How To Deploy A DLL

[TheSaint1234]

All I wanted to do is make a simple DLL that I could call from VB. Last time I made a DLL was in VC++ 6.0 and it was fairly easy. Now I am trying to do the same thing in visual studio 2008 and it's changed and I an not sure how to deploy it.

It appears one can no longer just generate a .DLL file for simple distribution. Instead, I get the following files after I build with no errors:

The debug directory:
BuildLog.htm
MyDll.dll.embed.manifest
MyDll.dll.embed.manifest.res
MyDll.dll.intermediate.manifest
MyDll.obj
MyDll.pch
MyDll.res
mt.dep
stdafx.obj
vc90.idb
vc90.pdb



Release directory:

MyDll.dll.intermediate.manifest
MyDll.obj
MyDll.pch
MyDll.res
mt.dep
stdafx.obj
vc90.idb
vc90.pdb


So what file is my actual DLL to be called from VB?

How can I deploy this file?

[Igor Vartanov]

None of those is dll. So, actually I have a doubt about "build with no errors".

[Paul McKenzie]

It appears one can no longer just generate a .DLL file for simple distribution.

Wow. You mean the DLL's I compile and build every day using Visual Studio 2008 are just my imagination?

Seriously, Visual Studio is used by thousands of programmers to build DLL's. If there was such a problem with building DLL's, thousands of programmers would have reported it and complained to Microsoft.

Instead, I get the following files after I build with no errors:
The debug directory:
...
Release directory:
...

Go to your project that builds the DLL and look at the Output name. If your DLL actually did get built, that is where it resides. Just because you have a "debug" and "release" directory doesn't mean that the final DLL is placed there.

Regards,

Paul McKenzie

[Eri523]

It appears one can no longer just generate a .DLL file for simple distribution. Instead, I get the following files after I build with no errors:

The debug directory:
BuildLog.htm
MyDll.dll.embed.manifest
MyDll.dll.embed.manifest.res
MyDll.dll.intermediate.manifest
MyDll.obj
MyDll.pch
MyDll.res
mt.dep
stdafx.obj
vc90.idb
vc90.pdb



Release directory:

MyDll.dll.intermediate.manifest
MyDll.obj
MyDll.pch
MyDll.res
mt.dep
stdafx.obj
vc90.idb
vc90.pdb

Looks like you're just looking for your DLL in the wrong directories. Assume you have a solution named DLLtest containing a project named MyDll which is supposed to build the DLL, then I would expect these files (which are all intermediate files) in the directories ...\Projects\DLLtest\MyDll\Debug and ...\Projects\DLLtest\MyDll\Release. However, these are intermediate output directories that never have contained anything of interest to me as long as I've been using VS 2010. With default project settings (or something similar) try to look for your DLL in the directories ...\Projects\DLLtest\Debug and ...\Projects\DLLtest\Release which should be the real output directories.

HTH

Ah, and... Welcome to CodeGuru!

[TheSaint1234]

Not sure why there were not there before but after deleting all the files and doing a clean/rebuild, the DLL files were finally created.

Thanks for the replies.

[MrViggy]

Not sure why there were not there before but after deleting all the files and doing a clean/rebuild, the DLL files were finally created.

Thanks for the replies.

Build error?

Viggy

[John E]

Don't forget that it's no longer the simple matter of deploying the DLL, like it used to be in VC++6. In addition, you'll need to deploy the correct C runtime files that match the manifest information embedded in your DLL. If you don't do that, there's a possibility that your app will work fine on your machine but not on somebody else's. This manifest stuff can be a bit of a minefield at first but it works well once you understand it. Do make the effort to understand it though. Ignore it at your peril..!