I have a third party COM dll that I'm trying to add to a vb.net (2008 express) project. I put the dll in C:\WINDOWS\system32\ and registered it with "regsvr32 vxncom.dll". When I go to projects > add reference and go to the COM tab it shows up in the list of available components/libraries. But, when I select the library and hit ok, visual studio complains: "A reference to 'vxncom 4.0 Library' could not be added. Could not register the ActiveX type library 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\vxncom.dll'."
The project I am doing this in is an example provided by the folks who distribute the dll. The component also fails to be added when I start a new (blank) vb.net project.
UPDATE 1:
I ran dependency walker on the dll in question and here's what I got in the error log:
Error: At least one module has an unresolved import due to a missing export function in an implicitly dependent module.
The module in question seems to be libeay32.dll, but it already exists in C:\WINDOWS\system32.
UPDATE 2:
I went to the openssl site and downloaded and used their installer to update the libeay32.dll. I ran dependency walker again on vxncom.dll, and there were no errors. Went back to visual studio and it still didn't want to add the reference. Exact same error as before.
Maybe the DLL VB is trying to register depends on another DLL that is not present. You can confirm this (or rule it out) by using the free Dependency Walker tool from http://www.dependencywalker.com/
RESPONSE TO UPDATE 1:
Sounds like there's a mismatch between the version of libeay32.dll that's installed on your system and the one that your component is expecting -- depends is saying that your component is looking for a function that isn't there. I would check the version number of libeay32 and then contact the vendor and ask them what versions they support.
Just a thought - you may get a more detailed error message if you create your own PIA using tlbimp.exe, rather than relying on the IDE to do it for you.
Assuming you haven't fixed it or have moved on to alternatives; and following on from jeffm's answer is libeay32.dll properly registered with the operating system? Re-installing / repairing usually fixes that type of problem (I see it a lot with MS Office and MapPoint where the COM objects occasionally unregister themselves for one reason or another.)
Related
I am currently updating a VB.NET application with Visual Studio 2013 that possibly was originally created on VS2010 or VS2012.
This application uses a Network SQL Database
Everything goes fine up to the point of installing when just shows an error message. that says the Assembly 'Microsoft.VisualBasic.Shell.9.0' version 2.0.0.0
is required and then will not let me finish the installation.
The project has been exported using the Visual Basic tool [OneClick]
I have already checked the References list on the Project menu, and is not included there. Also not available to be added.
The project requires the Microsoft Framework 4.5, so it seems that the Shell v2.0.0.0 is pretty old...
Do you have any suggestions, this kept me scratching my head already quite a while...
I finally figured it out.
I am not too sure if this is the right solution or not but it worked for me. Hopefully this will help someone else.
It turn out to be a error with the framework I was compiling the project (v4.5),
I was trying to install it on a Windows 7 machine with a framework installed up to v4.0. I cant understand why this error message showed up instead of telling me the framework version required for the software was not installed.
But anyways, I changed the version on the compiler, build and export again. Another error pop up but it was because references to the DLL for the different framework version were not included in the project. After including them and set the value for "Copy to Local" to true, the installation worked like a charm.
So I got my program up and working.
I'm forced to use a third-party COM component in an application, and I'm having issues adding the reference to my project.
I've added this DLL as a reference to a project before, but in the past it would link directly to the DLL, such that the "Path" in the reference's properties would be filesystem path where the DLL was installed (i.e. not relative to my solution's directory). However, now, when I add the reference, the "Path" is to my project's obj directory, "Embed Interop Types" is set to True, and it's listed as an ActiveX component (which is not correct).
Then, I stumbled upon this MSDN article, which says:
If you want to add a reference to a registered COM DLL that contains an internal manifest, unregister the DLL first. Otherwise, Visual Studio adds the assembly reference as an ActiveX Control instead of as a native DLL.
Well, there you have it. That's my exact problem. I need the native DLL, but I'm getting an ActiveX Control instead. So, I did as it suggested and unregistered the DLL. However, when I then try to add the reference, I get an error saying:
A reference to ... could not be added. Please make sure that the file is accessible, and that it is a valid assembly or COM component.
If I register the DLL again, I'm able to add it as a reference, but again, it's added as an ActiveX control. At this point, I don't know what else to do. Microsoft is very clear that I must unregister it before adding it as a reference, but then Visual Studio 2013 apparently won't let me add an unregistered DLL. Any one have any idea how to work around this?
UPDATE
So, apparently a recent update to this app made COM the only option (no directly using the DLL). The fact that it was added as ActiveX didn't mean anything. The problem turned out to be that this was a 32-bit library trying to run in 64-bits. I knew that was a potential problem, but switching the platform target to x86, still resulted in an error so I ended up chasing a red herring. Turns out IIS Express 8 runs natively as 64-bits even if the platform target of the site you're debugging is 32-bit. I had to go into Visual Studio options and uncheck the flag that tells IIS Express to run 64-bit (under "Web Projects") and then everything ran fine.
So, since adding the registered DLL was pretty much a no-go, I focused instead on trying to figure out why Visual Studio wouldn't let me add it when it was unregistered. I mean, sure, I might get an error about it being an unregistered DLL once I tried to run the project, but it should at least let me add it as a reference, regardless.
I eventually stumbled upon tlbimp.exe, which according to Microsoft:
The Type Library Importer converts the type definitions found within a COM type library into equivalent definitions in a common language runtime assembly. The output of Tlbimp.exe is a binary file (an assembly) that contains runtime metadata for the types defined within the original type library.
