OpenEuphoria

using 16bit code

• Posted by m.lerer at USA.NET Jun 18, 1998
• 763 views

Dear Pete,

Re: using 16bit DLL's in win32.
I'm also curious about this.  I've found some info on the web, but none of it is
particularly helpful.  The following is from Dr Dobbs Journal (4/1996).

See:
http://www.ddj.com/ddsbk/1996/1996_03/pietrek.htm
http://www.ddj.com/ddsbk/1996/1996_04

1. Microsoft's SDK has a thunk compiler (thunk.exe) that creates a 32bit DLL
that calls your 16bit DLL.

2. There are some undocumented API functions in kernel32: LoadLibrary16(),
FreeLibrary16(), GetProcAddress16(), and QT_Thunk() which are supposed to handle
this.  There are some problems:

1.  The xxx16() functions are not listed in any dump of kernel32.dll;
        you need to be able to access kernel32.dll by function **number**, not function
        name.  Pietrek includes an import lib in his archive, but this doesn't work for
        me with my c compiler (lcc-win32).  Maybe it will for you.

2.  QT_Thunk calls the 16bit code correctly, but you have to set the
        stack up just as the called function expects it, in assembly.  Also, any return
        value has to be retrieved from the appropriate register.

3. Pietrek refers to thunk32.lib in his makefile.  It's supposed to come
        with MSVC++, which I don't have.  I don't know if this is vital, or just a
        convenience.

There are more archives available from the microsoft ftp site
ft://ftp.microsoft.com, but these are concerned with getting 16bit code running
on WIN32 to use 32bit DLL's.  One that might be useful is MTHUNK32.EXE, but this
requires thunk32.lib again.

bye,
nonlerer




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