books are hard to have.
They are, infact difficult to get. So unless there is free PDF, I cannot have it!
Very sad to say :(

[weaknessforcats]

Did you read this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic-link_library

Then read the MSDN topics on DLLs. There are examples there.

[Apostle]

I want to get started with THIS lame_enc.dll
I have read the MSDN and have an overview. What I miss is how to Jump start!

[weaknessforcats]

Post a piece of the .h file that you have for the DLL.

[Apostle]

/*
 * Blade Type of DLL Interface for Lame encoder
 *
 * Copyright (c) 1999-2002 A.L. Faber
 * Based on bladedll.h version 1.0 written by Jukka Poikolainen
 *
 * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 * version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 * 
 * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 * Lesser General Public License for more details.
 * 
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
 * License along with this library; if not, write to the
 * Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
 * Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
 */
 
#ifndef ___BLADEDLL_H_INCLUDED___
#define ___BLADEDLL_H_INCLUDED___
 
#ifdef __GNUC__
#define ATTRIBUTE_PACKED    __attribute__((packed))
#else
#define ATTRIBUTE_PACKED
#pragma pack(push)
#pragma pack(1)
#endif
 
#ifdef    __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif
 
/* encoding formats */
 
#define        BE_CONFIG_MP3            0                                        
#define        BE_CONFIG_LAME            256        
 
/* type definitions */
 
typedef        unsigned long            HBE_STREAM;
typedef        HBE_STREAM                *PHBE_STREAM;
typedef        unsigned long            BE_ERR;
 
/* error codes */
 
#define        BE_ERR_SUCCESSFUL                    0x00000000
#define        BE_ERR_INVALID_FORMAT                0x00000001
#define        BE_ERR_INVALID_FORMAT_PARAMETERS    0x00000002
#define        BE_ERR_NO_MORE_HANDLES                0x00000003
#define        BE_ERR_INVALID_HANDLE                0x00000004
#define        BE_ERR_BUFFER_TOO_SMALL                0x00000005
 
/* other constants */
 
#define        BE_MAX_HOMEPAGE            128
 
/* format specific variables */
 
#define        BE_MP3_MODE_STEREO        0
#define        BE_MP3_MODE_JSTEREO        1
#define        BE_MP3_MODE_DUALCHANNEL    2
#define        BE_MP3_MODE_MONO        3
 
 
 
#define        MPEG1    1
#define        MPEG2    0
 
#ifdef _BLADEDLL
#undef FLOAT
    #include <Windows.h>
#endif
 
#define CURRENT_STRUCT_VERSION 1
#define CURRENT_STRUCT_SIZE sizeof(BE_CONFIG)    // is currently 331 bytes
 
 
typedef enum
{
    VBR_METHOD_NONE            = -1,
    VBR_METHOD_DEFAULT        =  0,
    VBR_METHOD_OLD            =  1,
    VBR_METHOD_NEW            =  2,
    VBR_METHOD_MTRH            =  3,
    VBR_METHOD_ABR            =  4
} VBRMETHOD;
 
typedef enum 
{
    LQP_NOPRESET            =-1,
 
    // QUALITY PRESETS
    LQP_NORMAL_QUALITY        = 0,
    LQP_LOW_QUALITY            = 1,
    LQP_HIGH_QUALITY        = 2,
    LQP_VOICE_QUALITY        = 3,
    LQP_R3MIX                = 4,
    LQP_VERYHIGH_QUALITY    = 5,
    LQP_STANDARD            = 6,
    LQP_FAST_STANDARD        = 7,
    LQP_EXTREME                = 8,
    LQP_FAST_EXTREME        = 9,
    LQP_INSANE                = 10,
    LQP_ABR                    = 11,
    LQP_CBR                    = 12,
    LQP_MEDIUM                = 13,
    LQP_FAST_MEDIUM            = 14,
 
    // NEW PRESET VALUES
    LQP_PHONE    =1000,
    LQP_SW        =2000,
    LQP_AM        =3000,
    LQP_FM        =4000,
    LQP_VOICE    =5000,
    LQP_RADIO    =6000,
    LQP_TAPE    =7000,
    LQP_HIFI    =8000,
    LQP_CD        =9000,
    LQP_STUDIO    =10000
 
