Question

I have build a custom .Net Data Provider and am in the process of trying to deploy it so that I can use it in SQL Integration Services (SSIS). The issue that I am running into is that I am referencing unmanaged methods in a Win32 DLL. In order for my Data Provider to work in SSIS, I have to sign my managed provider DLL and deploy it to the Global Assembly Cache (GAC). When I try to use my Data Provider in Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS), it gives me the following error:

TITLE: Connection Manager
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Test connection failed because of an error in initializing provider. Unable to load DLL 'RTB32.dll': The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E)

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BUTTONS:

OK
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How/where am I supposed to deploy the unmanaged code along with my provider so that it works? Things I have tried:

1. Embedding the DLL’s into the managed DLL.
2. Adding the unmanaged DLL’s to the GAC.
3. Adding the location of the unmanaged DLL’s to the PATH System Variable.
4. Putting the unmanaged DLL’s into the System32 directory (out of desperation)

Side Note: When I use my Data Provider in a Forms app with the unmanaged and managed assemblies in the same directory, everything works without any issues.

Side Note 2: I want this Data Provider to work in more places that just SSIS. I also want it to work as a Linked Server in SQL Server, as a Data Source in SSRS, as a Data Source for Visual Studio, in the Entity Framework, etc. I would prefer to put the DLL’s in one place that will work for all of these.

Thanks!

Chris

Answer 1

If this is a 32-bit app running on a 64-bit OS, then you will need to install the DLLs in the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory.

Otherwise, they should go into C:\Windows\System32.

In both cases, obviously, you would need to use the appropriate drive and directory for the machine you are installing on.