3.1.1 Making DLL Functions Known to Your Application
Each PC application product has its own way of identifying and interfacing with DLLs. You should refer to the user guides of your specific PC application product when determining how to use DLL functions. You might find this information under one of these topics:
- external functions
- calling functions
- including functions
- Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL).
It is important that the DLL be located in the proper directory of the PC so that it can be located when the application executes. Refer to Important Note for LANSA Open Upgrade for notes regarding the location of the LANSA Open DLL.
With most application tools and programming languages, it will be necessary to define the parameters of each of the external functions in the DLL. The parameters for defining the functions are identified in the online Help text and the Function Details. This step need only be performed once as the resulting code is generally copied from one application to the next or is stored in a file which can be copied or imported into the application.
Once the DLL functions have been defined to the application, the functions can be called.
The Visual Basic sample programs provided with LANSA Open contain the relevant definitions to use with your Visual Basic applications.