dahall / Vanara

This project contains various .NET assemblies that contain P/Invoke functions, interfaces, enums and structures from Windows libraries. Each assembly is associated with one or a few tightly related libraries. For example, Shlwapi.dll has all the exported functions from shlwapi.lib; Kernel32.dll has all for both kernel32.lib and kernelbase.lib.

All assemblies are available via NuGet and provide builds against .NET 2.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, Core 3.0, Core 3.1 and .NET 5.0 (new in v3.2.20) and support SourceLink. In all cases where a dependency doesn't disallow it, .NET Standard 2.0, .NET Core 2.0, and 2.1 builds are also included for use with UWP and other .NET Core and Standard projects.

This project releases new versions every few weeks after sufficient testing. New releases are cataloged, along with release notes, in the Releases section and all NuGet packages are published to nuget.org. Each GitHub push triggers an AppVeyor build. The owners thank them for the free Open-Source account! The status of that build is in the header of this page. The NuGet packages from those builds are available for test purposes on AppVeyor's project NuGet source at https://ci.appveyor.com/nuget/vanara-prerelease.

Use

1. Look for the function you need in Microsoft documentation. Note which library or DLL the function is in.
2. Confirm the Vanara library exists and has your function by looking at the Supported Libraries table below. Clicking on the Assembly link will take you to a drill down of that assembly's coverage. Find your function and if there is a matching implementation it will appear to the right. You can also use GitHub's project search (upper left of page) to search for your function, method or constant. Make sure to select "In this repository".
3. Add the assembly to your project via NuGet.
4. To use the function, you can:
   1. Call it directly var bret = Vanara.PInvoke.Kernel32.GetComputerName(sb, ref sbSz);
   2. Under C# 6.0 and later, use a static using directive and call it:

   using static Vanara.PInvoke.Kernel32;
   
   var bret = GetComputerName(sb, ref sbSz);
   

5. In some cases there is a corresponding helper/wrapper class in one of the Supporting Assemblies, especially for Security, System Services, Forms and Shell. Go to their library page (click on link in section) and look through the classes included in each library.

Design Concepts

I have tried to follow the concepts below in laying out the libraries.

• All functions that are imported from a single DLL should be placed into a single assembly that is named after the DLL.
  • (e.g. The assembly Vanara.PInvoke.Gdi32.dll hosts all functions and supporting enumerations, constants and structures that are exported from gdi32.dll in the system directory.)
• Any structure or macro or enumeration (no function) that is used by many libraries is put into either Vanara.Core or Vanara.PInvoke.Shared.
  • (e.g. The macro HIWORD and the structure SIZE are both in Vanara.PInvoke.Shared and classes to simplify interop calls and native memory management are in Vanara.Core.)
• Inside a project, all constructs are contained in a file named after the header file (*.h) in which they are defined in the Windows API.
  • (e.g. In the Vanara.PInvoke.Kernel32 project directory, you'll find a FileApi.cs, a WinBase.cs and a WinNT.cs file representing fileapi.h, winbase.h and winnt.h respectively.)
• Where the direct interpretation of a structure or function leads to memory leaks or misuse, I have tried to simplify its use.
• Where a structure is always passed by reference and where that structure needs to clean up memory allocations, I have changed the structure to a class implementing IDisposable.
• Wherever possible, all handles have been turned into SafeHandle derivatives named after the Windows API handle. If those handles require a call to a function to release/close/destroy, a derived SafeHANDLE exists that performs that function on disposal.
  • e.g. HTOKEN is defined. SafeHTOKEN builds upon that handle with an automated release calling CloseHandle.
• Wherever possible, all functions that allocate memory that is to be freed by the caller use a safe memory handle.
• All PInvoke calls are in assemblies prefixed by Vanara.PInvoke.
• If a structure is to passed into a function as a constant, that structure is marshaled using the in statement which will pass the structure by reference without requiring the ref keyword.
  • Windows API: BOOL MapDialogRect(HWND hDlg, LPRECT lpRect)
  • Vanara: bool MapDialogRect(HWND hDlg, in RECT lpRect);
• If there are classes or extensions that make use of the PInvoke calls, they are in wrapper assemblies prefixed by Vanara and then followed by a logical name for the functionality. Today, those are Core, Security, SystemServices, Windows.Forms and Windows.Shell.

