Hi Byron:

Here's some snips that may help. MSDN is your friend if you want to play with the
"m" word.

Funny you should mention export files. I think they're passe' now. I remember using
one, but can't find an old file. I think the snips below are all I do to get it working. I
can't find any def file in this project, so I don't thnk I needed it. OH! found one in
another project, but it's for DCOM. I think that's the difference. I'm not using one for
straight non-COM dlls. Yeah this is a proxy/stub def file for use when calling a server
on a remote machine. The snips below are from a program that uses MACRO defs
to export and import. Here's the proxy/stub def file anyway:

LIBRARY      "CryptProj1PS"

DESCRIPTION  'Proxy/Stub DLL'

EXPORTS
        DllGetClassObject       @1      PRIVATE
        DllCanUnloadNow         @2      PRIVATE
        GetProxyDllInfo         @3      PRIVATE
        DllRegisterServer               @4      PRIVATE
        DllUnregisterServer             @5      PRIVATE


Personally, I'd rather see a text based configuration so we can write our own chip
implementations, but I think your student could use some help.

That ActiveX suggestion... I do that these days since it eliminates having to rebuild
the client everytime I modify a component, but I don't think that's a good solution
here and it won't make the job any easier.

What I'd do is write dll functions to receive a window handle to the calling app and
save it. I think you can then use SendMessage() and PostMessage() in the dll and
handle it in the WndProc of the main app. You could also set a flag and poll it.

As far as callback functions in the dll, IIRC, I read that dlls can't receive winders
messages, so callbacks are out, for that. Check MSDN, but I'm pretty sure I
remember that. I think there was a workaround. Hell, run a thread in the dll to wait for
the low level routine to set a flag via a dll function Done()


------------Main.cpp-------
void vpp_on()
{
        // Code to turn the vpp bit on
        HeyDLL_I_AM_DONE();
}
--------dll.dll----------------
....
// thread function loop
for(;;)
{
        if(bDone)
                return;
}



The program that the below snips come from is a PC Scope program with signal
generator. It ran a thread that waited for an event from the soundcard and triggered
the scope trace. Elsewhere, I use PostMessage / SendMessage to communicate
between GUIs. The GUIs were in the main app and the other stuff happened in dlls.

Note: I'm having mail reader probs and haven't gotten my Digest file for the day.
Don't even know if Digest is working. I got your post off the web archive. Please e-
mail me at

mike dot ford at earthlink dot net

( my latest anti-spam address - I exceeded my sneakemail bandwith with all those
PICList posts I received :-(  )

to let me know if you got this and if the reader mangled it. I'd like to highlight the
snips for you, but not sure if PICList likes that.

A dll header file:

// **************
// The following ifdef block is the standard way of creating macros which make
//exporting
// from a DLL simpler. All files within this DLL are compiled with the
//MWAVSIG_EXPORTS
// symbol defined on the command line. this symbol should not be defined on any
//project
// that uses this DLL. This way any other project whose source files include this file
//see
// MWAVSIG_API functions as being imported from a DLL, wheras this DLL sees
//symbols
// defined with this macro as being exported.

#ifdef GDATA_EXPORTS
        #define GDATA_API __declspec(dllexport)
#else
        #define GDATA_API __declspec(dllimport)
#endif


#include <stdio.h>

#include "MSig.h"
#include <SRMSig.h>
#include <gLinkLst.h>

#ifdef GDATA_EXPORTS
        GDATA_API MSig<char>*   lpMWaveDeckSig[2];

        GDATA_API MSig<double>* lpMSig[256];
#else
        GDATA_API MSig<char>*   lpMWaveDeckSig[];
        GDATA_API MSig<double>* lpMSig[];
#endif

#include <Router.h> //here because the above
        //sigs must be defined 1st.

GDATA_API Router*       pMSigRouter;

GDATA_API SignalList    sigList;

//*************8
 ...

IIRC, GDATA_EXPORTS is defined by the MSVC++ project settings auto magically
when you build a dll. you'll have to define it yourself, maybe. I use inclusion gaurds
on all my include files.

// ******************************************
//the cpp file - this is just the dll entry. other stuff is implemented elsewhere and
//includes the above header:

GDATA_API BOOL APIENTRY
/*__stdcall*/ DllMain( HANDLE hModule,
                       DWORD  ul_reason_for_call,
                       LPVOID lpReserved
                                         )
{
    switch (ul_reason_for_call)
        {
                case DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH:
//                      lpMWaveDeckSig[0] = new MSig<char>;
                        break;
                case DLL_THREAD_ATTACH:
                        break;
                case DLL_THREAD_DETACH:
                        break;
                case DLL_PROCESS_DETACH:
                        break;
    }
    return TRUE;

// *******************************************************
}

HTH,
Mike C -- Active8

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