[RESOLVED] VB6 ActiveX.dll, and using it without registering it (manifest?)

[Elroy]

Hi all,

Okay, I've got a situation where I'd like to create a VB6 ActiveX.dll for use by another VB6 standard (EXE) project.

However, when everything is compiled (or possibly even in the IDE for the standard project), I'd like to be able to use this ActiveX.dll without having it registered.

Anyone the expert on how to do this?

Do I need to somehow get a XML manifest information for it, and place it in the manifest of the standard EXE project?

I'm at a bit of a loss here. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Elroy

p.s. Late-binding of the ActiveX.dll would be fine.

[Elroy]

Hmmm, well, I found this by Dilettante, and it seems like maybe I'm good to go.

Dilettante, I must say that you're sure a cantankerous fellow at times, but you have written some excellent code. And you've clearly spent the time to get the deepest bowels of each Windows release sorted.

Well, I owe you a thanks for posting the above code. I worked through your demo, and it worked just fine. Now, I just need to think through it, and "bend" it to my particular wishes.

Regards,
Elroy

[dz32]

[...]

[Elroy]

Hi dz32,

Yes, I have a strong need to not need to register anything. I've discussed these needs elsewhere on these forums and won't go into them here. It even makes me nervous to think about registering something "on-the-fly". I've got routines that can register things without even any need for regsvr32, but I'd rather not use them.

I do appreciate the information on how you're doing it though. I've been playing around with Dilettante's work, and I think it's going to provide an answer for me. I particularly like that it works without anything being registered.

I don't think I'll mark this as resolved just yet, as I'm still getting all the concepts of what Dilettante did sorted out, and I may have other questions regarding all of this.

Also, ideas about other non-registry-methods are more than welcome. The basic idea is, I want to create a VB6 DLL that's called from a VB6 EXE, with nothing being registered.

Regards,
Elroy

[The trick]

You can use this module for working with COM-Dll's without registration.
You can use SxS manifest as well. This is the example:

    <file name="MTDownloader.dll">
        <comClass 
             clsid="{20FAEF52-0D1D-444B-BBAE-21240219905B}" 
             threadingModel="Apartment"                   
             tlbid="{AABFB2BB-49A2-4C39-8622-0DBE16C4161B}"   
             progid="MTDownloader.MultithreadDownloader"                   
        />
        <typelib 
             tlbid="{AABFB2BB-49A2-4C39-8622-0DBE16C4161B}" 
             version="1.0"
	     helpdir=""         
        />

    </file>

    <comInterfaceExternalProxyStub
        name = "_MultithreadDownloader"
        iid="{DF3BDB52-3380-4B78-B691-4138300DD304}"
        proxyStubClsid32="{00020424-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
        baseInterface="{00000000-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
        tlbid="{AABFB2BB-49A2-4C39-8622-0DBE16C4161B}"
    />
    <comInterfaceExternalProxyStub
        name = "__MultithreadDownloader"
        iid="{2C3EA7B8-17A3-42A0-93E1-C8074BCB907C}"
        proxyStubClsid32="{00020420-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
        baseInterface="{00000000-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
        tlbid="{AABFB2BB-49A2-4C39-8622-0DBE16C4161B}"
    />

You can skip comInterfaceExternalProxyStub if you don't want to use marshalling.

[Elroy]

Hi Trick,

Your code looks SUPER cool.

I haven't done much testing. However, if you don't mind, a couple of questions.

1. First, this stuff runs the ActiveX.dll as in-process, correct? I'm hoping that's the case, as I want to pass my ActiveX.dll an open database and some open recordsets, and have it use them just as the main program would.
2. Next, my actual ActiveX.dll files will also have .ocx dependencies. I'm assuming I can just embed a .manifest file in each of them to take care of that. Would you agree with that?
3. I will have the source code to my main project as well as all the ActiveX.dll files I create. Therefore, even though it's late-binding, I will know each class's methods and properties (and I'll use them correctly). Therefore, I'm assuming I can just delete the GetAllCoclasses , CreateIDispatch, ITypeLib_GetTypeInfoCount, ITypeLib_GetTypeInfo, and ITypeInfo_GetDocumentation procedures. In other words, I believe I'll only be calling CreateObjectEx2 (and what it needs) and UnloadLibrary. So, I can delete what those don't need. Is that correct?
4. Lastly, so ... I need to call UnloadLibrary when I'm done with the ActiveX.dll and I want to get it out of memory? Correct?

