Creating and Using DLLs From Delphi

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A Dynamic Link Library (DLL) is a collection of routines (small programs) that that can be called by applications and other DLLs. Like units, they contain code or resources that can be shared between multiple applications.

The concept of DLLs is the core of the Windows architectural design, and for the most part, Windows is simply a collection of DLLs.

With Delphi, you can write and use your own DLLs and even call functions regardless of whether or not they were developed with other systems or developers, like Visual Basic, or C/C++.

Creating a Dynamic Link Library

The following few lines will demonstrate how to create a simple DLL using Delphi.

For the beginning start Delphi and navigate to File > New > DLL to build a new DLL template. Select the default text and replace it with this:

 library TestLibrary;


uses SysUtils, Classes, Dialogs;


procedure DllMessage; export;begin

 ShowMessage('Hello world from a Delphi DLL') ;

 end;


exports DllMessage;


beginend. 

If you look at the project file of any Delphi application, you’ll see that it starts with the reserved word program. By contrast, DLLs always start with library and then a uses clause for any units. In this example, the DllMessage procedure follows, which doesn't do anything but show a simple message.

At the end of the source code is an exports statement which lists the routines that are actually exported from the DLL in a way that they can be called by another application. What this means is that you can have, say, five procedures in a DLL and only two of them (listed in the exports section) can be called from an external program (the remaining three are "sub procedures").

In order to use this DLL, we have to compile it by pressing Ctrl+F9. This should create a DLL called SimpleMessageDLL.DLL in your projects folder.

Finally, let's take a look at how to call the DllMessage procedure from a statically loaded DLL.

To import a procedure contained in a DLL, you can use the keyword external in the procedure declaration. For example, given the DllMessage procedure shown above, the declaration in the calling application would look like this:

 procedure DllMessage; external 'SimpleMessageDLL.dll' 

The actual call to a procedure is nothing more than:

 DllMessage; 

The entire code for a Delphi form (name: Form1), with a TButton (named Button1) that calls the DLLMessage function, looks something like this:

 unit Unit1;


interface

 

 uses

 Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes,

 Graphics, Controls, Forms, Dialogs, StdCtrls;

 

 type

 TForm1 = class(TForm)

 Button1: TButton;

 procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject) ;private{ Private declarations }public{ Public declarations }end;


var

 Form1: TForm1;

 

 procedure DllMessage; external 'SimpleMessageDLL.dll'


implementation

 

 {$R *.dfm}

 

 procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject) ;begin

 DllMessage;

 end;


end. 
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Gajic, Zarko. "Creating and Using DLLs From Delphi." ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/creating-and-using-dlls-from-delphi-1058459. Gajic, Zarko. (2020, August 28). Creating and Using DLLs From Delphi. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/creating-and-using-dlls-from-delphi-1058459 Gajic, Zarko. "Creating and Using DLLs From Delphi." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/creating-and-using-dlls-from-delphi-1058459 (accessed March 19, 2024).