} LAME_QUALITY_PRESET;
 
 
 
typedef struct    {
    DWORD    dwConfig;            // BE_CONFIG_XXXXX
                                // Currently only BE_CONFIG_MP3 is supported
    union    {
 
        struct    {
 
            DWORD    dwSampleRate;        // 48000, 44100 and 32000 allowed
            BYTE    byMode;            // BE_MP3_MODE_STEREO, BE_MP3_MODE_DUALCHANNEL, BE_MP3_MODE_MONO
            WORD    wBitrate;        // 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256 and 320 allowed
            BOOL    bPrivate;        
            BOOL    bCRC;
            BOOL    bCopyright;
            BOOL    bOriginal;
 
            } mp3;                    // BE_CONFIG_MP3
 
            struct
            {
            // STRUCTURE INFORMATION
            DWORD            dwStructVersion;    
            DWORD            dwStructSize;
 
            // BASIC ENCODER SETTINGS
            DWORD            dwSampleRate;        // SAMPLERATE OF INPUT FILE
            DWORD            dwReSampleRate;        // DOWNSAMPLERATE, 0=ENCODER DECIDES  
            LONG            nMode;                // BE_MP3_MODE_STEREO, BE_MP3_MODE_DUALCHANNEL, BE_MP3_MODE_MONO
            DWORD            dwBitrate;            // CBR bitrate, VBR min bitrate
            DWORD            dwMaxBitrate;        // CBR ignored, VBR Max bitrate
            LONG            nPreset;            // Quality preset, use one of the settings of the LAME_QUALITY_PRESET enum
            DWORD            dwMpegVersion;        // FUTURE USE, MPEG-1 OR MPEG-2
            DWORD            dwPsyModel;            // FUTURE USE, SET TO 0
            DWORD            dwEmphasis;            // FUTURE USE, SET TO 0
 
            // BIT STREAM SETTINGS
            BOOL            bPrivate;            // Set Private Bit (TRUE/FALSE)
            BOOL            bCRC;                // Insert CRC (TRUE/FALSE)
            BOOL            bCopyright;            // Set Copyright Bit (TRUE/FALSE)
            BOOL            bOriginal;            // Set Original Bit (TRUE/FALSE)
 
            // VBR STUFF
            BOOL            bWriteVBRHeader;    // WRITE XING VBR HEADER (TRUE/FALSE)
            BOOL            bEnableVBR;            // USE VBR ENCODING (TRUE/FALSE)
            INT                nVBRQuality;        // VBR QUALITY 0..9
            DWORD            dwVbrAbr_bps;        // Use ABR in stead of nVBRQuality
            VBRMETHOD        nVbrMethod;
            BOOL            bNoRes;                // Disable Bit resorvoir (TRUE/FALSE)
 
            // MISC SETTINGS
            BOOL            bStrictIso;            // Use strict ISO encoding rules (TRUE/FALSE)
            WORD            nQuality;            // Quality Setting, HIGH BYTE should be NOT LOW byte, otherwhise quality=5
 
            // FUTURE USE, SET TO 0, align strucutre to 331 bytes
            BYTE            btReserved[255-4*sizeof(DWORD) - sizeof( WORD )];
 
            } LHV1;                    // LAME header version 1
 
        struct    {
 
            DWORD    dwSampleRate;
            BYTE    byMode;
            WORD    wBitrate;
            BYTE    byEncodingMethod;
 
        } aac;
 
    } format;
 
} BE_CONFIG, *PBE_CONFIG ATTRIBUTE_PACKED;
 
 
typedef struct    {
 
    // BladeEnc DLL Version number
 
    BYTE    byDLLMajorVersion;
    BYTE    byDLLMinorVersion;
 
    // BladeEnc Engine Version Number
 
    BYTE    byMajorVersion;
    BYTE    byMinorVersion;
 
    // DLL Release date
 
    BYTE    byDay;
    BYTE    byMonth;
    WORD    wYear;
 
