C# GetProcAddress Returns Zero

Question

For some reason, whenever my C# .NET 2.0 application makes a call to GetProcAddress it always returns zero.

public class MyClass
{
    internal static class UnsafeNativeMethods
    {
        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
        internal static extern IntPtr LoadLibrary(string lpFileName);

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
        internal static extern bool SetDllDirectory(string lpPathName);

        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
        internal static extern IntPtr GetProcAddress(IntPtr hModule, string procName);
    }

    private void MyFunc()
    {
        IntPtr _dllHandle;
        IntPtr _fptr;
        string _fullPath = ".\\mydll.dll";
        string _procName = "MyDllFunc";

        _dllHandle = UnsafeNativeMethods.LoadLibrary(_fullPath);
        _fptr = UnsafeNativeMethods.GetProcAddress(_dllHandle, _procName); // <-- Always returns zero.
    }
}

I'm sure the function name is spelled correctly, and _fullPath is presumably correct because _dllHandle is always assigned a non-zero value. Any insight you may be able to provide is appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

GetProcAddress only comes in an ANSI flavor, hence we help the runtime by telling it to always use ANSI when marshalling the string parameter. We also prevent the runtime looking for a non-existent GetProcAddressA, because the default for C# is to set ExactSpelling to false.

http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/kernel32.getprocaddress

Answer 2

You really need to add some error checking. At least verify if _dllHandle != IntPtr.Zero. Also, depending on the current working directory is dangerous, use Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location to get a full path name.

The function name is probably wrong. Exports tends to be decorated, like _MyDllFunc or _MyDllFunc@4. More wildly if it was compiled by a C++ compiler. Use Dumpbin.exe /exports on your DLL to see the real names.

Back to error handling, use SetLastWin32Error in the [DllImport] attribute. Throw Win32Exception if the function returns false or IntPtr.Zero.

---

Edit: I see the real problem. Using CharSet.Auto for GetProcAddress() is wrong. Very unlucky, it is just about the only Windows API function that only has an ANSI version. You have to use CharSet.Ansi. A good place to get proper [DllImport] declarations is pinvoke.net