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Originally published at Internet.comThis article was contributed by Tair Abdurman.
This article illustrates how to create and use Statically linked Non-MFC (Implicit) DLLs. In order to build applications using DLLs in this way you must have .dll distribution with .lib & .h files. Lemme create DLL which can export whole class with method and variable and global variable with global procedure. I call this as HookWorks because have used this code to window's hook, and leave without changes. To start from 0, select New->Project->Win32 DLL. Select empty project and click finish (no need to help from wizards! ;). First going to planning our exports and declare them in //**************HWMain.h file***************** //HWMain.h Non-MFC DLL header file //sure it will be included only once #ifndef _ATM_HWMAIN_H_ #define _ATM_HWMAIN_H_ #pragma once //to speedup & reduce size #define VC_EXTRALEAN //Header body You can use .DEF file if wanna to use ordinal exports, but here I use exports by names. Create some usefull macros //export macros #define DLL_EXPORT __declspec(dllexport) //import macro #define DLL_IMPORT __declspec(dllimport) After completing your DLL, you can use DUMPBIN [options] files to view export table of DLL. // ... #include
//to export for C++ & C #ifdef __cplusplus extern "C" { #endif Here, the class will be exported with all of its members. Now you only need to create a new instance of the object and all members will be accessable //class export, with all definitions class DLL_EXPORT CHookWorks { public: //blah blah method int HookWorksFunc(void); //blah blah variable int m_iHookWorks; //con and decon CHookWorks(); _1_CHookWorks(); }; Here is a variable which will be accesable as extern in your "client" //exported variable DLL_EXPORT int exp_iVar=99; this function will be directly accessable //exported function DLL_EXPORT BOOL ExportedFunc(BOOL bParam); copmleted ... only close this "language unconveniences". #ifdef __cplusplus } #endif //EOF Header body #endif //*******************HWMain.h file********************** implementation is too simple with some explains: //*******************HWMain.cpp file******************** #include "HWMain.h" //Regular DLL Entry Point, do not have any importancy //to me here BOOL WINAPI DllMain(HINSTANCE hinstDLL, // DLL module handle DWORD fdwReason, // for calling function LPVOID lpvReserved // reserved ) { switch(fdwReason) { case DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH: /* Indicates that the DLL is being loaded into the virtual address space of the current process as a result of the process starting up or as a result of a call to LoadLibrary.DLLs can use this opportunity to initialize any instance data or to use the TlsAlloc function to allocate a Thread Local Storage (TLS) index.*/ break; case DLL_THREAD_ATTACH: /* Indicates that the current process is creating a new thread.When this occurs, the system calls the entry-point function of all DLLs currently attached to the process. The call is made in the context of the new thread. DLLs can use this opportunity to initialize a TLS slot for the thread. A thread calling the DLL entry-point function with DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH does not call the DLL entry-point function with DLL_THREAD_ATTACH. Note that a DLL's entry-point function is called with this value only by threads created after the DLL is loaded by the process. When a DLL is loaded using LoadLibrary, existing threads do not call the entry-point function of the newly loaded DLL.*/ break; case DLL_THREAD_DETACH: /* Indicates that a thread is exiting cleanly. If the DLL has stored a pointer too allocated memory in a TLS slot, it uses this opportunity to free the memory. The system calls the entry-point function of all currently loaded DLLs with this value. The call is made in the context of the exiting thread.*/ break; case DLL_PROCESS_DETACH: /* Indicates that the DLL is being unloaded from the virtual address space of the calling process as a result of either a process exit or a call to FreeLibrary. The DLL can use this opportunity to call the TlsFree function to free any TLS indices allocated by using TlsAlloc and to free any thread local data.*/ break; default: break; } return TRUE; } //class export, with all definitions //member method int CHookWorks::HookWorksFunc() { m_iHookWorks=10; return 2; } //constructor CHookWorks::CHookWorks() { m_iHookWorks=1; } //destructor CHookWorks::_1_CHookWorks() { } //exported function declaration DLL_EXPORT BOOL ExportedFunc(BOOL bParam) { return bParam; } //*******************HWMain.cpp file******************** Yep. It's ready. Simply compile after checking that you don't want MFC support (in the Linker settings). After building the project, you will 3 files that you need to distribute: * DEBUG build * HookWorks.dll * HookWorks.lib * HWMain.h * RELEASE build * HookWorks.dll * HookWorks.lib * HWMain.h The DLL must be stored in the same folder as the client application or in system DLL paths in order for it to be accessable from the client. If the client application can't find the DLL, you will receive an error message...
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