using a class defined in a c++ dll in c# code
There is no way to directly use a C++ class in C# code. You can use PInvoke in an indirect fashion to access your type.
The basic pattern is that for every member function in class Foo, create an associated non-member function which calls into the member function.
class Foo {
public:
int Bar();
};
extern "C" Foo* Foo_Create() { return new Foo(); }
extern "C" int Foo_Bar(Foo* pFoo) { return pFoo->Bar(); }
extern "C" void Foo_Delete(Foo* pFoo) { delete pFoo; }
Now it's a matter of PInvoking these methods into your C# code
[DllImport("Foo.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr Foo_Create();
[DllImport("Foo.dll")]
public static extern int Foo_Bar(IntPtr value);
[DllImport("Foo.dll")]
public static extern void Foo_Delete(IntPtr value);
The downside is you'll have an awkward IntPtr to pass around but it's a somewhat simple matter to create a C# wrapper class around this pointer to create a more usable model.
Even if you don't own this code, you can create another DLL which wraps the original DLL and provides a small PInvoke layer.
Marshal C++ Class and use the PInvoke
C++ Code ,ClassName.h
class __declspec(dllexport) CClassName
{
public:
CClassName();
~CClassName();
void function();
};
C++ Code, ClassName.cpp
CClassName::CClassName()
{
}
CClassName::~CClassName()
{
}
void CClassName::function()
{
std::cout << "Bla bla bla" << std::endl;
}
C++ Code, ClassNameCaller.h file for the caller function
#include "ClassName.h"
#ifdef __cplusplus
extern "C" {
#endif
extern __declspec(dllexport) CClassName* CreateClassName();
extern __declspec(dllexport) void DisposeClassName(CClassName* a_pObject);
extern __declspec(dllexport) void function(CClassName* a_pObject);
#ifdef __cplusplus
}
#endif
C++ Code, ClassNameCaller.cpp file for the caller function
#include "ClassNameCaller.h"
CClassName* CreateClassName()
{
return new CClassName();
}
void DisposeClassName(CClassName* a_pObject)
{
if(a_pObject!= NULL)
{
delete a_pObject;
a_pObject= NULL;
}
}
void function(CClassName* a_pObject)
{
if(a_pObject!= NULL)
{
a_pObject->function();
}
}
C# code
[DllImport("ClassNameDll.dll")]
static public extern IntPtr CreateClassName();
[DllImport("ClassNameDll.dll")]
static public extern void DisposeClassName(IntPtr pClassNameObject);
[DllImport("ClassNameDll.dll")]
static public extern void CallFunction(IntPtr pClassNameObject);
//use the functions
IntPtr pClassName = CreateClassName();
CallFunction(pClassName);
DisposeClassName(pClassName);
pClassName = IntPtr.Zero;
Here is a sample how to call C++ class method from VB - for C# you only have to rewrite the sample program in Step 4.