Okay. Well anyways, I opened a Visual Studio Developer Prompt (regular cmd doesn't have tlbimp.exe on the path), and ran my DLL through it. It created a new DLL, which I was able to add as a reference, and it satisfied my project dependencies. However, I haven't tested it just yet to make sure everything still works as it should once this thing is running, so I'll update with what I find there.
UPDATE
Yeah, so this doesn't work either. I get the same error once it's running saying that the class is not registered. Only now, I can't register this DLL because tlbimp.exe removes the entry-point.
I am currently converting a library to be a Metro library for Windows 8. I've created a brand new project in Visual Studio 2012 using the "Class Library (Windows Store apps)" C# Template. I've been adding a lot of files and working through the compile errors, but the one that's confusing me is:
Error 2 Predefined type 'System.TypedReference' is not defined or
imported CSC MyNewProject
The "CSC" appears under the "File" column. Double-clicking the error does nothing. Googling only gives me this:
Do not specify the /nostdlib option from the command line compiler.
Make sure that the project refers to the correct mscorlib.dll.
Reinstall the .NET Framework common language runtime (if the previous
solutions do not solve the problem).
(source http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f5c3ehka.aspx)
I'm not using a command line compiler, I don't know how to include or exclude mscorlib - because unlike previous .NET apps in Visual Studio, the only thing my project references is ".NET for Windows Store apps" and "Windows" (something I'm still getting used to).
Any thoughts/advise on this?
That Object is not available or has been relocated for the new ARM .NET architecture.
Here is the Full API for you to search, I would of searched for it, but it is missing a search func.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/br211369.aspx
For anyone else who encounters this, I experienced this while I was converting a project to run on metro. I continued to fix other issues (at the time this was one of hundreds of errors) and eventually this just simply disappeared. My plan was to eventually compare this to a new metro project in a text editor once I fixed all the other errors, but it solved itself before that could happen.
When I try to register the 32 bit version of my C++ / ATL project with
regsvr32 project.dll
i'm getting this error:
LoadLibrary("project.dll") failed - The specified module could not be found
project.dll is my dll built using ATL on Visual Studio 10.
The 64 bit version registered fine.
What am I missing?
I have observed this exact same error, but the solution was not installing the redistributable. All the dependent DLLs were present on the system1 according to depends.exe.
In my case, the icon of KERNEL32.DLL was slightly red tinted. Depends.exe did not offer much explanation, but digging around revealed that one of the imported functions were missing from the DLL on the system. To see the imported functions, select the dependent DLL in the treeview and look for the import on the right panel. Order by the PI column to see the red icons of missing imports.
In my case, the missing function was a function that did not exist on my sad target operating system, Windows XP. Since my program did not directly depend on this function, I was able to get away with #defineing the following in my project:
#define WINVER 0x0501
#define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0501
Compiling with these macros made it so the function in question was not declared in the headers, and consequently not imported at load-time. Now I was able to use regsvr32. This of course is a very specific (and lucky) case. I did not depend on that import or any other newer APIs, so I could get away with retargeting the project. Were it not a system DLL, I would have needed to find a newer version which could easily lead to a need to update a whole sub-tree of the dependency graph. Or even worse, if I depended on the missing imports, some serious refactoring would be needed.
To sum it up, this error message2 can be caused by the following issues:
The DLL file was not found or could not be read. Check the command line.
Some dependent DLLs were not found or could not be read.
Some imports are missing from some dependent DLLs. If these are system DLLs, you are likely targeting a wrong version of Windows. If these are non-system DLLs, you need to install newer versions of them and all their dependencies.
1.: Apart from IESHIMS.DLL and WER.DLL which is apparently a bug in this old tool.2.: Or really, any problems in loading the DLLs on a particular system
The error description is misleading in this case. The system finds your DLL (project.dll) but one (or more) dependency of your DLL might be missing.
I just installed
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package
and now I can install the dll.
Although this works, I'm not too happy with this, because I don't want to have to install this package on a client in order for my dll to work by them.
I have a VB.Net 1.1 application works just fine after compiling in Visual Studio. However, I want to use ILMerge to combine all the referenced assemblies into a single executable just to make it easier to move around. After I send it through ILMerge and try to run it I get the error
"Strong name validation failed for assembly.exe" .....
But none of my stuff is strong named! I saw this post here: Strong Name Validation Failed and tried running it through 'sn.exe -Vr merged.exe' but that gives me this error:
"merged.exe does not represent a strongly named assembly"
Has anyone else had this problem before? How do I fix it?
UPDATE:
I'm starting to feel like Strong name validation isn't the real problem here. I'm building against .NET v1.1 and running on a machine where that is the only .NET version installed (happens to be Windows 2003). The merged executable appears to die with that error on every Windows 2003 machine I try, but if I try to run it on a more modern OS (Vista) it at least starts, but that's not really a good test since the environment isn't fit for a real test.
I have verified that my app.config has the correct settings (specifying required and supported runtime version of v1.1.4322)
I use the /targetplatform:v1.1 option when running my assemblies through ILMerge.
ILMerge is definitely causing the problem (i.e. it works fine before I merge), I just don't know how to fix it.
I had to find and download a very old version of ILMerge (v1.1) in order for my merged binary to work; there must be a bug in the way the current ILMerge application builds .NET 1.1 assemblies. Thankfully we had one internally because I would probably have never found it online.