Again, Trick, if this all works like I'm hoping it will, this is totally cool stuff.

Thanks millions for sharing this. If all goes as expected, this is going to be huge for my project.

Elroy

[DEXWERX]

I use UMMM to generate SxS manifests.
There's also a simple Manifest generator in the Codebank.

I would use Trick's methods if implementing a ActiveX DLL plugin system, that needed to support XP, otherwise I would use ActCtx.

[The trick]

Hi, Elroy.

Your code looks SUPER cool.

Thanks.

First, this stuff runs the ActiveX.dll as in-process, correct? I'm hoping that's the case, as I want to pass my ActiveX.dll an open database and some open recordsets, and have it use them just as the main program would.

Yes. It loads a Dll.

Next, my actual ActiveX.dll files will also have .ocx dependencies. I'm assuming I can just embed a .manifest file in each of them to take care of that. Would you agree with that?

Yes.

I will have the source code to my main project as well as all the ActiveX.dll files I create. Therefore, even though it's late-binding, I will know each class's methods and properties (and I'll use them correctly). Therefore, I'm assuming I can just delete the GetAllCoclasses , CreateIDispatch, ITypeLib_GetTypeInfoCount, ITypeLib_GetTypeInfo, and ITypeInfo_GetDocumentation procedures. In other words, I believe I'll only be calling CreateObjectEx2 (and what it needs) and UnloadLibrary. So, I can delete what those don't need. Is that correct?

Yes. I think it needs to testing. I don't remember exactly.
Couple words. You can use early binding as well. If i'm not wrong you can add your DLL to references (or TLB) and use an Interface to working with an object. It doesn't require any dependencies in an end exe (if you don't use New keyword with classes that contains in a Dll).
I make small example that shows how you can use late/early binding.
For example, you have the class CTestClass:

Option Explicit

Public Sub ShowMessage( _
           ByRef sText As String)
    MsgBox sText
End Sub

You compile the Dll with TestDll.dll name. Run regsvr32 TestDll.dll -u in order to cancel registration.
You can use any combination of this code in EXE (you should add your library to References):

Option Explicit

Sub Main()
    'Dim tmpObj  As Object               ' // Late binding
    Dim tmpObj  As TestDll.CTestClass    ' // Early binding
    
    On Error GoTo error_handler
    
    ' // It wont work in EXE if the Dll has not been registered
    ' // Set tmpObj = New TestDll.CTestClass
    

    Set tmpObj = CreateObjectEx2(App.path & "\..\ActiveX_dll\TestDll.dll", _
                                 App.path & "\..\ActiveX_dll\TestDll.dll", _
                                 "CTestClass")
                                 
    tmpObj.ShowMessage "Test message"
                                 
    Exit Sub
    
error_handler:
    
    MsgBox "An error occurs: " & Err.Description
    
End Sub

You can improve performance if you'll use CLSID. For example, you even can remove the resource with TypeLibrary from DLL in order to nobody know interfaces and classes in the DLL.

Lastly, so ... I need to call UnloadLibrary when I'm done with the ActiveX.dll and I want to get it out of memory? Correct?

Yes. You can even delete this DLL if need.

[Elroy]

@DEXWERX, yeah, I've got the manifest stuff all worked out in terms of getting the xml code needed. I just hadn't used a manifest with an ActiveX.dll before, but I assumed they work the same, which Trick suggested that they do. Thanks though.

@Trick, again thanks! I've got some other work to do today, but I'll be working with all of this over the weekend. It looks like it's all going to work extremely well. I'll report back how it all goes.

That's also interesting about the early-binding. Makes sense, and it might make my IDE development of the main project easier, and also help performance (as you say). I've just got to be careful to always use your CreateObjectEx2 for instantiation.

In fact, I've already written a bit of a wrapper for CreateObjectEx2:

Public Function NewObjectFromActivexDll(ByRef pathToDll As String, _
                                        ByRef className As String) As IUnknown
    ' Create object by Name.
    ' Uses DLL as the TLB.
    '
    Set NewObjectFromActivexDll = CreateObjectEx2(pathToDll, pathToDll, className)
End Function

Elroy

[Elroy]

Okay, I've now tested and Trick's procedures work flawlessly, and no need for any references to call a VB6 ActiveX.dll. I even embedded a manifest in the ActiveX.dll programs so that they wouldn't need references either, but others may not need that level of complexity.

