Hi,

In my project I am creating a dll application and calling it from a standard exe application. Now there was an error in the dll. I detected an corrected it.

I tried to replace it but it didn't work. running the same exe application give the error - ActiveX component not found.

I created a new exe with reference of new dll and it worked. But this need to replace the exe each time I make changes in the dll.

I tried to set the version compatibility. It was set to No compatibility. I set it to binary compatibility, but it require the reference of an existing dll. which dll it should be?? the same I created earlier!!!

 then i tried project compatibility. it worked. but compiling the dll is not allowing to overwrite the existing not it is letting to delete.

what do i do?
plz someone help me

Punkaj

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punkaj

 welcome to dll hell.
Suggestion:
1) open the exe in VB, and remove the reference to the dll, close VB
2) open the dll in VB, set the project to no compatibility
3) build the dll
4) change the project to binary compatibility, and point to the newly built dll
5) open the exe, ans restore the reference.
Caveat: there is a bug in VB that prevent to release the dll once the application is run, so sometimes when you try to rebuild the dll you get permission denied. In that case, just reopen the project, that will release the dll
Tip: you can load both dll and exe projects in a group, to easily debug them together.
Marco

It did. Thank u very much.

Just one doubt, for a binary compatibility option why it is required to supply an existing dll?



punkaj

well, if you do not specif ANY dll... with what the new dll be compatible to? :)
The goal is: once a dll is created, ALL the others versions must be compatible.

Marco

Does it mean that it require a compatibility of GUID, CLID, IID etc that it will get in the reference dll??

OK it should be.

Thanks again

punkaj

That is correct. The compiler looks the interfaces of the two dll's, and if they are the same it generates a new dll keeping the old CLID. If they are different and incompatible, it throws an error. If compatible, it keeps the same class ID and increases the release number (like 1.1, 1.2 etc)
Marco

Is there a good document/site that explains Project vs Binary vs none?

Pros & Cons ??

This chapter of MSDN explains basically everything, and it is well written for a change :)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...patibility.asp

In a nut shell: during development it is ok to use project compatibility (the default), but as soon as the component is created (ocx/dll/exe) presto change to binary compatibility.

Marco

Thanks Marco! I will go thru the MSDN pages you posted! Very helpful!