System.AccessViolationException with a .dll I compile - visual-c++

I am compiling a project into a .dll and trying to use it in another project. For most of the functions I use in this library, I get a System.AccessViolationException exception :
System.AccessViolationException: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.
at nglib.Ng_GetPoint(Void** , Int32 , Double* )
at ForwardModelingPlugin.CustomMeshVol3D.tesselate(CustomMeshVol3D* )
The lib I am using is called nglib - part of netgen, an open source mesher.
I have read a lot of related errors, but I don't understand why it is happening. And I cannot go into this library because it's unmanaged and the rest of my project is managed.
Thanks

AccessViolationException means either:
There is a bug in the library you are using, or
You are passing the library invalid arguments.

Related

InitInstance(): pugixml corrupts my this pointer

I have an x64 MFC application (VS2019, fresh project from the wizard and filled with lots of old project code). Debug build is working fine but the project has a problem to start up in the Release build. Should be noted that it is a big project with several different subprojects and libraries included. (EDIT: pugi xml library seems to be causing the trouble, see below)
In AfxMainWin() function the pThread and pApp pointers are created correctly, and I can for example look at the command line arguments pThread->m_lpCmdLine. Then AfxMainWin calls pThread->InitInstance(), but inside the InitInstace function the this-pointer is corrupt, which leads to a crash when the code tries to access m_lpCmdLine or any other member-variable.
EDIT1: I found out that the this-pointer was okay on the first line in InitInstance(). Then a small init function was run that destroyed the this-pointer in InitInstance. This function reads settings from an xml file using Pugi Xml library, and specifically this line is the one that destroys my this pointer:
status = ((pugi::xml_document*)get_params())->load_file(file).status;
Probable reason: The pugixml.dll is incomaptible with my release build and causes memory corruption. I have used dependency walker on the pugixml.dll, and the result was not good. This DLL seems to be built in debug mode since it adds dependencies to the debug versions of MFC libraries, such as VCRUNTIME140D.DLL - and that is not good for a release build.
I do not have access to any release version of pugixml.dll, so my solution will be to throw out the pugixml.dll and include the .cpp in my project instead, or maybe use another xml reader instead. That should do the trick!
But I have a final question for you folks, so that I learn as much as possible from this: what is the most likely cause of my memory corruption? Is it the debug DLL that is incompatible with my release build? Or is it more likely that the DLL is old (v140 toolset) and my project is toolset v142? Or is it, as suggested by #Iinspectable , the actual function call (with c-style casting of the returned pointer) that is messed up and trashing my stack?
I note that the get_params() function returns a void* pointer (void* the_params;), but that void* pointer has earlier been created using the_params = new pugi::xml_document; - so at least it is being casted to the correct type.
EDIT2: after replacing the faulty pugixml.dll file with pugixml.cpp I could debug the issue, turns out to be some pugixml-related problem. I had to post that as another issue, since it is now a very different problem.