I cut Trick's procedures down to suit my needs, and thought I'd post my version here. I've just got it in a standard BAS module.

'
' For working with ActiveX.dll libraries without registration.
' Krivous Anatolii Anatolevich (The trick), 2015.
' Cut down by Elroy, 2016.
'
Option Explicit
'
Private Type GUID
    data1       As Long
    data2       As Integer
    data3       As Integer
    data4(7)    As Byte
End Type
'
Private Declare Function CLSIDFromString Lib "ole32.dll" (ByVal lpszCLSID As Long, ByRef clsid As GUID) As Long
Private Declare Function GetMem4 Lib "msvbvm60" (ByRef src As Any, ByRef dst As Any) As Long
Private Declare Function LoadLibrary Lib "kernel32" Alias "LoadLibraryW" (ByVal lpLibFileName As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetModuleHandle Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetModuleHandleW" (ByVal lpModuleName As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function FreeLibrary Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hLibModule As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetProcAddress Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hModule As Long, ByVal lpProcName As String) As Long
Private Declare Function DispCallFunc Lib "oleaut32" (ByVal pvInstance As Any, ByVal oVft As Long, ByVal cc As Integer, ByVal vtReturn As Integer, ByVal cActuals As Long, ByRef prgvt As Any, ByRef prgpvarg As Any, ByRef pvargResult As Variant) As Long
Private Declare Function LoadTypeLibEx Lib "oleaut32" (ByVal szFile As Long, ByVal regkind As Long, ByRef pptlib As IUnknown) As Long
Private Declare Function memcpy Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (ByRef Destination As Any, ByRef Source As Any, ByVal Length As Long) As Long
'
Private Const IID_IClassFactory   As String = "{00000001-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
Private Const IID_IUnknown        As String = "{00000000-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"
Private Const CC_STDCALL          As Long = 4
Private Const REGKIND_NONE        As Long = 2
Private Const TKIND_COCLASS       As Long = 5
'
Private iidClsFctr      As GUID
Private iidUnk          As GUID
Private isInit          As Boolean
'

Public Function NewObjectFromActivexDll(ByRef pathToDll As String, _
                                        ByRef className As String) As IUnknown
    ' Create object by Name.
    ' Uses DLL as the TLB.
    '
    Set NewObjectFromActivexDll = CreateObjectEx2(pathToDll, pathToDll, className)
End Function

Public Sub UnloadActivexDll(ByRef path As String)
    ' Unload DLL if not used.
    '
    Dim hLib    As Long
    Dim lpAddr  As Long
    Dim ret     As Long
    Dim spot    As Long
    '
    spot = 1
    If isInit Then
        spot = 2
        hLib = GetModuleHandle(StrPtr(path))
        If hLib <> 0 Then
            spot = 3
            lpAddr = GetProcAddress(hLib, "DllCanUnloadNow")
            If lpAddr <> 0 Then
                spot = 4
                ret = DllCanUnloadNow(lpAddr)
                If ret = 0 Then
                    FreeLibrary hLib
                    Exit Sub
                End If
            End If
        End If
    End If
    If Not bCompiled Then MsgBox "Didn't unload " & Chr$(34) & path & Chr$(34) & " but got to spot " & Format(spot) & "."
End Sub

'******************************************************************************
'
' Private from here down.
'
'******************************************************************************
'
Private Function CreateObjectEx2(ByRef pathToDll As String, _
                                 ByRef pathToTLB As String, _
                                 ByRef className As String) As IUnknown
    ' Create object by Name.
    ' The DLL can be used as the TLB with VB6 ActiveX.DLL files.
    '
    Dim typeLib As IUnknown
    Dim typeInf As IUnknown
    Dim ret     As Long
    Dim pAttr   As Long
    Dim tKind   As Long
    Dim clsid   As GUID
    '
    ret = LoadTypeLibEx(StrPtr(pathToTLB), REGKIND_NONE, typeLib)
    If ret Then
        Err.Raise ret
        Exit Function
    End If
    ret = ITypeLib_FindName(typeLib, className, 0, typeInf, 0, 1)
    If typeInf Is Nothing Then
        Err.Raise &H80040111, , "Class not found in type library"
        Exit Function
    End If
    ITypeInfo_GetTypeAttr typeInf, pAttr
    GetMem4 ByVal pAttr + &H28, tKind
    If tKind = TKIND_COCLASS Then
        memcpy clsid, ByVal pAttr, Len(clsid)
    Else
        Err.Raise &H80040111, , "Class not found in type library"
        Exit Function
    End If
    ITypeInfo_ReleaseTypeAttr typeInf, pAttr
    Set CreateObjectEx2 = CreateObjectEx1(pathToDll, clsid)
End Function

