Dear knowledgeable ones.

I started on a project to be able to use a smart card and a smart card reader in order to limit access to a program.

I had some sample code written in Visual Basic, and wanted to translate this to Delphi instead, something I think I have done pretty well.

At the moment, I get my program up and running. It compiles with no error... BUT...

Whenever I try to access external functions I have problems with the parameters.
I wonder if somebody maybe have a good explanation on how to be able to use the functions in the "SCardSyn.DLL"

It seems like Delphi and Visual Basic handles transfer of parameters quite differently.

My code for a few functions is as follows:

{Establish a context to resource manager
                                    Parameters:
                                      dwScope         = Scope (see Scopes)
                                      pvReserved1     = Reserved for further use
                                      pvReserved2     = Reserved for further use
                                      phContext       = Pointer to Context}
  FUNCTION SCardEstablishContext(dwScope, pvReserved1, pvReserved2:LONGWORD; phContext:PCHAR):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'WINSCARD';

That actually works, where as my direct translation of Visual Basic code
*** Visual Basic code START***
' Establish a context to resource manager
' Parameters:
' dwScope = Scope (see Scopes)
' pvReserved1 = Reserved for further use
' pvReserved2 = Reserved for further use
' phContext = Pointer to Context
'
Public Declare Function SCardEstablishContext Lib "WINSCARD" _
(ByVal dwScope As Long, _
ByVal pvReserved1 As Long, _
ByVal pvReserved2 As Long, _
ByRef phContext As Long) As Long
*** Visual Basic code END ***
*** Delphi equivalent? code START ***

FUNCTION SCardEstablishContext(dwScope, pvReserved1, pvReserved2:LONGWORD; VAR phContext:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'WINSCARD';

*** Delphi equivalent? code END ***
Does not work at all

There are many functions in both the WINSCARD and SCARDSYN dynamic link library and many of which I have great problems with in regards to my Visual Basic to Delphi Parameter translation.

I suppose I am on the right track when I try to use pointers to parameters that need to go both ways, but I still experience many problems.

I would greatly appreciate any help and explanation in regards to the use of PCHAR
Also if there are any "simple" way of doing this. I thought this would be simple, but apparently not as simple as I thought. lol.

The functions I have tried to do so far is:

FUNCTION SCardEstablishContext(dwScope, pvReserved1, pvReserved2:LONGWORD; phContext:PCHAR):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'WINSCARD';
FUNCTION SCardReleaseContext(hContext:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'WINSCARD';
FUNCTION SCardListReadersA(hContext:LONGWORD; mszGroups:BYTE; mszReaders, pcchReaders:PCHAR):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'WINSCARD';
FUNCTION SCardConnectA(hContext:LONGWORD; szReader:STRING; dwShareMode, dwPreferredProtocols:LONGWORD; hCard, dwActiveProtocol:PCHAR):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'WINSCARD';
FUNCTION SCardDisconnect(hCard,dwDisposition:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'WINSCARD';
FUNCTION SCardI2CInit(hCard:LONGWORD; VAR pCardParameters:LONGWORD; lType:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCardI2CReadData(hCard:LONGWORD; VAR pbReadBuffer:BYTE; ulReadBufferSize,ulAddress,ulBytesToRead:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCardI2CWriteData(hCard:LONGWORD; VAR pbWriteBuffer:BYTE; ulWriteBufferSize, ulAddress, ulBytesToWrite:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard2WBPReadData(hCard, ulBytesToRead:LONGWORD; VAR pbData:BYTE; ulAddress:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard2WBPReadProtectionMemory(hCard,ulDataLen:LONGWORD; VAR pbData:BYTE):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard2WBPWriteData(hCard,ulDataLen:LONGWORD; VAR pbData:BYTE; ulAddress:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard2WBPCompareAndProtect(hCard:LONGWORD; VAR bData:BYTE; ulAddress:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard2WBPPresentPIN(hCard,ulPINLen:LONGWORD; VAR pbPIN:BYTE):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard2WBPChangePIN(hCard,ulOldPINLen:LONGWORD; VAR pbOldPIN:BYTE; ulNewPINLen:LONGWORD; VAR pbNewPIN:BYTE):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard2WBPIsPinPresented(hCard:LONGWORD; VAR pfPinPresented:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard3WBPReadData(hCard, ulBytesToRead:LONGWORD; VAR pbData:BYTE; ulAddress:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard3WBPVerifyProtectBit(hCard, ulAddress:LONGWORD; VAR pfProtected:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard3WBPWriteData(hCard, ulDataLen:LONGWORD; VAR pbData:BYTE; ulAddress, fProtect:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard3WBPCompareAndProtect(hCard:LONGWORD; VAR bData:BYTE; ulAddress:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard3WBPPresentPIN(hCard, ulPINLen:LONGWORD; VAR pbPIN:BYTE):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard3WBPChangePIN(hCard, ulOldPINLen:LONGWORD; VAR pbOldPIN:BYTE; ulNewPINLen:LONGWORD; VAR pbNewPIN:BYTE):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';
FUNCTION SCard3WBPIsPinPresented(hCard:LONGWORD; VAR pfPinPresented:LONGWORD):LONGWORD; stdcall; external 'scardsyn';

I really need somebody to enlighten me a bit as in how to make the parameters work properly.

Many thanks in advance,
Morten Brendefur.

It is possible that the dll is not using stdcall functions. Have you tried cdecl for one ? I did not find a lot of info about this dll. Is there a way to get download the dll somewhere ?

If you do not have a header file for the functions, perhaps Borland's TDump.exe can help, although I don't know if it is included in D2009.

The DLL in question is part of the Microsoft Windows OS.
I have managed to find a little bit of information regarding the DLL, but not so much when searching for it. Searching for the functions however provide results.

I have found out that StringParameters does not work directly, but when I make:
TYPE
tbArr : ARRAY OF BYTE
and use this in the parameters ie FUNCTION Test(sString:tbArr):LONGWORD;

and then use the method

PROCEDURE DoSomething;
  VAR
    tekst:ARRAY[1..1024] OF BYTE;
    returnvalue:LONGWORD;
  BEGIN
    returnvalue:=Test(@tekst[low(tekst)]);
  END;

Then I mostly get the results I am after, but with the added disadvantage of having to convert the String into its array representation and back again

Maybe there is a simpler way :-)

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