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dougdeming

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ASCIIZ and VB String and DLL = GPF

Please help, this is driving me crazy.

I have written a DLL (in PowerBasic) which has the following declaration:

FUNCTION TEST_DLL( BYREF Message AS ASCIIZ ) EXPORT AS STRING

ASCIIZ is a null terminated string.

PROBLEM:
1. The following does NOT work and causes a GPF in MS VB 6.0 within about 20 calls:

Dim MyMessage as String
MyMessage =""
MyMessage = Chr$(65) & Chr$(66) & Chr$(67) & Chr$(68) & Chr$(69)
MyStr = TEST_DLL(MyMessage)

2. HOWEVER the following always works fine in MS VB 6.0:

Dim MyMessage as String
MyMessage = "ABCDE"
MyStr = TEST_DLL(MyMessage)

I need to build the string like in #1 above but it crashes. I look forward to your solution.


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Avatar of Richie_Simonetti
Richie_Simonetti
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Have you tried null-terminating your string. VB strings are BSTR (OLE) strings and not null terminated.

ie try
MyMessage = Chr$(65) & Chr$(66) & Chr$(67) & Chr$(68) & Chr$(69) & Chr$(0)
Avatar of dougdeming
dougdeming

ASKER

Okay here's what I found out. Adding the CHR$(0) did NOT fix the problem. After pouring thru lots of documentation and code, I discovered the problem was in my DLL.

The DLL defined the parameter as BYREF which is correct and VB defined it as BYVAL which is also correct.

However, I inadvertantly was changing the value of the parameter inside the DLL which messed up data in VB because I was increasing the length of the string inside the DLL, hence causing a GPF in VB.

Whew!  Thank you for everyone's help and insight. I am awarding the points to the first person who suggested the CHR$(0) because I appreciate his super fast response.

Thank you!
See my comment.