Private Function CreateObjectEx1(ByRef path As String, _
                                ByRef clsid As GUID) As IUnknown
    ' Create object by CLSID and path.
    '
    Dim hLib    As Long
    Dim lpAddr  As Long
    Dim isLoad  As Boolean
    Dim ret     As Long
    Dim out     As IUnknown
    '
    hLib = GetModuleHandle(StrPtr(path))
    If hLib = 0 Then
        hLib = LoadLibrary(StrPtr(path))
        If hLib = 0 Then
            Err.Raise 53, , Error(53) & " " & Chr$(34) & path & Chr$(34)
            Exit Function
        End If
        isLoad = True
    End If
    lpAddr = GetProcAddress(hLib, "DllGetClassObject")
    If lpAddr = 0 Then
        If isLoad Then FreeLibrary hLib
        Err.Raise 453, , "Can't find dll entry point DllGetClasesObject in " & Chr$(34) & path & Chr$(34)
        Exit Function
    End If
    If Not isInit Then
        CLSIDFromString StrPtr(IID_IClassFactory), iidClsFctr
        CLSIDFromString StrPtr(IID_IUnknown), iidUnk
        isInit = True
    End If
    ret = DllGetClassObject(lpAddr, clsid, iidClsFctr, out)
    If ret = 0 Then
        ret = IClassFactory_CreateInstance(out, 0, iidUnk, CreateObjectEx1)
    Else
        If isLoad Then FreeLibrary hLib
        Err.Raise ret
        Exit Function
    End If
    Set out = Nothing
    If ret Then
        If isLoad Then FreeLibrary hLib
        Err.Raise ret
    End If
End Function

Private Function DllGetClassObject(ByVal funcAddr As Long, _
                                   ByRef clsid As GUID, _
                                   ByRef iid As GUID, _
                                   ByRef out As IUnknown) As Long
    ' Call "DllGetClassObject" function using a pointer.
    '
    Dim params(2)   As Variant
    Dim types(2)    As Integer
    Dim list(2)     As Long
    Dim resultCall  As Long
    Dim pIndex      As Long
    Dim pReturn     As Variant
    '
    params(0) = VarPtr(clsid)
    params(1) = VarPtr(iid)
    params(2) = VarPtr(out)
    '
    For pIndex = 0 To UBound(params)
        list(pIndex) = VarPtr(params(pIndex)):   types(pIndex) = VarType(params(pIndex))
    Next
    resultCall = DispCallFunc(0&, funcAddr, CC_STDCALL, vbLong, 3, types(0), list(0), pReturn)
    If resultCall Then Err.Raise 5: Exit Function
    DllGetClassObject = pReturn
End Function

Private Function DllCanUnloadNow(ByVal funcAddr As Long) As Long
    ' Call "DllCanUnloadNow" function using a pointer.
    '
    Dim resultCall  As Long
    Dim pReturn     As Variant
    '
    resultCall = DispCallFunc(0&, funcAddr, CC_STDCALL, vbLong, 0, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&, pReturn)
    If resultCall Then Err.Raise 5: Exit Function
    DllCanUnloadNow = pReturn
End Function

Private Function IClassFactory_CreateInstance(ByVal obj As IUnknown, _
                                              ByVal punkOuter As Long, _
                                              ByRef riid As GUID, _
                                              ByRef out As IUnknown) As Long
    ' Call "IClassFactory:CreateInstance" method.
    '
    Dim params(2)   As Variant
    Dim types(2)    As Integer
    Dim list(2)     As Long
    Dim resultCall  As Long
    Dim pIndex      As Long
    Dim pReturn     As Variant
    '
    params(0) = punkOuter
    params(1) = VarPtr(riid)
    params(2) = VarPtr(out)
    '
    For pIndex = 0 To UBound(params)
        list(pIndex) = VarPtr(params(pIndex)):   types(pIndex) = VarType(params(pIndex))
    Next
    resultCall = DispCallFunc(obj, &HC, CC_STDCALL, vbLong, 3, types(0), list(0), pReturn)
    If resultCall Then Err.Raise resultCall: Exit Function
    IClassFactory_CreateInstance = pReturn
End Function

