Is there a tool that generates P/Invoke signatures for arbitrary unmanaged DLL?

Asked 12/6, 2011 at 1:52 Answered 15/4, 2022 at 16:55

Solved c#.net pinvoke unmanaged function-signature

I stumbled upon a tool that generates P/Invoke signatures for Microsoft's own unmanaged DLLs: PInvoke Interop Assistant

Is there a similar tool that will generate P/Invoke signatures for third-party unmanaged DLLs?

Alternately, any way to feed a third-party DLL to PInvoke Interop Assistant

EDIT: Actual issue I am trying to resolve

Emmie answered 12/6, 2011 at 1:52 Comment(8)

Generally, you'd need to feed in a header file, since DLL export tables don't have signature information (except C++ mangled names, but P/Invoke can't deal with most C++ signatures anyway). Do you have a header file with the function declarations? – Oruntha 12/6, 2011 at 2:2

Why do you say the assistent is only for Microsoft's dll? It should support any C/C++ files. – Archibold 12/6, 2011 at 5:57

Any tool that promises trouble-free pinvoke signatures is selling you snake-oil. The PInvoke Interop Assistant works fairly well because of SAL annotations in the Windows headers. That is not going to be available in yours. The best tool is the one you've got between your ears. And SO. – Davidoff 12/6, 2011 at 14:41

@Hans Passant: If i were to add SAL annotations to my own stuff, what's the next step to P/Invoke signatures? – Emmie 12/6, 2011 at 17:8

You could run the sigimp.exe tool on, part of PIA. I suppose, never tried it myself. If you know how to do SAL properly then you should have no trouble writing your own [DllImport] declarations either. – Davidoff 12/6, 2011 at 17:38

@Hans Passant: I am trying to make the process fool-proof. Hope you understand. And If you make your comment as an answer, I'll definitely upvote. Thank you for direction. – Emmie 12/6, 2011 at 19:56

I'm with Hans, you're best off doing it manually. – Margherita 13/6, 2011 at 17:59

Recent addition using the new code generators github.com/microsoft/CsWin32 – Dramatization 4/2, 2021 at 10:3

Google quickly found http://www.pinvoker.com (Wayback) (Compatiblity listed as VS2005, 2008, and 2010; it doesn't seem to have been updated to work with newer versions)

Microsoft's C++/CLI compiler can also do this, if you use /clr:safe and #include the header file, it will generate p/invoke code which you can extract with e.g. ILSpy (free) or Red Gate Reflector (used to be free).

Oruntha answered 12/6, 2011 at 2:4 Comment(7)

It's no more possible to download this software. There are alternatives? – Jonme 26/8, 2018 at 19:45

@LuigiSaggese: The Microsoft C++/CLI compiler is definitely still available. – Oruntha 26/8, 2018 at 20:44

@LuigiSaggese: And I'm pointing out that the alternative you asked about is already described in my answer, and was for seven whole years before you commented. Perhaps your comment didn't say what you actually meant? – Oruntha 27/8, 2018 at 13:8

@BenVoigt i want only to report that answer is outdated for the first part (normal after 7 years) – Jonme 27/8, 2018 at 14:25

@LuigiSaggese: Alright, I added a note that should warn readers that it's out of date. As far as the ability to download it, I do see a server error from the main site but there are probably mirrors -- for example pinvoker-visual-studio-addin.software.informer.com) – Oruntha 27/8, 2018 at 19:2

.NET is cross platform and c++/CLI is windows only, so this tool is no good for a lot of modern .NET. – Condescending 10/11, 2020 at 21:11

After requesting they send email "The download link for the requested software cannot be found." So please renew the link – Electroluminescence 7/1, 2022 at 22:3

I use PInvoke Interop Assistant for unmanaged DLLs by using the third tab in the UI, marked "SigImp Translate Snippet". Simply copy-and-paste your header into the "Native Code Snippet" window and press Generate (or turn on Auto Generate). As an illustration here's some code from a question of mine. Note that for some reason errors don't appear in the Error panel but as comments at the top of the generated code.

As several people have already said, the generated code should be used as a guide - you may well have to make changes to get exactly what you want.

enter image description here

Anemone answered 9/11, 2014 at 1:47 Comment(2)

The link is dead – Electroluminescence 7/1, 2022 at 22:3

@Electroluminescence The GitHub link works. – Eire 7/1, 2023 at 0:57

This project is active and looks promising for the task: https://github.com/mono/CppSharp

Stgermain answered 17/11, 2015 at 4:29 Comment(2)

Hey this is development I need the executable tool. – Electroluminescence 7/1, 2022 at 22:4

Looks like C# only. – Eire 6/1, 2023 at 18:8

Another alternative is the SharpGenTools. It is used by SharpDX to "automatically" create bindings of the directx api. There's also CppSharp, it's used by QtSharp to generate bindings to native C++/C libs. Until now CppSharp is only compatible with .Net Framework 6+.

Barela answered 5/3, 2019 at 2:8 Comment(3)

The code generated by CppSharp can be used on .NET Core 2, at least. You have to have .NET Framework or Mono to run the code generator. – Vardon 29/8, 2019 at 11:0

Using these tools are more complicated than using PInvoke. Why there no tool as input output fashion. – Electroluminescence 7/1, 2022 at 22:33

@Electroluminescence when you have to cover a huge api doing it by hand may not be an interesting choice. For example the Silk.Net guys covered a huge amount of native apis using tools to automate the creation of the bindings. There's no free launch. Everything that is simple will have limitations and usually more features generally implies more complexity. Choose your poison e be happy with it. – Barela 12/2, 2022 at 22:2

You can create C# wrapper for any native DLL including both C-style DLL exporting functions and C++ DLL exporting classes by using xInterop C++ .NET Bridge with .NET to Native C++ Bridge. It is available for free evaluation with some limitations.

Disclaimer: I am the author of xInterop C++ .NET Bridge.

Airla answered 22/9, 2016 at 2:23 Comment(3)

Download link on the website displays "File Not Found" – Clarabelle 14/5, 2018 at 9:2

Looks like the link is dead now. – Leeke 30/5, 2019 at 16:19

Hello xInterop. I have a C API of a camera with a native DLL and header. There are around 20 functions I need to translate into C# for my WPF project. I tried by PInvoke but more than half are difficult for me. Is there a chance you may look at it? – Electroluminescence 7/1, 2022 at 22:31

I use ClangSharpPInvokeGenerator command line open-source tool for that purpose.

As an input it requires a set of C header files. C++ files are supported as well. I did not test C++ though.

Following is a command line I use:

ClangSharpPInvokeGenerator @pinvoke.rsp

Following is a template for pinvoke.rsp

--file
include/File1.h
include/File2.h
--output
PInvoke.cs
--namespace
com.MyLib.PInvoke
--language
c
--methodClassName
DLL
--libraryPath
mylib-native
--headerFile
pinvoke-header.txt
--config
compatible-codegen

pinvoke-header.txt

//
// !!! Do not edit it manually !!!
// This is a automatically generated P/Invoke bindings
//

using ClangSharp.Interop;

Parotid answered 15/4, 2022 at 16:55 Comment(0)

-4

Use Dumpbin.exe that comes with the VS SDK, Dumpbin, you'll still need to write the pinvoke signatures manually from the dumped data

Chimp answered 12/6, 2011 at 2:4 Comment(1)

Dumpbin's output does not contain type information, since this information does not exist in the binary for functions that are exported as extern "C". C++ exports are exported using decorated names that Dumpbin can de-mangle. Still, not an answer to this question. – Sanorasans 23/6, 2014 at 18:59

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