The DLL really started coming along last night. I got color working, got VB talking to the DLL by just passing a Picturebox.Image to it. I then went on to test using a graphics library in VB that returned an HBITMAP and proceeded to throw different types of images at the LCD. As a result, I got 1-Bit, 8-Bit, 24-Bit and 32-Bit images working both for the standard 160x43 screen as well as the 320x240 color screen.
I was pretty excited to have everything working on my dev machine, so I took the newly minted DLL and my updated Manga Reader downstairs to my gaming machine with the G19 keyboard... and it failed miserably. It would have helped if the error made any sense, but Manga Reader kept insisting that it couldn't find the DLL at all.
Quick lesson for all you Visual C++ newbies (like me): By default, VC++ requires that a runtime is installed. Not so bad for a standalone program, but fatal to a distributable DLL. After a whole lot of tail chasing, I finally came across the proper tidbit of information and set my project to compile the libraries statically. Viola! Working DLL.
I'll still need to test on XP as well as machines without a keyboard, but I should be able to get a new version of Manga Reader out fairly soon. As a bonus, it no longer registers itself to start up when Windows starts :) As for the DLL, I'll make a stab at creating a callback function for the soft buttons (I have no idea where to begin on this) and if I'm successful, I'll start writing a couple of sample apps and package it up. I'll definitely make a VB6 sample, but I'll also try to create VB.NET and C# samples as well.
I was pretty excited to have everything working on my dev machine, so I took the newly minted DLL and my updated Manga Reader downstairs to my gaming machine with the G19 keyboard... and it failed miserably. It would have helped if the error made any sense, but Manga Reader kept insisting that it couldn't find the DLL at all.
Quick lesson for all you Visual C++ newbies (like me): By default, VC++ requires that a runtime is installed. Not so bad for a standalone program, but fatal to a distributable DLL. After a whole lot of tail chasing, I finally came across the proper tidbit of information and set my project to compile the libraries statically. Viola! Working DLL.
I'll still need to test on XP as well as machines without a keyboard, but I should be able to get a new version of Manga Reader out fairly soon. As a bonus, it no longer registers itself to start up when Windows starts :) As for the DLL, I'll make a stab at creating a callback function for the soft buttons (I have no idea where to begin on this) and if I'm successful, I'll start writing a couple of sample apps and package it up. I'll definitely make a VB6 sample, but I'll also try to create VB.NET and C# samples as well.
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