Member Avatar for ilyaz

I have to develop a C++ DLL using Visual Studio 6 (don't ask why!) I am supposed to start from a template DLL project and then add functionality. Documentation states that I need to copy certain files from the template project into my project. However, when I open the template project in VS6, I see that all of these files, while being listed as part of the project, don't actually exist but are instead generated. When I click on them, they are generated empty. I was told that they are not supposed to be empty. So it looks as if there is some sort of problem with their generation. Hence a couple of questions:
- Where in the template project settings can I find the details of how these files are supposed to be generated and what they are actually supposed to contain?
- If they are generated empty, what could be a possible cause for this?

Thanks much!

  • 2 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 84 Views
  • 1 Day Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by ilyaz

Dani AI

Generated

Short practical checklist to find why the template DLL shows project entries but produces empty files. : the usual causes are a missing generator/wizard, project-level custom build steps that never ran, or a template that expects generated output which was not committed. 's suggestion to create a fresh MFC DLL and compare is a good first sanity check.

Try these steps in order:

  • Back up the template folder.
  • Open the project file (*.dsp) and workspace (*.dsw) in a plain text editor and search for the missing filenames. Look for per-file custom commands or build steps (references to external tools, IDL/MIDL, scripts, or custom generators).
  • Create a new DLL with the same VS6 installation and compare the generated file list and .dsp entries to the template.
  • Do a full Build -> Rebuild All on the template while watching the Output window for commands that should generate the files and for any errors or "command not found" messages.
  • Inspect the VC wizards folder on the machine (e.g., VC98\VCWizards / AppWiz locations) for custom templates the project might rely on.

If the project depends on a custom wizard or tool that is missing, either restore those wizard files from source control or regenerate the files from a fresh project and copy them into the template. If build-time tools (MIDL, ATL/MFC components or custom scripts) are missing or failing, repair the VS6 installation or install the needed components. Note: clicking a listed but-missing file can create an empty placeholder; that does not mean the generator ran successfully.

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for Ancient Dragon

What kind of a dll did you create? I have VC++ 6.0 w/SP3 on Windows 7 and created an MFC dll, using all the default settings, and VC++ 6.0 generated eight files, none of them empty. Perhaps you need to reinstall the compiler.

>>Documentation states that I need to copy certain files from the template project into my project
Which files? Do you have custom templates on your computer that either you or someone you work with have created? If yes, then you will probably have to get them from whoever created them.

Edited by Ancient Dragon because: n/a
Member Avatar for ilyaz


>>Documentation states that I need to copy certain files from the template project into my project
Which files? Do you have custom templates on your computer that either you or someone you work with have created? If yes, then you will probably have to get them from whoever created them.

This is exactly what I am trying to figure out and I need help determining what settings in the template project I need to look at to determine how these files are auto-generated and what might be going wrong with the generation. By the way, the template project is just a C++ DLL project named "template" created many moons ago in VS6.

So, again: What project settings should I look at to determine how these files are supposed to be generated? Where should I look for signs of what went wrong when the files were generated empty?

Thanks.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.