Question

I have a C# program which calls a C++ dll using DLLImport(stdcall).

But using the Process Monitor I found that everytime I call a function in the C++ dll it causes three IO operations to open the DLL file, read it and close it.

The function in C++ dll i’m calling is static. I don’t have the source of the C++ dll to change it. What can i do to avoid these excessive IO operations? Can i use DLLImport to load a dll from memory instead of file? Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Try to load DLL explicitly and then make your call. Keep the pointer to the DLL and unload it before closing your application.

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr LoadLibrary(string dllToLoad);

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern bool FreeLibrary(IntPtr hModule);


IntPtr pDll = LoadLibrary("library.dll");

FreeLibrary(pDll);