Private Function ITypeLib_FindName(ByVal obj As IUnknown, _
                                   ByRef szNameBuf As String, _
                                   ByVal lHashVal As Long, _
                                   ByRef ppTInfo As IUnknown, _
                                   ByRef rgMemId As Long, _
                                   ByRef pcFound As Integer) As Long
    ' Call "ITypeLib:FindName" method.
    '
    Dim params(4)   As Variant
    Dim types(4)    As Integer
    Dim list(4)     As Long
    Dim resultCall  As Long
    Dim pIndex      As Long
    Dim pReturn     As Variant
    '
    params(0) = StrPtr(szNameBuf)
    params(1) = lHashVal
    params(2) = VarPtr(ppTInfo)
    params(3) = VarPtr(rgMemId)
    params(4) = VarPtr(pcFound)
    '
    For pIndex = 0 To UBound(params)
        list(pIndex) = VarPtr(params(pIndex)):   types(pIndex) = VarType(params(pIndex))
    Next
    resultCall = DispCallFunc(obj, &H2C, CC_STDCALL, vbLong, 5, types(0), list(0), pReturn)
    If resultCall Then Err.Raise resultCall: Exit Function
    ITypeLib_FindName = pReturn
End Function

Private Sub ITypeInfo_GetTypeAttr(ByVal obj As IUnknown, _
                                  ByRef ppTypeAttr As Long)
    ' Call "ITypeInfo:GetTypeAttr" method.
    '
    Dim resultCall  As Long
    Dim pReturn     As Variant
    '
    pReturn = VarPtr(ppTypeAttr)
    resultCall = DispCallFunc(obj, &HC, CC_STDCALL, vbEmpty, 1, vbLong, VarPtr(pReturn), 0)
    If resultCall Then Err.Raise resultCall: Exit Sub
End Sub

Private Sub ITypeInfo_ReleaseTypeAttr(ByVal obj As IUnknown, _
                                      ByVal ppTypeAttr As Long)
    ' Call "ITypeInfo:ReleaseTypeAttr" method.
    '
    Dim resultCall  As Long
    '
    resultCall = DispCallFunc(obj, &H4C, CC_STDCALL, vbEmpty, 1, vbLong, VarPtr(CVar(ppTypeAttr)), 0)
    If resultCall Then Err.Raise resultCall: Exit Sub
End Sub

Private Function bCompiled() As Boolean
    On Error GoTo Errored
    Debug.Print 1 / 0
    bCompiled = True
Errored:
End Function

And here's an example of how I use it...

Private Sub cmdDotsr_Click()
    Dim oDotsrDll As Object
    '
    Hide
    Set oDotsrDll = NewObjectFromActivexDll(DependenciesFolder & "Dotsr.dll", "clsDotsrDll")
    oDotsrDll.SetGlobals wsTheWorkspace, dbTheDatabase, PatientData, Encounters, gbEscToExit, bCompiled, DotsrData
    oDotsrDll.Execute
    oDotsrDll.CleanUp
    Set oDotsrDll = Nothing
    UnloadActivexDll DependenciesFolder & "Dotsr.dll"
    Show
End Sub

Now, for my DLL, it's a project named Dotsr.dll, and it has a single class in it named clsDotsrDll. And this class has three methods: SetGlobals, Execute, & Cleanup. Also, there are some variables scoped outside of that CommandButton procedure I've shown you, namely: DependenciesFolder, wsTheWorkspace, dbTheDatabase, PatientData, Encounters, gbEscToExit, bCompiled, & DotsrData. However, this should give you the idea how to use Trick's procedures.

Just FYI, the oDotsrDll.Execute takes the user through several questions, loading up many forms that are internal to the Dotsr.dll, and this oDotsrDll.Execute doesn't return until the user has completed all the tasks. It even records its data into the database, via the globals it was told about.

Regards,
Elroy