How to create a new instance of a class from a DLL? - vb.net

Question

I am converting an old application coded with VB6 to VB.NET.
In my old application I was using a third party DLL file. Let's call it ThirdParty.dll.
One of my usages of that ThirdParty.DLL was like that in VB6:
Dim MyApi as new x.y 'referenced from the ThirdParty.dll
Dim vReturnCode as Long
vReturnCode = MyAPI.InitialiserCles(a, b, c, d, e) 'consider a,b,c,d,e variables declared and initiaited.
In the old application, this would return a result as Long.
Now, I need to use that same ThirdParty.dll in my new VB.NET application.
What I created was this:
Public Class ThirdPartyAPI
Private Declare Function InitialiserCles Lib "ThirdPartyFolder\ThirdParty" (a As String, b As String, c As String, d As String, ByRef e As String) As Long
Public Function InitializeKey(a As String, b As String, c As String, d As String, ByRef e As String) As Long
Return InitialiserCles(a, b, c, d, e)
End Function
End Class
Now when I want to use that, I am doing it like this:
Dim MyApi as new ThirdPartyAPI
Dim result as MyApi.InitialiserCles(a,b,c,d,e) 'consider again variables are well declared/initiated.
I am getting the following error:
Can't find DLL entry point 'InitialiserCles' in DLL ThirdPartyFolder\ThirdParty
I guess this is happening because we were actually creating a new instance of x.y from that DLL, then calling the function InitialiserCles (in the old applciation (VB6)). I failed to do the same in VB.NET. What am I missing?

Answer 1

Since this my first time working with COM DLLs and other stuff, it wasn't easy for me. Thanks for the comments above I was able to do it.
What ended up working for me was the next:
Since ThirdParty.DLL was a COM DLL I had to register it using regsvr32 command. Note that I had to use the one located inside SysWOW64 for it to work. Obviously because it's a 32 bit DLL file. The command then is:
regsvr32 "FullPath\ThirdParty"
After running this command successfully, from visual studio I was able to add a reference from com objects called ThirdParty and then I was able to create instance of classes from that DLL.