multimodule assemblies and IJW/C++ Interop

[Bern McCarty]

I have a mixed DLL that "extends" an existing application and works just fine. It makes significant
use of IJW to interact with the native interfaces of the application that it is extending. I would
like to show that such application extensions can have parts authored in other .NET languages like
C#. So I set about rearranging my sample extension to become a multimodule assembly where one
..netmodule was authored in C# and another in MEC++ under VS 2003. And then I realized that I had no
idea how to really do this. My current mixed DLL uses a .def file and has some native .dll exports.
What do I do with them? Do I have to put the exported entry points into the module containing the
manifest (i.e. the assembly dll) ? Or can a native program do dynamic linking directly to a
mixed-mode .netmodule and have it work right?

Can anyone point me at an example that shows how to use create multi-language, multimodule
assemblies where some of the modules use IJW and have native exports?

Bern McCarty
Bentley Systems, Inc.

[Bern McCarty]

Some follow up information. I moved my native entry points to the manifest-containing-module. So I
have a 3 file assembly: 1 .netmodule for C#, 1 .netmodule (but with a .dll extension) which
contains nearly all of the logic that is written in C++, and the assembly file itself which contains
the native .DLL exports. Modules 2 and 3 work around the CLR 1.1 "Mixed DLL loading problem" in the
normal way.

When I try to load this extension, it crashes the process. The host program is doing a LoadLibrary
on my main assembly file. The debugger seems generally erratic and untrustworthy while I've been
trying to figure this out, but I eventually managed to get this stack trace on the crash. Does
Module::BuildCl assForModule simply NOT work for Mixed modules?

EEClass::Notify DebuggerAttach( ) + 0x11 EEClass::Notify DebuggerLoad() + 0x12
Module::BuildCl assForModule() + 0x5da1b
Module::SetCont ainer() + 0x2daaf
Assembly::AddMo dule() + 0x139
BaseDomain::Set AssemblyManifes tModule() + 0x20
BaseDomain::Loa dAssembly() + 0x339
ExecuteDLL() + 0x7eee8
__CorDllMain@12 () + 0x1c
_LdrpCallInitRo utine@16() + 0x14
_LdrpRunInitial izeRoutines@4() + 0x32f
_LdrpLoadDll@24 () + 0x372
_LdrLoadDll@16( ) + 0x1c5
_LoadLibraryExW @12() + 0xc8
_LoadLibraryExA @12() + 0x1d
_LoadLibraryA@4 () + 0x2f

Bern McCarty
Bentley Systems, Inc.
"Bern McCarty" <be**********@b entley.com> wrote in message
news:uy******** *****@TK2MSFTNG P11.phx.gbl... I have a mixed DLL that "extends" an existing application and works just fine. It makes significant use of IJW to interact with the native interfaces of the application that it is extending. I would like to show that such application extensions can have parts authored in other .NET languages like
C#. So I set about rearranging my sample extension to become a multimodule assembly where one
.netmodule was authored in C# and another in MEC++ under VS 2003. And then I realized that I had no idea how to really do this. My current mixed DLL uses a .def file and has some native .dll exports. What do I do with them? Do I have to put the exported entry points into the module containing the
manifest (i.e. the assembly dll) ? Or can a native program do dynamic linking directly to a
mixed-mode .netmodule and have it work right?

Can anyone point me at an example that shows how to use create multi-language, multimodule
assemblies where some of the modules use IJW and have native exports?

Bern McCarty
Bentley Systems, Inc.

[Nikola Dudar [MSFT]]

Hi Bern,

The issue here is C++ .netmodule already has C++ libs pulled in. This can
result in a conflict with libs pulled in by the linker for C++ .obj. To
avoid this, use .netmodule only for VB and C# project and link all you C++
code as obj/libs. Try to change your build setup and if you still see
runtime errors, feel free to contact me directly. I will help you to resolve
those.

Thanks,
--
Nikola Dudar
Visual C++; // Program Manager
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Bern McCarty" <be**********@b entley.com> wrote in message
news:%2******** **********@TK2M SFTNGP11.phx.gb l...

Some follow up information. I moved my native entry points to the
manifest-containing-module. So I
have a 3 file assembly: 1 .netmodule for C#, 1 .netmodule (but with a
.dll extension) which
contains nearly all of the logic that is written in C++, and the assembly
file itself which contains
the native .DLL exports. Modules 2 and 3 work around the CLR 1.1 "Mixed
DLL loading problem" in the
normal way.

When I try to load this extension, it crashes the process. The host
program is doing a LoadLibrary
on my main assembly file. The debugger seems generally erratic and
untrustworthy while I've been
trying to figure this out, but I eventually managed to get this stack
trace on the crash. Does
Module::BuildCl assForModule simply NOT work for Mixed modules?

EEClass::Notify DebuggerAttach( ) + 0x11

EEClass::Notify DebuggerLoad() + 0x12
Module::BuildCl assForModule() + 0x5da1b
Module::SetCont ainer() + 0x2daaf
Assembly::AddMo dule() + 0x139
BaseDomain::Set AssemblyManifes tModule() + 0x20
BaseDomain::Loa dAssembly() + 0x339
ExecuteDLL() + 0x7eee8
__CorDllMain@12 () + 0x1c
_LdrpCallInitRo utine@16() + 0x14
_LdrpRunInitial izeRoutines@4() + 0x32f
_LdrpLoadDll@24 () + 0x372
_LdrLoadDll@16( ) + 0x1c5
_LoadLibraryExW @12() + 0xc8
_LoadLibraryExA @12() + 0x1d
_LoadLibraryA@4 () + 0x2f

Bern McCarty
Bentley Systems, Inc.
"Bern McCarty" <be**********@b entley.com> wrote in message
news:uy******** *****@TK2MSFTNG P11.phx.gbl...

I have a mixed DLL that "extends" an existing application and works just
fine. It makes

significant

use of IJW to interact with the native interfaces of the application that
it is extending. I

would

like to show that such application extensions can have parts authored in
other .NET languages like
C#. So I set about rearranging my sample extension to become a
multimodule assembly where one
.netmodule was authored in C# and another in MEC++ under VS 2003. And
then I realized that I had

no

idea how to really do this. My current mixed DLL uses a .def file and
has some native .dll

exports.

What do I do with them? Do I have to put the exported entry points into
the module containing the
manifest (i.e. the assembly dll) ? Or can a native program do dynamic
linking directly to a
mixed-mode .netmodule and have it work right?

Can anyone point me at an example that shows how to use create
multi-language, multimodule
assemblies where some of the modules use IJW and have native exports?

Bern McCarty
Bentley Systems, Inc.