| Re: From C to IDL questions [message #54155 is a reply to message #54143] |
Thu, 24 May 2007 16:29  |
b_gom
Messages: 105
Registered: April 2003
|
Senior Member |
|
|
On May 23, 3:47 pm, ryans...@gmail.com wrote:
> Ive bought ron klings book, ive read it and done the examples.
You should have all the answers then..
> My question is this,
>
> If I have a completed C program, that lets say, has a string output..
> without adding any additional lines to the C program, can it be called
> in IDL? Ive done this with SPAWN (thanks to your guys help).. but
> spawn is not so great (slow, no cross-platform etc).
>
> It seems ron klings method, some code (or, a fair amount) needs to be
> added to the C files. Is this just something that im going to have to
> live with? I ask because I have to convert several files to IDL and im
> looking to do it as easily as possible.
>
> Would call_externals be best for this? For various reasons, I cant use
> call external currently (compiler not reconized and I dont have the
> discs to re-install right now... "doesnt reconize CL")
>
> Thoughts or Ideas? Thanks!
If your compiler doesn't work, and your code isn't compatible with
call_external, and SPAWN is too slow for you, then you are probably
out of luck. I would suggest the following:
-If your program works as a stand-alone program, then calling it with
SPAWN is probably the easiest solution.
-If your program is in the form of a DLL, then call_external is the
way to go. (If you use the proper calling convention, then you may not
even need to modify the code much.) There are even some automated
tools for loading functions from an existing DLL without any C
modifications, although this only works for certain situations.
-Otherwise, wrapping your C functions into a dynamic library and using
call_external isn't that hard using the online documentation. You
basically have to make the exported functions use the proper calling
convention, make sure you cast the input and output variables
properly, and make sure you don't screw anything up with the memory
management.
The extra step to converting your code to a DLM isn't that hard, but
is only justified if you need access to internal IDL functions within
your C code and you want your program to appear as a built-in IDL
command.
Brad
|
|
|
|
comp.lang.idl-pvwave archive
Members
Search
Help
Login
Home
