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Dll inside gadget

hi every body

how can i use a dll inside the gadget code and if it is required to regsiter the dll

please any one know answer reply

thanks

Fathi S. Elashery

[190 byte] By [fathiS.Elashery] at [2008-2-5]

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# 1

Firstly, you need to package the DLL inside the Gadget, then you need to register it manually during the Gadget startup to HKCU. If you can, it's also good practice to remove it once you've finished with it so you don't leave rogue registry entries. Unfortunately, Gadgets don't have a "close" or "unload" event, so this isn't always possible.

If you have a look at either my WMP or Asteroids Gadgets, you'll see how this is done. Here's the core of it:

var gadgetPath = System.Gadget.path;
var oShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
RegisterDSXLib();
var DSXLib = new ActiveXObject("DSXLib.DSX");

...

JonathanAbbott at 2007-9-3 >

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# 2

Jonathan Abbott wrote:
...Unfortunately, Gadgets don't have a "close" or "unload" event, so this isn't always possible...

Earlier beta versions had that problem, but the final bits should consistently call body.onunload when the gadget or sidebar is shut down. Let us know if you see this not working.

BruceWilliams at 2007-9-3 >

# 3

You need to add all this useful information into the MSDN documentation!

Just checked it, "body.onunload" now works in RTM. So, the matching code for the example above is:

gadget.html
<BODY onload="startUpGadget();" onunload="UnregisterDSXLib();">

gadget.js
function UnregisterDSXLib() {
try{
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\CLSID\\{0CEB6AEC-51FB-475F-8472-68869273C4EA}\\Implemented Categories\\{40FC6ED5-2438-11CF-A3DB-080036F12502}\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\CLSID\\{0CEB6AEC-51FB-475F-8472-68869273C4EA}\\Implemented Categories\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\CLSID\\{0CEB6AEC-51FB-475F-8472-68869273C4EA}\\InprocServer32\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\CLSID\\{0CEB6AEC-51FB-475F-8472-68869273C4EA}\\ProgID\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\CLSID\\{0CEB6AEC-51FB-475F-8472-68869273C4EA}\\TypeLib\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\CLSID\\{0CEB6AEC-51FB-475F-8472-68869273C4EA}\\VERSION\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\CLSID\\{0CEB6AEC-51FB-475F-8472-68869273C4EA}\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\DSXLib.DSX\\Clsid\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\DSXLib.DSX\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\TypeLib\\{B45FD794-9BE7-4B5D-BDD5-1FAD8A4D3855}\\2.0\\0\\win32\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\TypeLib\\{B45FD794-9BE7-4B5D-BDD5-1FAD8A4D3855}\\2.0\\0\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\TypeLib\\{B45FD794-9BE7-4B5D-BDD5-1FAD8A4D3855}\\2.0\\FLAGS\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\TypeLib\\{B45FD794-9BE7-4B5D-BDD5-1FAD8A4D3855}\\2.0\\HELPDIR\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\TypeLib\\{B45FD794-9BE7-4B5D-BDD5-1FAD8A4D3855}\\2.0\\");
oShell.RegDelete("HKCU\\Software\\Classes\\TypeLib\\{B45FD794-9BE7-4B5D-BDD5-1FAD8A4D3855}\\");
} catch(err) {System.Debug.outputString("UnregisterDSXLib: "+err)}
}

JonathanAbbott at 2007-9-3 >

# 4

I completely understand the usage of registering the dll to use its features.

Couple of questions I have:

Is dsxlib.dll, own library (or based on the name is it direct sound library)?

Lets say I wanted to use a different lib such as DirectSound for playing audio files, would all I have to do is register the dll and make the appropriate calls to it such as in the direct x sdk?

Any clarification on this would help (slowly my mind is filling with the amount of possibilities just based on using dll's for external functions that a gadget natively can't handle).

Anthony_W at 2007-9-3 >

# 5

Yes, dsxlib.dll is a library I created to wrap around DirectSound because the sound support in Sidebar is too basic. Hopefully in v2, they'll expose DirectSound (Bruce - you reading this?

)

Yes, you just need to register the DLL and then use the functions I've exposed to call DirectSound. If you download Asteroids you'll have all the code you need. Feel free to use the DLL.

Because I wrote the DLL in VB6, you'll need to register the DirectX VB library that exposes DX to VB (it doesn't come with Vista as it only includes DX10). When I get time, I'll recode it in C so it works natively with DX10 without this requirement.

You need to first initialise DirectSound to the Sidebar window via:

//get the Sidebar window handle and initialise DirectSound
var whandle = DSXLib.GetWindowHandle("SideBar_AppBarWindow");
var sound = DSXLib.Initialize(whandle) ? false : true;

then you need to check it registered and load the sounds:

var sounds = new Array();

if (!sound)
System.Debug.outputString("DX8VB.DLL not registered");
else
{
//load the sounds in to DirectSound buffers
sounds[0] = DSXLib.LoadSound(gadgetPath + "\\sounds\\explode1.wav", false, 1, 11025, 8);
}

then set the volumes:

for(i=0; i<1; i++)
DSXLib.SetVolume(sounds Idea , -750);

and finally Play/Stop sounds

DSXLib.PlaySound(sounds[0]);
DSXLib.StopSound(sounds[0]);

The DirectSound functions exposed are:

Initialize(ByRef handle As Long) As Integer
Initializes DirectSound to windows <handle>

LoadSound(ByVal SourceName As String, IsLoop As Boolean, NumChannels As Long, SamplesPerSecond As Long, BitsPerSample As Long) As Integer
Load the sound file "SourceName".
IsLoop is true if the sound is to be looped
NumChannels is the number of sound channels (ie 1 mono, 2 stereo)
SamplesPerSecond is the Hz
BitsPerSample (8, 16, 24 etc)

Outputs the Index the Sound was loaded into

PlaySound(Index As Integer)
Play sound loaded into Index <Index>

StopSound(Index As Integer)
Stop sound loaded into Index <Index>

SetVolume(Index As Integer, Vol As Long)
Set volume of sound loaded into Index <Index>

And one user32.dll function:

GetWindowHandle(s As String) As Long
Returns the window handle of the first window to match the name <s>

One thing I did miss out was a Terminate function to release all the sounds. I didn't code it because at the time, there was no way to capture the Gadget closing. I've since found out (from Bruce above) that MS fixed that so, I'll add this in a later version.

JonathanAbbott at 2007-9-3 >

# 6

Thanks for the help. Very informative.

Is it possible to create an ActiveX control with C# instead of VB6?

Thanks in advance

jou0117 at 2007-9-3 >

# 7

Microsoft provide the include library in the DirectX SDK, so yes.

JonathanAbbott at 2007-9-3 >

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