    // BladeEnc    Homepage URL
 
    CHAR    zHomepage[BE_MAX_HOMEPAGE + 1];    
 
    BYTE    byAlphaLevel;
    BYTE    byBetaLevel;
    BYTE    byMMXEnabled;
 
    BYTE    btReserved[125];
 
 
} BE_VERSION, *PBE_VERSION ATTRIBUTE_PACKED;
 
#ifndef _BLADEDLL
 
typedef BE_ERR    (*BEINITSTREAM)            (PBE_CONFIG, PDWORD, PDWORD, PHBE_STREAM);
typedef BE_ERR    (*BEENCODECHUNK)        (HBE_STREAM, DWORD, PSHORT, PBYTE, PDWORD);
 
// added for floating point audio  -- DSPguru, jd
typedef BE_ERR    (*BEENCODECHUNKFLOATS16NI)    (HBE_STREAM, DWORD, PFLOAT, PFLOAT, PBYTE, PDWORD);
typedef BE_ERR    (*BEDEINITSTREAM)            (HBE_STREAM, PBYTE, PDWORD);
typedef BE_ERR    (*BECLOSESTREAM)            (HBE_STREAM);
typedef VOID    (*BEVERSION)                (PBE_VERSION);
typedef BE_ERR    (*BEWRITEVBRHEADER)            (LPCSTR);
typedef BE_ERR    (*BEWRITEINFOTAG)            (HBE_STREAM, LPCSTR );
 
#define    TEXT_BEINITSTREAM                "beInitStream"
#define    TEXT_BEENCODECHUNK                "beEncodeChunk"
#define    TEXT_BEENCODECHUNKFLOATS16NI    "beEncodeChunkFloatS16NI"
#define    TEXT_BEDEINITSTREAM                "beDeinitStream"
#define    TEXT_BECLOSESTREAM                "beCloseStream"
#define    TEXT_BEVERSION                    "beVersion"
#define    TEXT_BEWRITEVBRHEADER            "beWriteVBRHeader"
#define    TEXT_BEFLUSHNOGAP                "beFlushNoGap"
#define    TEXT_BEWRITEINFOTAG                "beWriteInfoTag"
 
 
#else
 
__declspec(dllexport) BE_ERR    beInitStream(PBE_CONFIG pbeConfig, PDWORD dwSamples, PDWORD dwBufferSize, PHBE_STREAM phbeStream);
__declspec(dllexport) BE_ERR    beEncodeChunk(HBE_STREAM hbeStream, DWORD nSamples, PSHORT pSamples, PBYTE pOutput, PDWORD pdwOutput);
 
// added for floating point audio  -- DSPguru, jd
__declspec(dllexport) BE_ERR    beEncodeChunkFloatS16NI(HBE_STREAM hbeStream, DWORD nSamples, PFLOAT buffer_l, PFLOAT buffer_r, PBYTE pOutput, PDWORD pdwOutput);
__declspec(dllexport) BE_ERR    beDeinitStream(HBE_STREAM hbeStream, PBYTE pOutput, PDWORD pdwOutput);
__declspec(dllexport) BE_ERR    beCloseStream(HBE_STREAM hbeStream);
__declspec(dllexport) VOID        beVersion(PBE_VERSION pbeVersion);
__declspec(dllexport) BE_ERR    beWriteVBRHeader(LPCSTR lpszFileName);
__declspec(dllexport) BE_ERR    beFlushNoGap(HBE_STREAM hbeStream, PBYTE pOutput, PDWORD pdwOutput);
__declspec(dllexport) BE_ERR    beWriteInfoTag( HBE_STREAM hbeStream, LPCSTR lpszFileName );
 
#endif
 
#ifdef    __cplusplus
}
#endif
 
#ifndef __GNUC__
#pragma pack(pop)
#endif
 
#endif
 
 

[Apostle]

After several trials, I decided to give up!
I have never been succcessful in setup any meaningful C++ projects a part from foolish learning garbages. May be another time I will give it a try again
Very sad!!

[weaknessforcats]

The header file looks like you will need to use LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress to do the linking yourself. Google has lots of examples on how to do this.