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Re: Call External and Win32 API dll's Subroutine calls



Ok,
	The right way to use CALL_EXTERNAL is to write your
own wrapper DLL.  Arguments and CDECL/PDECL issues are going
to kill you however.  Realize that CALL_EXTERNAL calls every
function with an integer and a pointer argument.  The pointers
to your IDL variable data are in the "argv" array, not on the
stack.  If you cannot make your function compatible with that 
stack frame, you are out of luck.  I do not see immediately 
how to do this with the calls you mention.  
	So, in IDL 5.4, use MAKE_DLL to do this for you. This
is the most portable way and is supported by RSI.  I have
not tried it myself, because:

<< start of shameless plug >>
You can also use the free DLM I wrote that allows you to 
"define" the interface to an external function/DLL.  It then 
registers that function with IDL and you can use it in IDL as 
if native.  Of course, minimal error checking is provided, but 
if you get the definition correct, it does ensure that the 
interface to the function (stack frame) matches that definition 
(very handy).  You can get it from Ronn Kling's web site:

http://www.rlkling.com/freeware/dlms.htm 

It is the EXTPROC functions.  It also provides a function
to generically dereference a (C) pointer within IDL.  Handy
when tinkering with functions that return pointers to things.
Anyway, that functionality is only available under Windows
(I could probably do Intel Linux as well if there were
interest) and all the source code is provided.  FYI: the DLM
includes sync/async sound recording and playback, TWAIN scanner
support, a complete sockets interface, raw zlib access and 
a few other things (much of it is Windows specific).

I should update the DLM sometime.  I have some new functions 
to add, but one (ugly) bug has me stuck right now and there 
have been a lot of paper deadlines and "Alice" sessions 
recently.
<< end of shameless plug >>

FWIW.

Later.

muswick@uhrad.com wrote:
> 
> Maybe someone has solved these problems with calling standard Win32
> api's without having to use a C-Wrapper routine.  I search this
> newsgroup and I have a few examples but none that seems to address
> this problem directly.
> 
> There 3 examples below:
>   1: Calling a Win32 Subroutine with arguments
>      The problem is that no data is returned.
> 
>   2: Calling a Win32 Function without arguments
>      No problem - This works (from this newsgroup)
> 
>   3: Calling a Win32 Subrouting with arguments
>      The problem is an immediate crash.
> 
> Example 1
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> From Win32 API:
> Public Declare Sub GetLocalTime Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetLocalTime"
> (lpSystemTime As SYSTEMTIME)
> 
> Public Type SYSTEMTIME
>         wYear As Integer
>         wMonth As Integer
>         wDayOfWeek As Integer
>         wDay As Integer
>         wHour As Integer
>         wMinute As Integer
>         wSecond As Integer
>         wMilliseconds As Integer
> End Type
> 
> Here is the IDL code I have tried:
> 
>   timedata = INTARR(8)
>   timedata2 = BYTARR(16)
>   SYSTEMTIME = {    $
>         wYear : 0,  $
>         wMonth : 0,  $
>         wDayOfWeek : 0,  $
>         wDay : 0,  $
>         wHour : 0,  $
>         wMinute : 0,  $
>         wSecond : 0,  $
>         wMilliseconds : 0}
> 
>   result = CALL_EXTERNAL('kernel32.dll','GetLocalTime',timedata)
>   help,result
>   print,timedata
> 
>   result = CALL_EXTERNAL('kernel32.dll','GetLocalTime',timedata2)
>   help,result
>   print,timedata2
> 
>   result = CALL_EXTERNAL('kernel32.dll','GetLocalTime',systemtime)
>   help,result
>   print,systemtime
> 
> RESULT          LONG      =            0
>        0       0       0       0       0       0       0       0
> RESULT          LONG      =            0
>    0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
> RESULT          LONG      =            0
> {       0       0       0       0       0       0       0       0}
> 
> Example 2
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Now a Win32 API function call with no arguments works:
> 
> From Win32 API:
> Public Declare Function GetLogicalDrives Lib "kernel32" Alias
> "GetLogicalDrives" () As Long
> 
> The IDL code:
> 
>   drivemask=CALL_EXTERNAL('kernel32.dll','GetLogicalDrives')
>   help,drivemask
> 
> DRIVEMASK       LONG      =          125
> 
> Example 3
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> From Win32 API:
> Public Declare Sub GetSystemInfo Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetSystemInfo"
> (lpSystemInfo As SYSTEM_INFO)
> 
> Public Type SYSTEM_INFO
>         dwOemID As Long
>         dwPageSize As Long
>         lpMinimumApplicationAddress As Long
>         lpMaximumApplicationAddress As Long
>         dwActiveProcessorMask As Long
>         dwNumberOrfProcessors As Long
>         dwProcessorType As Long
>         dwAllocationGranularity As Long
>         dwReserved As Long
> End Type
> 
> The IDL code:
>   sysinfo = {SYSTEM_INFO, $
>         dwOemID : 0L, $
>         dwPageSize : 0L, $
>         lpMinimumApplicationAddress : 0L, $
>         lpMaximumApplicationAddress : 0L, $
>         dwActiveProcessorMask : 0L, $
>         dwNumberOrfProcessors : 0L, $
>         dwProcessorType : 0L, $
>         dwAllocationGranularity : 0L, $
>         dwReserved : 0L}
> 
>   result = CALL_EXTERNAL('kernel32.dll','GetSystemInfo',sysinfo)
>   help,result
>   print,sysinfo
> 
> Causes an immediate Page Fault and crash of IDL.
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I am most likely applying the arguments wrong.  I am positive that
> I could get the above to work using a C-wrapper with (argc, argv)
> calling, but there are reasons that I would perfer not to go this
> route.
> 
> Any help would appreciated.
> 
> Gary Muswick
> muswick@uhrad.com
> 216 844-7793
> 
> Sent via Deja.com
> http://www.deja.com/

-- 
rjf.
Randy Frank                            | ASCI Visualization
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | rjfrank@llnl.gov
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