Using DllExport from the command line compiler

[Arno0x]

Hi,

I'm using DllExport Nuget package within Visual Studio and it works just great.

However, I was wondering how (if possible) to get the same result using only command line compiler such as csc.exe. Of course, I can add the /reference:path_to_dll_export.dll and the cs files will compile just fine, but the resulting DLL doesn't actually export any function. I guess that's because the DllExport magic happens after compilation by modifying the export section of the IL... (I barely understand this part).

So, does it sound feasible ?

Thanks,
Arno

[3F]

No.

DllExport.dll is only as a marker for your code and actually has no any logic at all.

This feature works via executable ILAsm (my version here) that contains special logic to prepare final PE file.

// logic of definition of records into EXPORT_DIRECTORY (see details from PE format)
HRESULT Assembler::CreateExportDirectory()  
{
...
    IMAGE_EXPORT_DIRECTORY  exportDirIDD;
...
    EATEntry               *pEATE;
    unsigned                i, L, ordBase = 0xFFFFFFFF, Ldllname;

where pEATE will contain list of your prepared methods like this:

for(WORD j = 0; (pMD = pClass->m_MethodList.PEEK(j)); j++)
{
...
    EATEntry* pEATE;
    /*
        struct	EATEntry
        {
            DWORD	dwStubRVA;
            DWORD	dwOrdinal;
            char*	szAlias;
        };    
    */
    ...
    m_EATList.PUSH(pEATE);

The DllExport only controls all these processes via MSBuild

What problem you're trying to solve ?

Use latest portable & embeddable gnt.bat (GetNuTool) if you need to get this manually via command-line:

gnt /p:ngpackages="DllExport"

etc.

side note.., from my msg:

the open #ilasm on #CoreCLR has a lot of restrictions and I also think about individual PE32/PE32+ tool at all, instead of IL Assembler.

[Arno0x]

Thanks for your answer.

The problem I'm trying to solve is simple: I like the fact that most of my published C# application/code can be compiled by anyone on Win7+ (any Windows OS with a decent .Net framework) without the need for VisualStudio. So I always provide with the csc.exe command line such that anyone can get its own compiled version of my app.

So it seems it's not feasible if I want to use DllExport functionalities ? Unless there's also a command line to trigger the whole work performed by DllExport on the PE file ?

[3F]

without the need for VisualStudio

DllExport is ready for CI ! and works with most popular build-servers like Teamcity, AppVeyor, etc.

So why you do not want to use msbuild for build your projects ?

if you still need to call it manually, see msbuild task here:

• https://github.com/3F/DllExport/blob/master/tools/net.r_eg.DllExport.targets

For direct modifications without DllExport: first you need to modify your IL code - how, you can look this repo.