Call matlab shared library from dotnet core on linux

I am trying to call a shared library created with MathWorks MATLAB Compiler SDK from C# (.NET Core) running on a Linux container.
I have a matlab .m file that I've compiled into a .dll using the MATLAB R2018b compiler SDK. Because the final execution environment is .NET Core 2.2 running on a Linux container I chose the "C Shared Library" option. I call that shared library using the DLLImport mechanism of .NET.
Here is some code from my project. This code is KISS-level because I need to understand how to integrate MATLAB and C# on Linux before I start on the main project.
haveSomePi.m
function hal = haveSomePi()
hal = 3.1415;
end
MyMath.h
extern LIB_MyMath_C_API bool MW_CALL_CONV mlfHaveSomePi(int nargout, mxArray** hal);
MyMathWrapper.cs
[DllImport("MyMath.dll", CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl)]
public static extern void mlfHaveSomePi(int nargout, ref IntPtr hal);
MyMathWrapperTests.cs
[TestMethod]
public void ShouldReturnPi()
{
var hal = IntPtr.Zero;
MyMathWrapper.mlfHaveSomePi(1, ref hal);
double result = (double)hal;
Assert.AreEqual(3.1415, result, 1e-5);
}
The expected result is that the assert in the test method passes. It fails because trying to cast an IntPtr to a double doesn't make sense in this context. I'm sure there is a way to de-reference the IntPtr to get at the underlying double, I just haven't found that particular nugget of information.
I have been successful when compiling the .m file into a .NET library and into a COM object. I don't think I can use either of those libraries on Linux because of differences in the binary load/link format for each OS. When calling the method in the COM object I was able to directly cast the IntPtr to a double, there must be some marshaling magic going on in the background.
Is the method signature for the DLLImport statement correct? Do I map mxArray** to IntPtr?
How do I get the double from the IntPtr? Copy a block of memory into a managed byte array and cast?
My ultimate goal is to access a large signal processing library of matlab code from dotnet. The matlab code uses a lot of vectors and arrays so getting those into and out of the unmangaged library is my next hurdle.
Best regards.
I'm not a mathlab user, so I might be wrong, very wrong!
Getting Linux .dll equivalent
What you need, is the correct shared library/object for the run-time OS to be exported from mathlab.
Windows: .dll = Dynamic Link Library
Linux: .so = shared object [.net core butter and bread for Linux]
Instruction to get .so exported lib from mathlab
Compile your MATLAB files into a shared library (on UNIX)
mcc -t -L C -W MyMath-T link:lib haveSomePi.m libmmfile.mlib
Resulting MyMath.so, MyMath.exports, MyMath.h and MyMath.mlib, more details here
Binding Assembly
Make sure you have MyMath.so file next to MyMath.dll file, (bin, app data or where is needed)
Custom "NativeLibraryLoader" can be used to load different shared lib files based on OS, written by a GIT user because .net core din't had any (link). I would say is a bit over-complicated, but is your choice.
[DllImport] can be used instead!
DllImport without extension, supported on Windows and Linux and MAC will import the appropriate library for the target platform.
[DllImport("MyMath")]
Use <dllmap/> to map an import library name to the target platform library name. For MyMath.dll the corresponding Linux .so should be MyMath.so (more here)
[DllImport("MyMath.dll")]
Config map in csproj
<configuration>
<dllmap dll="MyMath.dll" target="MyMath.so" />
</configuration>
I think the main concern here is that you are doing
C Shared Library
Which is NOT C#...
Instead you should be doing
.NET Assembly
https://in.mathworks.com/help/compiler_sdk/gs/create-a-dotnet-application-with-matlab-code.html
It's important to note that .NET Core is not supported either, and you will have to change your project to a "classic" .NET Framework (If I recall correctly, at least 4.x)

Can you use assembly.load in monotouch?

I'm currently trying to load a plugin assembly dynamically in a monotouch app.
To do this, I'm referencing the plugin dll in my app project, setting the limker to 'sdk only' and then i'm trying to call Assembly.Load(filename) within my app when the plugin is required.
This is the same approach that I've previously successfully used in monodroid. However currently, this is failing in monotouch with a FileLoadException.
Is this approach possible in monotouch? Is there a special file path you need to include? Or is this not supported in the aot environment?
Note: Obviously there are other ways I can achieve a similar effect - and I do have a backup plan... but this is my preferred route (if I can make it work)
Code like:
var a = Assembly.Load ("mscorlib.dll");
Assert.NotNull (a);
works fine with both the simulator and devices. However the parameter for Load is assemblyString which is not a filename (even if the exception thrown make you think it is).
Many other overloads exists (for Load) and other methods too (e.g. LoadFrom) but they might not all work inside MonoTouch (since some runtime support might be missing).
NOTE
Handling of mscorlib.dll is special (and works in more cases than other assembles, i.e. shortcuts). However the reflection-based methods seems to work as expected in more cases, e.g.:
string filename = System.IO.Path.GetFileName (GetType ().Assembly.Location);
Assembly assembly = Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom (filename);
Assembly.Load (or any other way of loading code dynamically) is not supported in MonoTouch.
This is an iOS restriction - all the executable code has to be in the app (and it has to be native code, which is why we use AOT to generate native code at compile time).

Android: Cannot load library

I am facing a situation of which I have no idea. I am tried to test one method that I have implemented in C++ and I used swig to generate the wrapper. After compilation, when I tried to run the application, I got an error java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError.
It further states that
cannot load library:reloc_library[1311]:33
cannot locate '_Z13recognizeFacePKcS0_'
...
and suddenly throw exception.
I tried using adb shell to debug and found library in the right location (data/data/com/mesh/faceAuth/lib/libfaceAuth.so) but it gives the same error. I also read from this site, that it has to do with wrong STL implementation which I don't have any clue of. I will highly appreciate your candid suggestion.
Regards,
Mohammed.
Best guess with what information you have provided, The library you are trying to load needs some dependencies to be loaded before it.
For example:
System.loadLibrary("bullet");
System.loadLibrary("irrlicht");
System.loadLibrary("gamescript");
gamescript library needs other 2 library to be loaded before it. Otherwise, it gives me the same error you have mentioned. I can dig further on this issue if you can post some part of your .mk file for building the library here.
Your error has nothing to do with STL.
You probably reference a global function ::recognizeFace(char const*, char const*) in your code. Maybe, you have another function defined, for example recognizeFace(char*, char*).

