C++ and .NET compatability

  • Thread starter Thread starter Timothy V
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Timothy V

Hi,
Is it possible for a non-.net C++ application to use a .NET DLL file?

Thanks in advance,

Tim.
 
Timothy V said:
Is it possible for a non-.net C++ application to use a .NET DLL file?
Click to expand...

You can expose .NET classes through COM, thus making those classes accesible
to a non-.NET C++ application. You can export a type library for the .NET
component using the TLBEXP tool, and you can register it for use through COM
with REGASM.
 
Ian Griffiths said:
You can expose .NET classes through COM, thus making those classes
accesible to a non-.NET C++ application. You can export a type library
for the .NET component using the TLBEXP tool, and you can register it for
use through COM with REGASM.
Click to expand...

In addition to that, you can also create a .NET DLL with MC++ that is
directly accessible from unmanaged code (like any other DLL), or you can
host the CLR (see for example the .net command-line debugger cordbg)

As a rule of thumb:
- COM interop is quite easy to use, but it has a little performance overhead
- creating an MC++ wrapper is very flexible, but it is more work, too
- hosting the CLR directly is *quite* complex - if you don't intend to write
a debugger, profiler or something alike, it's probably not worth the effort

Niki
 
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