Supported Libraries

Library/DLL	Assembly	Coverage	NuGet Link
aclui.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.AclUI
advapi32.dll, secur32.dll, authz.dll, sspicli.dll, schannel.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Security
cabinet.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Cabinet
CldApi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.CldApi
comctl32.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.ComCtl32
ComDlg32.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.ComDlg32
credui.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.CredUI
crypt32.dll, bcrypt.dll, ncrypt.dll, tokenbinding.dll, cryptui.dll, cryptnet.dll, cryptdlg.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Cryptography
d2d1.dll, dxgi.dll, dwrite.dll, windowscodecs.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Graphics
DbgHelp.dll, ImageHlp.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.DbgHelp
Dhcpcsvc6.dll, Dhcpcsvc.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Dhcp
DnsApi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.DnsApi
Drt.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Drt
dwmapi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.DwmApi
FirewallApi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.FirewallApi
FunDisc.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.FunDisc
gdi32.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Gdi32
iphlpapi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.IpHlpApi
IScsiDsc.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.IScsiDsc
kernel32.dll, kernelbase.dll, normaliz.dll, vertdll.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Kernel32
ktmw32.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.KtmW32
magnification.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Magnification
mpr.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Mpr
Msi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Msi
netapi32.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.NetApi32
netprofm.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.NetListMgr
NewDev.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.NewDev
ntdll.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.NTDll
ntdsapi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.NTDSApi
ole32.dll, oleaut32.dll, propsys.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Ole
oleacc.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Accessibility
OleDlg.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.OleDlg
opcservices.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Opc
P2P.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.P2P
pdh.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Pdh
PeerDist.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.PeerDist
powrprof.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.PowrProf
ProjectedFSLib.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.ProjectedFSLib
qmgr.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.BITS
rpcrt4.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Rpc
RstrtMgr.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.RstrtMgr
SearchApi	Vanara.PInvoke.SearchApi
SetupAPI.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.SetupAPI
SHCore.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.SHCore
shell32.dll, url.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Shell32
shlwapi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.ShlwApi
taskschd.dll, mstask.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.TaskSchd
UrlMon.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.UrlMon
user32.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.User32
UserEnv.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.UserEnv
uxtheme.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.UxTheme
Version.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Version
virtdisk.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.VirtDisk
WcmApi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.WcmApi
WcnApi.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.WcnApi
wer.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Wer
wininet.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.WinINet
winspool.drv, prntvpt.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Printing
wintrust.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.WinTrust
WlanApi.dll, Wlanui.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.WlanApi
ws2_32.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.Ws2_32
WsmSvc.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.WsmSvc
WTSApi32.dll	Vanara.PInvoke.WTSApi32

Supporting Assemblies

Assembly	NuGet Link	Description
Vanara.BITS		.NET classes to access Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) functionality. Intelligently uses most recent library functions and gracefully fails when new features are not available on older OS versions.
Vanara.Core		This library includes shared methods, structures and constants for use throughout the Vanara assemblies. Think of it as windows.h with some useful extensions. It includes: * Extension methods for working with enumerated types (enum), FILETIME, and method and property extractions via reflection * Extension and helper methods to marshaling structures arrays and strings * SafeHandle based classes for working with memory allocated via CoTaskMem, HGlobal, or Local calls that handles packing and extracting arrays, structures and raw memory * Safe pinning of objects in memory * Memory stream based on marshaled memory
Vanara.PInvoke.Shared		Shared methods, structures and constants for use throughout the Vanara.PInvoke assemblies. Includes: * IEnumerable helpers for COM enumerations * Custom marshaler for CoTaskMem pointers * Enhanced error results classes for HRESULT, Win32Error and NTStatus * Standard windows.h macros (e.g. HIWORD, MAKELONG, etc.) * Overlapped method wrapper * Resource ID holder * Shared structures and enums (see release notes)
Vanara.Security		Classes for security related items derived from the Vanara PInvoke libraries. Includes extension methods for Active Directory and access control classes, methods for working with accounts, UAC, privileges, system access, impersonation and SIDs, and a full LSA wrapper.
Vanara.SystemServices		Classes for system related items derived from the Vanara PInvoke libraries. Includes extensions for Process (privileges and elavation), FileInfo (compression info), Shared Network Drives and Devices, and ServiceController (SetStartType) that pull extended information through native API calls.
Vanara.VirtualDisk		.NET classes to manage Windows Virtual Storage (VHD and VHDX) using P/Invoke functions from VirtDisk.dll.
Vanara.Windows.Forms		Classes for user interface related items derived from the Vanara PInvoke libraries. Includes extensions for almost all common controls to give post Vista capabilities, WinForms controls (panel, commandlink, enhanced combo boxes, IPAddress, split button, trackbar and themed controls), shutdown/restart/lock control, buffered painting, resource files, access control editor, simplifed designer framework for Windows.Forms.
Vanara.Windows.Shell		Classes for Windows Shell items derived from the Vanara PInvoke libraries. Includes shell items, files, icons, links, and taskbar lists.

Quick Links

• Documentation
• Issues

Sample Code

There are numerous examples in the UnitTest folder and in the WinClassicSamplesCS project that recreates the Windows Samples in C# using Vanara.