fatal error C1084: Cannot read type library file: 'Smegui.tlb': Error loading type library/DLL

I am trying to build an old version of an application which consists of VC++ projects that were written in Visual Studio 2003.
My OS is Windows 7 Enterprise (64-bit).
When I try and build the solution I get the following errors:
error C4772: #import referenced a type from a missing type library; '__missing_type__' used as a placeholder
fatal error C1084: Cannot read type library file: 'Smegui.tlb': Error loading type library/DLL.
They both complain about the following import statement:
#import "Smegui.tlb" no_implementation
This is not a case of the file path being incorrect as renaming the Smegui.tlb file causes the compiler to throw another error saying it cannot find the library.
Smegui is from another application that this one depends on. I thought perhaps I was missing a dll but there is no such thing as Smegui.dll.
All I know about .tlb files is that they are a type library and you can create them from an assembly using tlbexp.exe or regasm.exe (the later also registers the assembly with COM)
There is also an Apache Ant build script which uses a custom task to invoke devenv.com to build the projects. This is the same script that the build server originally used to build the application. It gives me the same errors when I try and run it.
The strangest thing about this is that I knew it ought to work seeing as it is all freshly checked out from subversion. I tried many different combinations of admin vs user elevation, VS vs Ant build, cleaning, release.
I have got it to build successfully about 5 times but the build seems to be non-deterministic.
If anyone can shed some light on how this tlb stuff even works or what this error might mean I would greatly appreciate it.
I found a far more reliable solution: open the tlb with oleview.exe and then close it.
Not sure what this actually does but it works every time.
I think oleview is actually one of the samples included with Visual Studio but I haven't had the time to debug it and see what it is doing.
I ran into this error because one type library was trying to load a dependent type library, which it could not find. Even though the dependent type library was in the same directory, and even though that directory was in the searchable path, the compiler would error loading the first type library, but not mention the dependent type library in the error.
To find the pseudo-missing type library, I ran Process Monitor (procman64.exe) during the compile. This showed that after the reported type library had successfully loaded, a dependent type library could not be found. It even showed all of the places that it was looking for the dependent type library, none of which were where it should have been looking (e.g.: ).
The fix was to add a <PreBuildEvent> to the project to copy the dependent .tlb file to one of the directories that was actually being searched.
<PreBuildEvent>
<Command>copy /Y ..\Lib\Interop\CWSpeechRecLib.tlb .\</Command>
</PreBuildEvent>
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sce74ah7%28VS.71%29.aspx
smegui.tlb is referencing some other tlb that the compiler can't find. If you have the .idl for smegui you might be able to figure out what the other is. I suspect the missing tlb is something that original build machine had registered but that your machine doesn't have registered.
A type library is a binary description of a set of interfaces, coclasses and enums. They're usually generated for COM components, in the case of tlbexp and regasm the tlb is created from the assembly metadata. For native COM components they are usually generated from an idl (Interface Description Language) file by the midl tool.
Edit:
I just noticed you're on x64 Windows. Are you building the project with a new version of Visual Studio? If so, are you targeting x86 or x64? If the latter, it may simply be a 32bit component that the compiler can't find (or less likely, a x64 component the x86 compiler can't find if you are targeting x86), for WOW64 the registry is virtualized for x86 vs. x64 applications.
Well I finally found out why I managed to get it to build sometimes and not others... sort of.
So long as I ran the build script with elevated administrator permissions and let that get as far as it could until that error occurred, then run the build script again as a protected administrator succeeded. Those steps must be done in that exact order with no other steps in between. If I try build in Visual Studio it does not work (although I did get it to succeed once). Probably some kind of virtualisation issue although it still doesn't quite make sense.
Well I don't need help on this any more and I know it's probably impossible to fully answer this question without knowing exactly what the build is doing. However if anyone does have any more thoughts I would happily receive them.
Cheers,
Steiny

Resources